PROVENANCE
Rosenhouse Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Toronto, 1980

LITERATURE
Victor Bockris, The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, 1989, page 355
Kynaston McShine, editor, Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, 1989, the 1975 maquette for the silkscreen reproduced page 319
Trevor Fairbrother, “Andy and Mick,” Frieze, May 6, 1994, https://frieze.com/article/andy-and-mick, accessed May 15, 2019
Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellman, Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962 - 1987, fourth edition, 2003, page 26, reproduced page 92, catalogue #11.141

This iconic screenprint is from Andy Warhol’s 1975 edition of 10 different images of the Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. Warhol first met Jagger in 1964 in New York, during the band’s first US tour, and in 1971, he designed the provocative cover for the Stones’ Sticky Fingers album. Coming after his Pop Art period of the 1960s, this was the time of Warhol’s celebrity portraits, which was a long-lasting period. Victor Bockris wrote of these portraits, “Beginning with the epic Mao series, many faces—his mother, Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, Lana Turner—appeared as cunningly colored, as sharply poignant, as a Gauguin.”

Warhol cultivated associations with the rich and famous; he hung out in clubs such as Studio 54, made his NYC studio the Factory a centre for meeting people and producing portraits, and published Interview magazine. Initiated in 1969, the magazine by the 1970s had become a pioneer of the “style format,” mixing coverage of fashion, entertainment and celebrities.

In 1974, Warhol took the photographs for images in this series while Jagger was renting the artist’s house in Montauk, on Long Island, where the band had retreated to rehearse for their sixth American tour. Warhol was known for taking Polaroids and liked images with a strong graphic contrast. For the print edition, he posed Jagger bare-chested with a chain around his neck, just visible in this print. The artist had an obsession with cultural idols and fame, and Jagger, the charismatic and photogenic bad boy, was a perfect subject. Warhol stated:

He’s androgynous enough for almost anyone. That’s always been his basic appeal, mixed with the facts that: 1) He’s very talented; 2) He’s very intelligent; 3) He’s very handsome; 4) He’s very adorable; 5) He’s a great business person; 6) He’s a great movie star; 7) I like his fake cockney accent.… Image is so important to rock stars. Mick Jagger is the rock star with the longest running image. He’s the one all the young white kids copy. That’s why every detail of his appearance is important.

Warhol knew that Jagger was entirely conscious of the effect his persona had on people.

In 1975, Warhol developed the technique seen bottom right in this print. As the catalogue raisonné explains, “To create the maquettes for these prints, Warhol used colored graphic art paper … as a background paper to be screened on, updating an effect achieved earlier in the cut-outs of Matisse and the work of Léger.” The torn patches of coloured graphic art paper, combined with the halftone or drawing line, added texture and produced the striking effect of a collage. This technique complicated the process, which required up to 10 separate screens to complete each image.

Warhol’s series of 10 prints presents many facets of the rock star, revealing the artist’s instinctive understanding of Jagger’s persona. In Mick Jagger (F.S.II.141), neutral flesh and khaki tones balance the subject’s dark hair and emphatic facial features. With its pops of muted magenta highlighting those same features, our image constitutes a lush and dramatic portrait.

This work is editioned AP for artist’s proof. The image was printed on Arches Aquarelle (Rough) paper. The edition is of 250, aside from 50 artist’s proofs and 3 printer’s proofs. The printer is Alexander Heinrici, New York, and the publisher is Seabird Editions, London.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars