Coskun Fine Art
February is Andy Warhol month in London with a major exhibition opening at the Tate Gallery which will pack in the crowds. Coskun Fine Art offer a rare chance to buy all 10 of Warhol’s Maos together, in mint and boxed condition and priced at $220,000 (20 February-1 April) The gallery is anxious to sell them as a complete set. The prints do come up singly at auction but can often be in poor condition as the heavy inking has tended to make the paper brown and brittle. The prints will be displayed on the special Mao wallpaper that Warhol designed for the first installation of the prints in the Musée Galliera, Paris, in 1974. The paper has been reprinted with special permission from the Andy Warhol foundation and must be destroyed once the exhibition is over. Mao was perceived as an icon by Warhol and given the full movie star treatment in dazzling bright colours. He was, however, a feared and hated figure in the US in the 1970s and, like the electric chair or the Lenin portfolio, this was a highly controversial image with many layers of meaning.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Andy Warhol: Mao installation'
