African Elephant (F. & S. II.293)
African Elephant (F. & S. II.293)
Signed Print
Andy Warhol
£150,000-£230,000Value Indicator
$310,000-$470,000 Value Indicator
$280,000-$420,000 Value Indicator
¥1,440,000-¥2,210,000 Value Indicator
€170,000-€270,000 Value Indicator
$1,580,000-$2,420,000 Value Indicator
¥29,940,000-¥45,910,000 Value Indicator
$200,000-$310,000 Value Indicator
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97 x 97cm, Edition of 150, Screenprint
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Meaning & Analysis
Printed in 1983, African Elephant (F. & S. II.293) is a signed screen print in colour on Lenox Museum Board by Andy Warhol. The print depicts an African Elephant, one of the most sought-after animals for poaching in the world due to their ivory tusks. The elephant is rendered in pink with multicoloured hand-drawn lines accentuating its aged body. Unlike other prints in this series, in which the animals are extracted from their natural habitats, rendered against a plain backdrop, the Giant Elephant here is shown against a Sub-Saharan background.
African Elephant (F. & S. II.293) is part of the Endangered Species series, commissioned in 1983 by New York gallerists and environmental activists, Ronald and Frayda Feldman. The aim of the commission was to raise awareness about threatened wildlife and the threat of climate change, hunting and deforestation on the natural ecosystem. This series is more political than Warhol’s other series like Ads or Campbell’s Soup, which focus on consumer culture and commercialism. The series is also more personal than the other series focussing on everyday consumer goods, as Warhol himself was an animal lover and had a keen interest in nature and wildlife.
The print was made using Warhol’s signature screen printing technique. The overstated multicoloured gestural lines emphasise the elephant’s grandeur and impressive physique, adding dynamism to its body in motion. By transforming the elephant into a work of Pop Art, Warhol is demanding people look at it and pay attention to the threat humanity is posing to this species’ existence. Through the Pop Art aesthetic, the elephant becomes a cultural icon that is impossible to ignore.
Andy Warhol was a leading figure of the Pop Art movement and is often considered the father of Pop Art. Born in 1928, Warhol allowed cultural references of the 20th century to drive his work. From the depiction of glamorous public figures, such as Marilyn Monroe, to the everyday Campbell’s Soup Can, the artist challenged what was considered art by blurring the boundaries between high art and mass consumerism. Warhol's preferred screen printing technique further reiterated his obsession with mass culture, enabling art to be seen as somewhat of a commodity through the reproduced images in multiple colour ways.
