Reigning Queens by Andy Warhol

Artwork Information
Signed, Unnumbered
334 Queen Elizabeth Size 39×31 Inches
335 Queen Elizabeth Size 39×31 Inches
336 Queen Elizabeth Size 39×31 Inches
337Queen Elizabeth II F.S. II Size 39 x 31 Inches
338 Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands FS II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
339 Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands F.S. II Size 39.5 x 31.5 Inches
340 Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands F.S. II Size 39×31 Inches
341 Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands II Size 39×31 Inches
342 Queen Margrethe II Of Denmark F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
343 Queen Margrethe II Size 39×31 Inches
344 Queen Margrethe II Of Denmark F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
345 Queen Margrethe II Size 39×31 InchesInches
346 Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
347 Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
348 Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches
349 Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland F.S. II Size 39.4 x 31.5 Inches

Description

Queen Elizabeth’s portrait is made from a photograph taken in 1977 for her Silver Jubilee. The photographic silkscreen technique used is central to Warhol’s practice, employed in both his prints and paintings.

The same basic image of each queen appears in each of her four prints but they vary in color. This print has a primarily red background and features graphic shapes printed from separate screens. Warhol began working in this style in the mid-1970s, fragmenting the image with various overlaid shapes and patches of color. In contrast to his earlier prints where the appearance of impersonal, mechanical reproduction was essential to their meaning, these interventions in the image gave the work a deliberately ‘artistic’ look. In many of his female portraits, such as here, the multicolored surfaces and suggestion of make-up enhance the glamour and femininity of the subjects. With characteristic ambivalence, Warhol explained his additions to these later prints as immaterial:

‘I really would still rather do just a silkscreen of the face without all the rest, but people expect just a little bit more. That’s why I put in all the drawing.’

The loud and vivid use of color sparks attention to the subject and creates a solid movement around the portrait drawing attention to her piercing eyes and gentle facial renderings. Completed by Warhol in 1985, the Reigning Queens series includes Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. Andy Warhol created the Reigning Queens series during the mid-1980s, arguably his most prolific period.