Artist: Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Title: Mao 97 Year: 1972 Medium: Silkscreen in colors on Lenox Museum Board Size: 36 x 36 inches Condition: Good Inscription: signed in ball-point pen on the reverse, stamp-numbered 194/250. Notes: Published by Castelli Graphics, New York, in collaboration with Multiples, Inc., New York; printed by Styria Studio, Inc., New York. Additional notes: Andy Warhol’s Mao 97 (1972) is a relatively naturalistic image of the Chinese leader. Unlike Warhol’s typical employment of flamboyant colors, Mao’s peach complexion in this work is potentially true to life. Upon closer look, however, the viewer makes eye contact with the leader’s yellow eyes. Vaguely animalistic, Mao’s outward gaze becomes off-putting and oppressive. The yellow of his eyes is echoed in the background, only emphasizing his relentless stare. Though more subtle than other Mao portraits in Andy Warhol’s Mao screenprint portfolio, Warhol’s Mao 97 has a strongly disquieting effect. Andy Warhol’s Mao screenprint portfolio appropriates the official portrait of Mao Zedong, the former Chairman of the Communist Party of China. Warhol was inspired by the portrait’s similarity to silkscreen and its ubiquity—Mao’s portrait was known to every Chinese person and could be seen throughout China in both public and private spaces. The Mao portfolio, made up of ten different versions of Mao’s portrait, evokes the propagandistic use of the image in China. Interestingly, Warhol treats Mao’s image in the same manner that he treats his portraits of Western celebrities. Mao’s cult of personality mirrored the cult-like followings of Western celebrities, and Warhol’s decision to treat Mao’s portrait in the same manner as icons such as Marilyn Monroe frames the Chinese leader as a pop icon. Warhol exposes the similarity between Western and Eastern adoration of individuals and the mass dissemination of their images, and his use of outrageous coloring examines fame in its multiple forms. Created in 1972, Andy Warhol’s Mao 97 is a color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board and is hand signed in ballpoint pen on verso. It is a unique work of an edition of 250, published by Castelli Graphics and Multiples, Inc., New York and printed by Styria Studio, Inc., New York. This screenprint is part of a portfolio of works Warhol created in 1972 titled Mao. Other works in the Mao Portfolio include Mao 90 1972, Mao 91 1972, Mao 92 1972, Mao 93 1972, Mao 94 1972, Mao 95 1972, Mao 96 1972, Mao 97 1972, Mao 98 1972, Mao 99 1972. ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987) Clearly the most important and influential artist of the past quarter century, Andy Warhol, the master of Pop Art, maintained a level of creativity which is legendary. Warhol adapted the commercial process of silk-screening to the world of fine art, creating masterpieces such as Marilyn Monroe, Ads and Myths, which became some of his most famous images. Throughout his life Warhol was regarded as the art-world's greatest celebrity.