Andy Warhol—
From A to B and
Back Again
Nov 12, 2018–Mar 31, 2019
Mao
11
Warhol based his Mao paintings, drawings, lithographs, photocopy prints, and wallpaper on the same image: a painting by Zhang Zhenshi that served as the frontispiece for Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (known in the West as the “Little Red Book”), which was then thought to be the most widely reproduced artwork in the world.
“Everybody’s always asking me if i’m a Communist because I’ve done Mao.”
Mao, 1972
Andy Warhol, Mao, 1972. Acrylic, silkscreen ink, and graphite on linen, 14 ft. 8 1⁄2 in. × 11 ft. 4 1 ⁄2 in. (4.48 × 3.47 m). The Art Institute of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize and Wilson L. Mead funds, 1974.230 © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Warhol chose the image of Mao—then the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party—after reading news coverage of President Richard Nixon’s trip to the People’s Republic of China in February 1972. An unprecedented act of Cold War diplomacy, Nixon's trip marked the first visit by a sitting American president to the nation, which at the time was considered an enemy of the state.
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On view in the exhibition:
Andy Warhol, Mao (Edition 27/300), 1973. Photocopy, 11 x 8 5/8 in. (27.9 x 21.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum; gift of Theodore Kheel. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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On view in the exhibition:
Andy Warhol, Mao (Edition 103/300), 1973. Photocopy, 11 x 8 5/8 in. (27.9 x 21.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum; gift of Theodore Kheel. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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On view in the exhibition:
Andy Warhol, Mao (Edition 242/300), 1973. Photocopy, 11 x 8 1/2 in. (28 x 21.6 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; gift of Robert Rauschenberg. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Christopher Makos, Andy at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 1982. © Christopher Makos
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On view in the exhibition:
Andy Warhol, Vote McGovern, 1972. Screenprint, 42 x 42 in. (106.5 x 106.5 cm) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Fred Mueller, 78.98. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Hear about Warhol’s approach to a political icon
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Hear about Warhol’s approach to a political icon
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related section 11
Related Artworks
From the Collection