Andy Warhol Skulls, 1976 FS II.159 shows the artist's experimentation with light and shadow while exploring new darker artistic themes. The print features a sketch of a human skull overlaid with shapes of semi-transparent purple, pink, red, yellow and black. The work is one of four prints in the artist's Skulls series. Warhol created the prints from photographs his assistant took. After 1968, when Warhol was shot by radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas, the artist began to venture into darker subject matter for his art, like death, violence, and destruction. Skulls throughout art history often represent 'memento mori' or symbols of death. It serves as a reminder of the brevity of life and that death is inevitable. Warhol's Skulls portfolio is an example of not only a thematic shift in his career, but also his constant practice and work in trying to better himself as an artist. In the works, Warhol experiments and plays with how light hits the skulls and affects their shadows. Shadows, along with color and shape, were something Warhol was consistently fascinated with from an artistic standpoint throughout his career.

Created in 1976, this work is a screenprint on Strathmore Bristol paper, hand signed by Andy Warhol in pencil in the lower left.  Numbered from an edition of 50, aside from 10 Artist Proofs marked 'AP.'

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Skulls, 1976 FS II.159 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonné 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, A Catalogue Raisonne, 4th ed. Listed as catalogue raisonné no. II.159 on page 97.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Andy Warhol Skulls, 1976 FS II.159 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.