Myths (Warhol)
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| Myths | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Andy Warhol |
| Year | 1981 |
| Medium | Screenprint with diamond dust on Lenox Museum Board |
Myths is a 1981 series of ten paintings by American Pop artist Andy Warhol. The portraits feature popular characters from 20th-century films and television as well as traditional folklore.
Subjects
Warhol began working on the Myths series in October 1980, a project that was commissioned by gallerist Ronald Feldman.[1][2] The ten works include Margaret Hamilton reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz; models transformed into Uncle Sam, Santa Claus, Mammy, and Dracula; the original Howdy Doody puppet; and Warhol himself as The Shadow.[3]
Rendered in vivid color, energetic line, and diamond-dust accents, the series marked Warhol's first print portfolio devoted to fictional characters, and recalls his early 1960s paintings based on comic-strip figures.[4]
The list of subjects in the series are:[3]
- Dracula
- Howdy Doody
- Mammy
- Mickey Mouse
- Santa Claus
- Superman
- The Shadow (Andy Warhol)
- The Star (Greta Garbo as Mata Hari)
- The Witch (Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch)
- Uncle Sam
Exhibitions
The Myths series was first exhibited at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Downtown in New York City in September 1981.[5]
In October 1981, Myths was on view at the NorthPark National Bank art gallery in Dallas, presented together with a three-print study of boxer Muhammad Ali and Warhol’s early Campbell's Soup Cans works.[6]
Weinstock's department store in Sacramento incorporated Myths into its holiday promotion, displaying the serigraphs in-store and granting an art scholarship in Warhol's name to the University of California, Davis.[7] Weinstock commissioned Warhol to create work for the cover of its 1981 Christmas magazine, The Art of Giving, which featured his Santa Claus serigraph from the Myths portfolio.[8] The print later became part of the store's permanent collection. Warhol traveled to San Francisco in November 1981, where he appeared at the store to sign reproductions from the Myths series.[9]
In 1982, Myths was exhibited at the Reconnaissance Gallery in Fitzroy, Victoria.[10]
In May 1988, the Pittsburgh Children's Museum opened the Andy Warhol Myths gallery, featuring Warhol's Myths series, which were acquired for the museum's permanent collection, and a hands-on silkscreening studio.[11]
