Andy Warhol: The Late Work
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Andy Warhol: The Late Work Details
From 1972 until his death in 1987, Andy Warhol worked prodigiously on a variety of projects. Sublime examples of his work from this period are gathered in this elegantly designed collection which includes essays on the artist and interviews with him. This collection of paintings, photographs, prints, video stills, and interviews from the last fifteen years of Warhol’s career are presented in a four-volume slip-cased set. Along with his best known later works, which include his Oxidations, Camouflage, and Rorschachs, this set contains stills from Warhol’s forays into filmmaking, including L’Amour, Women in Revolt and Heat. Contact sheets from his work in photography offer an intimate glimpse of the glittering world of 1980’s New York. The artist’s books and renowned conversations, including his final interview with Paul Taylor, round out this superb exploration of Warhol’s last years. vol. I: essays vol. II: paintings vol. III: photos/films/videos/books vol. IV: interviews
Reviews
This set--catalogue for an exhibition currently traveling through Europe--is a nice survey of Warhol's underrated later work, including material not covered in any of the big retrospective volumes. The first part covers (mostly) paintings and (a few) wallpaper designs, starting with the ubiquitous "Mao" series and ending with the "Last Supper" series. In between, we get some of Warhol's most beautiful and enigmatic work (including the "Hammer and Sickles", a range of self portraits, the fairly well-known "Shadow", "Oxidation" and "Camouflage" paintings, as well as lesser-known things like the truly wonderful "Yarn" paintings). This is an exhibition catalogue, and as such only includes a few paintings from each series--we'll have to wait for the final volumes of the Warhol Catalogue Raisonne for the full experience. The paintings are reproduced nicely, with folding plates for the larger work and sometimes closeup details. The second partcovers photography, books, video and movies, along with some samples from Warhol's "Interview" magazine. The photography section is especially fun, as it includes contact sheets from Warhol's continual documentation of the world around him, sometimes juxtaposed with appropriate excerpts from his diaries. The final part consists on interviews with Warhol and essays about him, the former fun, the latter a mixed bag.The format of the set is sharp: three paperbound volumes (not four as the amazon.com description says) with contrasting spines (paper, cloth and glue) housed in a sturdy slipcase with a luscious closeup reproduction of one of Warhol's "Oxidation" paintings. The individual paperbacks seem rather flimsy, my only concern about this handsome set.