Location

229A Contemporary

Fun Fact

This work's palette suggests clashing representations of Marilyn Monroe: technicolor filmstrip and black-and-white newsreel footage of the 1940s and ’50s.

Description

Warhol revolutionized artistic production during the 20th century through what he termed business art: “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.” Throughout his career he produced countless projects including paintings, films, books, and a magazine, Interview. The image of Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn x 100, the largest of Warhol’s Marilyn paintings, is appropriated from a publicity still for the 1953 film Niagara. Here, the instantly recognizable face of the iconic starlet has been reproduced through silk-screening, a commercial printing technique, both on top of bold underpainting and in quivering black and white, evocative of newspaper ink. By borrowing recognizable imagery from the consumer marketplace for his fine art, Warhol incisively questioned the meaning of culture, whether high or low.

Provenance

1962-1984

Collection of the artist

1984-1991

Saatchi Collection, London

1991-1997

Private Collection, Japan

1997-present

Sold at auction to CMA, Sotheby's, New York, 1997.

Citations

Baker, Kenneth. "Report from London: the Saatchi Museum Opens" Art in America 73, no. 7 (July 1985): 23-27. Reproduced: p. 24; mentioned: p. 25

Bergman, Robert P. “A Defining Signifier.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (November 1998) Reproduced p. 8-9.

McShine, Kynaston, ed. Andy Warhol, a retrospective. Exh. Cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1989. Reproduced p. 216, plate 205.

Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; London Scala, 2012. Reproduced p. 329; mentioned p. 328.

Frei, Georg and Neil Printz, eds. and Sponsored by the Thomas Ammann Fine Art Ag Zurich and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., New York. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963. London: Phaidon, 2002 Reproduced p. 246, Plate 236; mentioned 234-235.

“Sotheby’s Contemporary Art, Part 1, Andy Warhol’s Marilyn x 100, Evening Session: Tuesday, November 17, 1992, Lot 25.” New York: Sotheby’s, 1992. Reproduced on cover

Hicks, Alistair, ed. Art of Our Time. Royal Scottish Academy. Exh. Cat. Edinburgh: The Royal Scottish Academy, 1980. Reproduced front and back covers and on p. 73

Exhibition history

Art of Our Time. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1980.

Andy Warhol: A Retrospective. Museum of Modern Art, New York (organizer) (February 5-May 2, 1989); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (Jun 3-August 13, 1989); the Hayward Gallery, London (September-November 1989); The Museum Ludwig, Cologne (November 1989-February 1990); Palazzo Reale, Milan (February-May 1990); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (June 21-September 10 1990)