Andy Warhol’s Mao 90, 1972 distorts the image of the Chinese leader. Mao’s skin is printed in a deep blue. The blue mutes his features, making his facial features difficult to make out. His lips, unlike the rest of his face, match the gray-purple of his shirt, contrasting the forest green background he is in front of. Hand-drawn on either side of Mao’s head are graffiti-like scribbles, which deviate from the rest of the work’s mechanized process. Warhol’s Mao 90 adds an element of irony to an otherwise serious portrait, prompting the viewer to question the persona the portrait portrays.

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.

This screenprint is part of a portfolio of works Warhol created in 1972 titledMao. Other works in the Mao Portfolio include 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.

Created in 1972, Andy Warhol’s Mao 90 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.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol, Mao 90, from Mao is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Feldman, Frayda and Jörg Schellmann. Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962 – 1987, 4th Ed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2003.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Andy Warhol’s Mao 90, 1972 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.