Andy Warhol Liz (F&S. II 7) For Sale

Liz is a lithograph produced by the artist in 1964, a portrait of the most female faces of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Taylor. Warhol’s insatiable interest in celebrity and popular culture is here demonstrated with great artistic intensity, reimagining a publicity still from Taylor’s film Butterfield 8 in a vivid Pop palette. 

In the very year of the screenprint’s creation, Warhol was asked if he would like to meet Elizabeth Taylor, exclaiming Ohhhh, Elizabeth Taylor, Ohhhhh. She’s so glamorous” (A. Warhol quoted in K. Goldsmith, I’ll be your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews, New York, 2004, p. 26). In the present work Warhol’s admiration for the starlet’s beauty and glamour is wonderfully articulated through colour. Using the silk-screen process analogously to a makeup palette, the artist highlights and magnifies Taylor’s features: her bold eyeshadow extending to her eyebrows and ruby red lips contrasting with her ivory complexion. The flat, fuschia background combined with her dramatic rendering gives Taylor a larger than life appearance. Warhol’s colloqiual title ‘Liz’ plays upon the relationship between fans and their celebrity icons: to Warhol, the cult of celebrity was a primary concern.  One of his most prophetic and oft-quoted statements, he mused that; ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’. Thus whilst being an outstanding portrait of Taylor in its own right, Warhol’s work is an exploration of the notion of celebrity icon.  

The appeal of this print is wide-reaching: arguably, since the passing of icons such as Elizabeth Taylor, Warhol’s artworks are some of the first images that we associated with the stars. This is a testament to the artist’s ability to bring portraits to life and to create a lasting impression.