Name: ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Brand: Muhammad Ali
Price: 190000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali
the complete set of four screenprints in colours, 1978, on Strathmore Bristol paper, each signed in ink, numbered 35/150 (there were also ten artist's proofs), published by Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc., New York, with their copyright inkstamp on the reverse

Image & Sheet 1016 x 762 mm. (each)

Estate of Andy Warhol, New York.
Bonhams & Brooks, London, 24 July 2001, lot 279 (£29,000).
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Feldman & Schellmann II.179-182
£20,000 for Warhol prints of Ali - when he was king, Evening Standard, London, 24 July 2001.
Warhol prints fetch £29,000, The Independent, London, 25 July 2001.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

Please note that the reserve on this lot has been lowered to £190,000.

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This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

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Lot Essay

Warhol initially photographed Muhammad Ali as part of his Athletes series from 1977. This group of works featured other famous athletes from the period such as Jack Nicklaus, Pele and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and was initiated by the famous West Coast art collector and sports fanatic Richard Weisman. Sports stars were a natural progression for Warhol and his preoccupation with fame and celebrity status. Warhol noted: “I really got to love the athletes because they are the really big stars”.

During this period Warhol traveled to Ali’s training camp Fighter’s Heaven in Pennsylvania to photograph and interview him with Weisman, his business manager Fred Hughes, and the author Victor Bockris. Warhol’s images from this photography session capture the essence of Ali, with his strength and focus highlighted in this composition’s clenched fists and fixed stare.

In the present lot, a complete portfolio of four screenprints entitled Muhammad Ali from 1978, these dynamic elements from Warhol’s portraits, taken from the session with his Polaroid camera at Fighter’s Heaven, are fused with his classic palatte of bold neon colours.