Andy Warhol. Seven Illustrated Books 1952-1959

In the 1950s, Andy Warhol created seven handmade artists books, featuring personal drawings and texts revealing his fondness for cats, food, myths, shoes, beautiful boys, and gorgeous girls. TASCHEN has published an XL-sized volume containing reprints of these books, with titles such as Love Is a Pink Cake, 25 Cats Named Sam, and À la Recherche du Shoe Perdu. The series showcases Warhol's off-the-wall character, accomplished draftsmanship, creativity, and humor.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 07 June 2023
Publisher: Taschen GmbH

Before his name became synonymous with the 20th century, Andy Warhol was a skilled and successful commercial artist in 1950s New York. As part of his strategy to attract clients and form friendships, he created seven handmade artist books, reserved exclusively for his most valued contacts. These books featured personal, unique drawings and quirky texts that revealed Warhol's fondness for various subjects, including cats, food, myths, shoes, beautiful boys, and gorgeous girls.

Decades later, with originals now fetching thousands of dollars at auction, TASCHEN has published an XL-sized volume containing meticulous reprints of these seven books. The titles, such as Love Is a Pink Cake, 25 Cats Named Sam, and À la Recherche du Shoe Perdu, showcase Warhol's off-the-wall character and his accomplished draftsmanship, boundless creativity, and innuendo-laced humor.

This book playfully explores various styles and genres, including A Is for Alphabet, which dedicates a page to each letter of the alphabet, accompanied by stumbling three-line verses that depict strange encounters between man and animal. In the Bottom of My Garden, Warhol takes a twist on a children's book, while also covertly celebrating gay love. Wild Raspberries serves as a spoof cookbook, featuring a cornucopia of adventurous recipes and illustrations.

Additionally, this volume includes introductions for each of Warhol's illustrations, providing context to his 1950s art and offering a glimpse into his early creative process as well as his endearing, playful character. These hand-drawn delights, previously unknown and highly sought after, remain as appealing and original today as they were back in the 1950s.

Weight: 2254g
Dimension: 259 x 349 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783836592581
Edition number: Multilingual ed