Andy Warhol: Myths Portfolio 5 Things to Know Andy Warhol: Myths Portfolio 5 Things to Know

Andy Warhol: Myths Portfolio

5 Things to Know
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Andy Warhol’s Myths portfolio from 1981 features icons from popular culture who shaped the collective consciousness of twentieth century America. Below, discover 5 Things to Know about the Myths Portfolio.

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2. The process of creating the Myths began with a photo shoot
Andy Warhol
The Witch , 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust on Lenox Museum Board
97 x 97 cm

2. The process of creating the Myths began with a photo shoot

Warhol would invite actors, models and friends to his studio, which was staged like a film set, to photograph them whilst dressed in costumes and makeup. The resulting preparatory polaroids were then enlarged and became the basis of his portraits. The model for The Witch was Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland. Hamilton lived in Warhol’s neighbourhood: he approached the actress and invited her to a photo shoot where she recreated her iconic poses from the movie.

The theatricality of these instantly recognisable characters parallels Warhol’s own highly curated, enigmatic image. A social chameleon, he enjoyed dressing up, wearing wigs, and adopting various ‘masks’ to reflect his environment.

3. The Myths portfolio is a testament to the influence of comic books on the young Warhol
Andy Warhol
Myths: Superman, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust on Lenox Museum Board
96.5 x 96.5 cm
Edition of 200 (+ 5 EP, 12 HC, 30 AP, 5 PP, 30 TP)

3. The Myths portfolio is a testament to the influence of comic books on the young Warhol

For Warhol, comic books were a source of comfort during a childhood characterised by illness. Confined to his bed for months at a time, the young Warhol found solace and empowerment in the fantastical world of superheroes, symbolic of transcending the human condition.

Indeed, animation and comic characters appeared early in Warhol’s oeuvre. In 1961, he used comic book imagery to portray Superman as the subject of one of his earlier Pop Art paintings. Many years later, Warhol interviewed Christopher Reeve, star of the 1978 Superman film, for a feature in Interview magazine. The subsequent inclusion of Superman in Myths simultaneously embodies the futuristic innovation of the post-war boom years and the powerful nostalgia of childhood.

4. The inclusion of Mickey Mouse reflects Warhol’s longstanding love of Disney
Andy Warhol
Myths: Mickey Mouse , 1981
Screenprint with Diamond Dust on Lenox Museum Board
96.5 x 96.5 cm
Edition of 200 (+ 30 AP, 5 PP, 5 EP, 4 HC, 30 TP)

4. The inclusion of Mickey Mouse reflects Warhol’s longstanding love of Disney

Perhaps the most instantly recognisable figure in the Myths portfolio is the character of Mickey Mouse – an enduring symbol of modern Americana. Embellished with Warhol’s signature diamond dust, the cartoon is elevated from popular culture to the realm of fine art. Warhol greatly admired Walt Disney and was an avid collector of the original Disney celluloids used in the animation process. Before embarking on the Myths series, Warhol considered the idea of creating a portfolio dedicated entirely to Disney characters. While this project never came to fruition, the theme of Disney re-emerged with Donald Duck featuring in his Ads series a few years later.  

Warhol himself was transformed into a hybrid version of the cartoon mouse by his friend, the artist Keith Haring, in his series of works entitled Andy Mouse. By portraying Warhol as a Mickey-like figure, Haring immortalised the artist as an American icon. As Haring explained: ‘It’s like treating [Warhol] like he was part of American culture, like Mickey Mouse was. That he himself had become a symbol, a sign for something completely, universally, understandable.’

5. Warhol inserted himself into the Myths series
Andy Warhol
The Shadow, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust on Lenox Museum Board
96.5 x 96.5 cm
Edition of 200 (+ 30 AP, 5 PP, 5 EP, 1–12 HC, 30 TP)

5. Warhol inserted himself into the Myths series

Myths not only acts as cultural mirror for twentieth-century America, but also contains a self-expressive element. Warhol was famous for cultivating an aura of artifice, adopting a persona and responding to interview questions with evasive aphorisms. ‘If you want to know all about Andy Warhol’, he once glibly remarked, ‘just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am.’

This proclivity for self-mythologisation is evident in Warhol’s insertion of himself into the Myths series, casting himself as ‘The Shadow’, the crime-fighting hero of a 1930s radio show and comic book. For this self-portrait, Warhol’s mysterious double image reflects his multifaceted nature, appearing as an omniscient and shadowy figure overseeing his ‘pantheon of mythological Americana’.

 

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