© Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Currently not on view
Mao,
1972
Andy Warhol, 1928–1987; born Pittsburgh, PA; died New York, NY; active New York
Printed at Styria Studio, Inc.
Published by Castelli Graphics and
Published by Multiples, Inc.
Printed at Styria Studio, Inc.
Published by Castelli Graphics and
Published by Multiples, Inc.
x1979-98
During the Cultural Revolution of 1966–76, Mao Zedong, the leader of China’s Communist Party and founder of the People’s Republic of China, mandated the display of his official portrait throughout the country, creating just the kind of larger-than-life identity that drew Warhol to celebrity subjects such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. The opening of diplomatic relations between the United States and China in the early 1970s attracted widespread media attention, and the state portrait of Mao (based on which Warhol made these screenprints) represented not merely the man but the entire nation and culture to an international audience. Warhol created many interpretations of Mao, as silkscreens on canvas as well as screenprints on paper, using the techniques of mass-reproduced imagery to echo the ubiquity of Mao’s image in the cultural politics of the era.
Information
Title
Mao
Dates
1972
Maker
Medium
Color screenprint
Dimensions
91.5 x 91.5 cm. (36 x 36 in.)
frame: 100 × 100 × 3.7 cm (39 3/8 × 39 3/8 × 1 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert C. Schorr, Graduate School Class of 1963, and Mrs. Schorr
Object Number
x1979-98
Place Made
North America, United States, New York, New York
Inscription
Numbered and signed in graphite, verso bottom left: a//p 17//50 Andy Warhol
Marks/Labels/Seals
Stamped, verso lower right: © Andy Warhol 1972 / Printed at Styrai Studio Inc.
Reference Numbers
Feldman and Schellmann II.90, II.98
Culture
Type
Materials
Techniques
Subject
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1979," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 39, no. 1/2 (1980): p. 40-63., p. 55
- Johanna Burton et al., Pop art: contemporary perspectives, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, CT: distributed by Yale University Press, 2007), p. 143 (color illus.)
