Phillips will be holding Andy Warhol’s Lenin, a selling exhibition that brings together nine original works on canvas, collages and works on paper from the Archive of Galerie Klüser. This series is the last that Warhol completed before his death. 

Andy Warhol's Lenin, 1986, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas

Warhol (left) and Klüser (right)

As Andy Warhol’s publisher and gallerist, Galerie Klüser has been at the forefront of the global art scene and the collection represents a historical artefact of the American pop artist’s relationship to portraiture. In 1986, Bernd Klüser exposed Warhol to Lenin's image by showing him an unusual photograph of Russian political leader, Vladimir Lenin. The photograph portrayed Lenin as a self-assured, forceful young man; a pile of book indicating his occupation as an intellectual and political theorist.

Andy Warhol's Lenin, 1986, collage, silkscreen on hand made paper

Andy Warhol's Lenin, 1986/7, collage, silkscreen on paper (violett Monoprint)

Lenin is a series of nine works which demonstrates Warhol experimenting with developing the portrait image through different media under the encouragement of Klüser. The series comprises eight prints and silkscreens, and one work on canvas. Warhol understood the defining myths of his generation and how reproduced images served to both reflect and shape contemporary life. By appropriating the silkscreen as a fine art medium, Warhol forever altered printmaking in the late twentieth century. 

Andy Warhol's Lenin, 1986/7, collage, collage, silkscreen on hand made paper

Klüser recalls, “We had already been planning for two years to cooperate on a project which was to strike out in a new direction: instead of reproducing the stereotyped icons of everyday life in America, Warhol would be confronted with an image which went against the grain of his usual preoccupations.” 

Andy Warhol’s Lenin: A Selling Exhibition of Works from the Archive of Galerie Klüser

Date: 26 September - 4 October 2019
Location: 30 Berkeley Square, London