FOLIA 175 Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia Anglica IV (2014)

Marek Kucharski Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL’S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS

Abstract a complex phenomenon, full of ambiguity and binary oppositions. The same could be said Commonly associated with pop art and consumerism, Andy Warhol’s artistic output is ethnic origins, as well as his family background, exerted a profound influence on his art and about his life in which religion, though not explicitly, played a domineering role. Warhol’s can be easily seen in his various realizations, with particular intensity in the last decade of Keyhis artistic words: activity. ambiguity, dichotomy, icon, pop art, transcendence

The aim of my paper is to analyze the selected religious motifs which permeate alsoAndy focus Warhol’s on theartistic idiosyncratic output. I willcharacter put special of religious emphasis references on the motif which, of icon, always the concept of which was completely redefined in his serigraphic realizations. I will the end of his life. present in Warhol’s artistic production, started to dominate in his work towards dualism which consistently manifested itself in the binary oppositions that can The complexity of Warhol’s approach towards pop art can be proved by the

Eastbe observed – the West, in his the artistic sacred oeuvre: – the profane. highbrow Similar culture dichotomies – lowbrow characterizeculture, artistic his religiousindividualism paintings. – mass-production, anonymity – fame, the private – the public, the

Warhol’s involvement in applying religious motifs into his production was foura gradual periods process during which which actually his spannedworks displayedthe whole periodreligious of hisor artisticquasi-religious activity. When analyzing his visual realizations in religious context, one could distinguish commercialproperties: thecharacter, earliest he was also the produced 1950s a – series the beginnings of religious of designs, Warhol’s which activity is best as a graphic designer in New York. It was then that besides the projects of chiefly exemplified by the Christmas cards for Tiffany & Co. The next period was the 1960s – the time dominated by creating iconic representations of objects of everyday use [46] Marek Kucharski

raceand portraitsriots, car ofcrashes, American suicides, representatives H-bomb explosions, of the world images of politics of electric and pop chairs, culture. as It was also the period that witnessed making the series focusing on such issues as portraitswell as photographs and producing of thirteen the series most of wanted Skulls and men. self-portraits The 1970s was with the skulls, continuation as well ofas theabstract above Shadows trend with the tendency towards painting artistically sophisticated

. And finally the 1980s – the decade during whichLast Supper. Warhol continuedwas also around painting that portraits time that and Warhol embarked produced on creatingthe series travesties of Crosses of and the Eggs classic. Renaissance paintings with special regard to Leonardo da Vinci’s It famous as a graphic designer whose artistic output is commonly associated with Provocatively dubbed the Pope of Pop, Andy Warhol (1928–1987) became the serigraphic renditions of Campbell’s soup cans and the garish silkscreen portraits of Marilyn Monroe. It goes without saying, however, that his artistic legacy is a very complex phenomenon in which the motif of icon, understood theliterarily religious and motifs figuratively, constantly constantly present recurs. in his Warhol’srealizations. artistic Looking oeuvre at the during artistic his whole life underwent a constant dynamic evolution, which can also be referred to saying that by creating silkscreen icons of pop-culture, in the second period of his development of the most famous representative of pop-art, one could venture the borderline between the truth and fiction. artisticAlthough activity, born he created in Pittsburgh, himself USA,as an Andyiconic Warhol character remained and in doing throughout so effaced his whole life under a strong influence of the ethnic culture of his parents: Andrej and Julia Warhola.1 They were both Carpatho-Rysyn poor immigrants of Lemko origins, who arrived in USA from the village of Miková, which is situated in the present-day Slovakia. Both Andrej and Julia were ardent followers of Greek Catholic religion, culture.regularly On attending the kitchen services wall hungin the a localcheap orthodox copy of the church Last ofSupper St John by Chrysostom.Leonardo da Their house was full of devotional items mixed with the products of American mass 2 mélange Vinci, the esthetic counterpoint of which were the cartons of Kellog’s cornflakes, artistCampbell’s whose soup life andcans artistic or Coca-Cola output bottles.was always This characterized peculiar iconospheric by strong dualism, whichtogether manifested with the itselfregular by thevisits aforementioned at the local church binary became oppositions. specific fuel for the of icon as a form of religious painting. From his early childhood both at home and A similar dichotomy can be applied to Warhol’s understanding of the concept By sheer coincidence rather than as a result of an intentional denial of his ethnic origins,1 Warhol dropped the final a he had signed in this way one of his New York drawings (J. D. Dillenberger, The Religious Art of Andy Warhol in his surname, which took place as early as 1942 when

2 (New York, 1998), p. 21). By the term ‘iconosphere’ I understand a set of visual,Ikonosfera auditory and olfactoryIkonosfera stimuli and phenomena which through constant exposition to shape one’s psyche and consciousness, the concept postulated by Mieczysław Porębski in his book (M. Porębski, (Warszawa, 1972), pp. 18, 271). RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL'S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS [47] at the local church, Warhol was exposed to the iconic images of saints and religious wasscenes. represented Although by developed such painters in the as times Jackson of Pollock, triumph Mark and hegemonyRothko and of Willem Abstract de Expressionism, which dominated the American artistic scene in the 1950s and realizations comprised silkscreen renditions of the American historic heroes, such Kooning, Warhol’s art remained predominantly figurative. The scope of his artistic as general George Custer, two presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and J. F. Kennedy and celebritiesthe Indian chiefof the Geronimo, world of politics, the icons science of American and literature, pop culture, which such was as, incarnated among many in others, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and John Wayne, as well as the international the portraits of Vladimir Lenin, Albert Einstein, Mick Jagger and Gertrude Stein. ofObjects Brillo and soap products pads and of Coca-Cola everyday bottles,use were to treated mention in justa similar a few. iconic Towards way, the which end can be exemplified by Warhol’s graphic renditions of Campbell’s soup cans, cartons transition from an artist-producer towards the high priest of contemporary art. of his life Warhol became an icon of pop-art himself, undergoing the evolutionary

CatholicIn the and process Orthodox of creating sacred his pictures, silkscreen popularly realizations, referred Warhol to drewas icons, on the which rich duringtradition his of childhood East European spent religiousin industrial art. HisPittsburgh inspiration considerably derived from influenced the Greek his iconosphere. An icon is a cult picture formed in the Eastern Christian art, depicting saints, as the Fayum mummy portraits from the Coptic period,3 as well as the Early Christian wellCatacomb as biblical paintings. and liturgical4 The main scenes. types Its of iconsprototypical and the originsmanner can of painting be traced or back rather to the Byzantine art influence which it was directly followed by. The idiom of writing iconswriting was them defined were during established the Second during Council the period of Nicea of Iconoclasm in 787 AD. and According the period to the of rules which were established then, the composition of icons could not be based and tradition. The icons were, therefore, painted according to the specific canon andon the the artist’s painters invention, were expected but was tosubject display to themystic strict and principles ascetic approach set by the towards Church the rendered subject. Execution of the richly adorned pictures was not performed artists. The mystic character of the realizations was emphasized by the fact that theyby a weresingle not painter, painted but but resulted written, from which the was collective meant endeavorto only highlight of two orthe several direct relationshipThe best between example the of the artist influence and the which Creator. the Fayum Painting coffin of portraits icons, having exerted its on roots Andy 3 family, who stares forth with something of the mute appeal seen in the eyes of the ancient portraitsWarhol is from his 1973Fayum, portrait Egypt (J.of D.Katie Dillenberger, Jones, a member op. cit. of the multi-millionaire Schlumberger before the death of the subjects, thus they bear strong resemblance to the deceased. The poignant portraits depict the characters whose conspicuous, p. 28). The eyes Fayum are riveting, portraits claiming were done the moment but focused beyond time (ibid K. Onasch, A. Schnieper, Ikony. Fakty i legendy 4 ., p. 28). (Warszawa, 2013), pp. 14–17. [48] Marek Kucharski

fellin the on Hellenistic the period East, between developed the fourteenth in the area andof the sixteenth Byzantine centuries. culture influence,From the particularly in the territory of Greece, the Balkans region and Ruthenia. Its heyday of the genre was caused by the growing influence of the Western culture.5 beginning of the seventeenth century its popularity started to wane. The decline one should be aware of the distinction between the concepts of the icon and iconicity.When The discussing prototypical the meaning iconic character of the word of Andyicon as Warhol’s a religious artistic picture output, still remains the same. However, the very concept of an icon has undergone a semantic whichevolution, can particularlybe best exemplified in recent by years. the Derivedeasily recognized from the Byzantineicons that civilization, appear on a contemporary icon is still a figurative image, often assuming the form of a symbol, meaning,computer canscreens. also beIconicity, referred defined to a set in of functional-cognitive characteristics attributed linguistics, to a asparticular well as personsemiotics, or asobject. the conceived6 similarity or analogy between the form of a sign and its politicians. The contemporary iconostases are also decorated with the commonly Consequently, there appear iconic sportsmen, artists or even 7 worshippedwas the flagship trademarks, icon of popnames art of himself, companies the distinctionor simply objects in question of everyday is blurred. use (Smorąg-Różycka,His serigraphic renditions p. 65). Indo thenot casedepict of saints, the realizations or religious of Andyscenes, Warhol, which whowas the original purpose of the Byzantine icons, but the characters associated with the household names, instantly identified in the world of mass culture. The same also endowed with the cultic attributes. The artist is no longer a mystic high priest, refers to the objects of everyday use, which in the epoch of mass consumerism are chiefly interested in his own income and fame. The difference between the sacred andresembling the profane the Orthodoxceases to exist.Church The painter, fake replaces Andrei theRublev, original. but becomes All these aproperties producer and his work, Warhol becomes somehow the precursor of Postmodernism in which can be found in Warhol’s artistic output. By redefining the concept of an artist definition of which is full of ambiguities and contradictions. the notion of artistic religiousness assumes a new, previously unknown form, the

Despite instigating and being involved himself in numerous social and artistic scandals and excesses, Andy Warhol remained a devout Catholic and towards the end of his life became an exceedingly and deeply religious person. It was Yorkemphasized City on Aprilin the 1 stfunerary speech delivered by the art critic, John Richardson during the mass celebrated after Warhol’s death at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New Besides celebrating, 1987. Andy The Warhol beginning as the quintessential of Richardson’s artist eulogy of his goes time as and follows: place –

theSłownik artist Terminologicznywho held the most Sztuk revealing Pięknych mirror up to his generation – I’d like to recall 5 Teorie literatury XX wieku 6 (Warszawa, 2002), s.v. „Ikona”, pp. 156, 157.

7 A. Burzyńska, P. M. Markowski, (Kraków, 2007), p. 252. M. Smorąg-Różycka, „Andy Warhol tworzy ikony”, [in:] Warhol Konteksty (Kraków, 2012), p. 65. RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL'S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS [49]

a side of his character that he hid from all but his closest friends: his spiritual side. Those of you who knew him in circumstances that were the antithesis of spiritual may

psyche.8 be surprised that such a side existed. But exist it did, and it’s the key to the artist’s

Warhol himself hardly ever admitted to his religious side as it Interview stood in contradiction to the image of an emancipated artist he was very willing to be compared with. In the interview he gave to Lee Radziwiłł for the magazine in March 1975, he explicitly, but slightly ironically, mentioned his visits to the church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he regularly participated in the liturgical observances. Here are a few excerpts from this interview:

“Lee Radziwiłł: Did you go to Church today Andy? Andy Warhol: Yes, but I only stayed a minute. Lee Radziwiłł: Why? and left right as it was starting. […] Andy Warhol: Because I thought I was going to be late. I got there right before it started

Lee Radziwiłł: This is pretty personal, but do you ever take Communion?9 Andy Warhol: Well – I never feel that I do anything bad. But I do take”

There were also revealed some facts concerning Warhol’s charitable Rest.activities. Waiting It was on the possible poor and to meet needy, him it inwas New in these York’s places poorhouses that Warhol and kitchens cast off thefor themask homeless, of a celebrity. particularly10 in the shelter run by the Church of the Heavenly

The religious side of Andy Warhol is best revealedLast by theSupper motifs which started to weave their way with particular intensity in his late Renaissancerealizations, onemasterpiece of the last was of which used bywas Julia his Warholaserigraphic as atravesty bookmark series in herof the prayer by Leonardo da Vinci. It is worth mentioning that a photograph copy of the book. The above facts only confirm the complexity of Warhol’s psyche, remaining in opposition to the commonly known iconic, though sometimes outrageous even Cinderella.by today’s standards, image of the artist who was popularly dubbed Drella. He was a man full of moral ambivalence, bearing at the same time the traits of Dracula and background,Jane Daggett which Dillenberger was of crucial postulates importance, that there they weremay severalbe traced reasons back towhich the earlymay account days of forhis Warhol’schildhood. involvement As a child, inWarhol religious suffered issues. from Apart three from attacks the family of St.

VitusThe illness Dance, resulted also known in his long as Sydenham’s confinement chorea, to bed, awhich nervous finally disorder, contributed marked to his by spasmodic movements of the limbs and facial muscles and by lack of coordination. op. cit., p. 13. 8 Interview Quoted after Dillenberger, 9 Andy Warhol. Życie i śmierć 10 L. Radziwiłł, “Communion sometimes”, , 3 (1975). V. Bockris, (Warszawa, 2012), p. 556. [50] Marek Kucharski social isolation, subsequently augmented by the speech disorder he tried to conceal was during those long periods of idleness that the strong bond between the eight- by being silent or reducing his answers or comments only to laconic utterances. It nursed her youngest son with great affection. She also became his first artistic year-oldcollaborator, Andy which and his is motherbest exemplified developed. by A devoutthe whimsically Rusyn Byzantine illustrated Catholic, books Julia on cats.11 12 The intimate relationship was embodied in Warhol’s portrait of Julia in death.which Theher facerecurrent bears deatha strong themes resemblance are also deeplyto her son’srooted features. in his infancy.13 At the age Warhol’s preoccupation with religious issues is often linked with the motif of yet another traumatic experience. His father had tuberculosis as a result of which of fourteen, having undergone a long period of convalescence, he was exposed to he was housebound from 1939 until his death in 1942. Drawing on Warhol’s elder bedbrother and Paul’srefused recollection, to look at theDillenberger body, which gives was the laid following out, as account:was the custom“[…] when of thehis Rusynfather’s Byzantine body was Catholics brought inback the from Warhola the hospital,home.”14 Andy, terrified, hid under his death motifs intensified in his adulthood, particularly after June 3rd Warhol’s obsessive interest in , 1968, which and,is the according date of the to attempthis collaborator, on his life Bob perpetrated Colacello: “promisedby Valerie Solanas,God to go a toderanged church feminist and script writer. Although declared dead at one point, Warhol15 survived every Sunday if he lived and he kept to the letter of that promise.” workingIt is on worth the quintessentially mentioning that Pop even series before Campbell’s the aforementioned Soup Cans, he nearly embarked fatal accident,on a new Warholchapter displayedin his artistic excessive output interest by “launching in the a concept new era of in death. the history When of art.”16 the photograph that he saw in the copy of New York Mirror on June 4th The event which became the catalyst for adopting this approach was that moment on that Warhol began to be preoccupied with morbid subjects, 1962. and, It accordingdepicted the to wreckKlaus Honnef,of the plane became which “a crashed,true artist” killing17 by 129 reconciling passengers. his commercial It was from

The series of Death and Disaster marks the beginning of the period in which Warholactivity reachedwith producing maturity pictures as an renderedartist. Simultaneously in a serious vein. produced, his Pop works remained in dramatic contrast with the macabre renditions of the pictures of

Life magazine and the popular press. They presented the wrecks of the car bodies violent death. The series was based on the photographs culled from the tabloids, Dillenberger, op. cit 11 Bockris, op. cit., p. 427. ., pp. 19–22. 12 Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 20. 13 Ibid., p. 20. 14 Ibid., p. 31. 15 K. Honnef, Warhol 16 Ibid., p. 45. 17 (Köln, 2007), p. 45. RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL'S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS [51] together with the distorted corpses of the casualties. The pictures were jolting in their immediacy and the effect they produced had a wrenching impact on the 18 The same refers to the silkscreened paintings of suicides, the atomic bomb explosions, the electric chairs and race riots. Dillenberger compares the Deathviewer. and Disaster series to a contemporary dance of death, reminiscent of similar realizations rendered by the sixteenth century German painter Hans Holbein. According to Honnef, the Thirteen Most Wanted Men portraits, the pictures that19 Death and Disaster series. What is more, Honnef links them to the serigraphic series of come from the FBI’s criminal records, represent20 the same category as the 21 The pictures in the series Suicide Marilyn Monroe’s posthumous portraits. The same referenceElectric is Chairsmade ,by the Warhol’s series basedbiographer, on the Victor photograph Bockris. of the execution chamber in Sing Sing state(Fallen penitentiary Body) are inmeditative New York, and Dillenberger elegiac in theirasserts tone. that When the somber it comes monochromatic to images of the is transformed from a grotesque instrument of death into a numinous object, suggestingdeath-dealing transcendence, instrument evoke much religiousas the cross, associations. which was In herused opinion for a particular“the chair 22 The motif of the skull as a memento mori heralds yet another series which cruel kind of execution, is seen in Christian art as a symbol pointing to salvation.”

Warholtestifies made to Warhol’s a series obsessive of self-portraits interest with in the a skull. concept The of rendition death. Drawing of the topic on the in long tradition of similar representationsYoung Man in Holding the history a Skull of, the art, portrait in the seventies made in depictionsits form resembles called vanitas Frans, theHals’s paintings which were reminders of the transience the seventeenth century. By doing so, Warhol inscribed his work in the series of time.23 Skulls. Dillenberger of life and inevitability of death, the issues that Warhol was fully aware of at the In 1976 he produced a series of paintings entitled 24 assertsShe also that points the to very the topicrelationship echoes betweencontemporary the skulls concerns, and the such fetal-shaped as the rampant black spreadshadows of that AIDS they and cast. the The increasing striking threats juxtaposition of nuclear seems and to ecologicalremain in accorddisasters. with the recurring theme of the transience of life. The resurgence of the motif of death is

Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 66. 18 Ibid., p. 67. 19 Honnef, op. cit., pp. 62, 63. 20 Bockris, op. cit., p. 200. 21 Dillenberger, op. cit., pp. 70, 71. 22 The execution of the paintings took place nearly eight years after the assassination 23 spleen, oesophagus, and both lungs. As a result of it, till the end of his life, he had to wear attempt by Valerie Solanas. The two bullets fired at close range penetrated Warhol’s stomach, downthe surgical (Bockris, corset. op. cit. In Richard Avedonow’s picture taken after Warhol’s convalescence, he stands, in the pose resembling Christ, exposing his wounds, the corset having been pulled Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 71. 24 , p. 376). [52] Marek Kucharski together. The black and white pictures were commissioned by the Swiss art alsojournal exemplified Parkett and in a weregroup originally of Warhol’s meant last works to symbolize depicting the four spirit skeletons of Switzerland. stitched enigmatic abstract paintings titled Shadows. The realizations were executed in the Themanner scope of abstract of works expressionists, produced during such theas Mark decade Rothko also and comprises Barnett Warhol’sNewman, mostboth of whom addressed religious issues by trying to express the idea of the Sublime eschatological question of mortality and the end of time.”25 in theirThe paintings. religious character Dillenberger of the claims aforementioned that meditation works on of theart isseries clearly “evokes apparent. the

Being a direct reference to the hill of Golgotha, the place of Christ’s crucifixion, the motif of the skull is deeply rooted in the history of European iconography.Death and In DisasterWarhol’s series case, seenfocuses in the on contextthe meaning of the of assassination life as contrasted attempt with that sudden he miraculously death. The Electricsurvived, Chair it is also a reminder of the fragility of human existence. The by the electric chair compared to the cross imply transcendence. The Shadows touch upon eschatology.paintings through the juxtaposition of death and salvation symbolized

In the 1980s, which is the lastSaint decade George of and Warhol’s the Dragon activity, and he Saint embarked Apollonia on, producing a seriesSistine of travesties Madonna of the selected Madonnaworks of delEuropean Duca da Renaissance, Montefeltro, such as Piero della Francesca’sAnnunciation and Last Supper. The series, which was titledRaphael Details Santi’s of Renaissance Paintings, Paulo Uccello’s as well as Leonardo da Vinci’s his interest in traditional European, painting, echoed Warhol’s particularly early the Pittsburgh Old Masters. years, when by attending art classes in the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he developed ofTowards his religious the end works of Warhol’s were done.”life, his26 concern with religious issues considerably deepened. Dillenberger claims that “it was during those last five years that most of graphics, using eggs as a motif. Apart from the aforementioned figurative travesties, in 1982 he also made a series of paintings of the cross, as well as a series is titled The Warhola Livingroom The element of the cross appears in one of Warhol’s juvenile paintings, which . In the picture, the interior is deprived of the icons thatwhich for originally Warhol “art hung and on religion the walls. were What linked strikes from the an viewerearly age.” is the27 The cross conspicuous put on the mantelpiece. It is the cross used during his father’s funeral, which only confirms New York residence at 57 East 66th carved New Mexican crucifix also appears in the photograph of the bedroom of his Street into which he moved in 1974. Set against a velvety background, the 1982 Warhol’s image of the scarlet single cross levitates before the viewer. Its insubstantial character seems to deny any links with the cross ofIbid crucifixion.., p. 63. In another realization, commissioned for the exhibition in 25 Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 48. 26 Ibid 27 ., p. 19. RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL'S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS [53] randomly put in rows. They are reminiscent of the crosses seen in the military Madrid, entitled “Guns, Knives, and28 The Crosses,” egg as two-dimensionala symbol stands for crucifixes immortality are or resurrection. The tradition of painting Easter eggs, so called pysanky, is practicedcemeteries by of Catholics, the Spanish including Civil War. the followers of the Rusyn Byzantine Church. 29The practice was instilled into the young Warhol by his mother, and, during his boyhood years, he would often give egg designs as presents to friends and customers at aEastertime. kind doxology. The 30paintings of 1982 introduce the eggs which balance freely against the black background, and in the context of religious imagery can be perceived as

The travesties of the Renaissance paintingsAnnunciation focus, onit is the the selected upper part details of the of the original pictures. They were made in 1984 and 1985, that is a few years before Warhol’s death. In the case of Leonardo’s masterpiece that attracted Warhol’s interest. In his rendition of the painting he eliminated the figures of the Virgin and the Archangel Gabriel. Instead, the viewer can see only their hands set against the landscape dominated by a violet31 Themountain same and the red sky. Their hands may convey the idea of communicationMadonna between del Duca the da Montefeltro.heavenly messenger and the earthly recipient of the divine message. ploy was applied in the travesty of Piero della Francesca’s resembling an The egg, viewer hangs. sees The neithersurrealist the element Madonna implying nor her an entourage. egg in a womb Warhol’s can attention is riveted on a Renaissance niche from the top of which an ovoid object, St. George and the Dragon. Thisbe associated time it is with a marginal the serigraphic element imageswhich wasof Easter cut out eggs. from It is the also original a cropped painting. detail that interests Warhol in his translation of Paolo Uccello’s a strong resemblance to a comic strip, implying that heroic saints were replaced byThe pop dragon’s culture wing characters and its spikyin the tail contemporary together with iconography. the head of32 the princess bear interpretation of the Sistine Madonna by Raphael is another Renaissance painting Warhol’s playful that he turned to. It is noteworthy that the image wasLast used Supper as a. coverThe contours for the Warhol of the Memorial Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1987. The rendition looks forward to theWarhol’s last of serigraphic his realizations. series basedWarhol on manipulates Leonardo’s the elements of the original by placingcharacters them and freely the obtrusivewithin the price frames tag of herald his design. the ideas The finaldeveloped result extensivelyis jolting. The in Modern Madonna and Mother and Child, which are reminiscent of similar topics addressed motifin Byzantine of the Virgin icons. with Infant Jesus recalls similar realizations, such as

Ibid., p. 45. 28 Probably thanks to Ukrainian immigrants, the word pysanka is commonly used in the American29 and Canadian dialects of English. Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 48. 30 Ibid., p. 48. 31 Ibid., p. 50. 32 [54] Marek Kucharski works are, let me carry out a brief analysis of one of his last renditions, that is To prove how deeply set in the religiousLast Supper context Andy Warhol’s selected his travesty of the aforementioned the by Leonardo da Vinci. The subject,Passover Warhol meal that produced Jesus had his with own hisinterpretation disciples has of always the Renaissance been a popular masterpiece motif in art. Its earliest images date from the fifth century. As a result of referring to the fresco. It resulted from the commission the idea of which was hatched by the Paris meantgallerist, to beAlexandre exhibited Iolas, in the who Palazzo also arranged Stelline infor Milan, the Milan which bank is situated Credito-Valtellines in the close to sponsor the enterprise in 1984. A suite of paintings based on the theme was vicinity of the church Santa Maria delle Grazie, where the dilapidatedLast original Supper is. kept. Devoting a year to its realization, Warhol considerably exceeded the scope of the order by creating over a hundred painterly interpretations of the Through his involvement he revealed his nearly obsessive interest in the theme. He mediated da Vinci’s ideas by working on a cheap, popular, black and white Encyclopediaphotography of thePainters engraving and Painting of the original,. The photograph which was popularwas used in asthe a nineteenth model for screenplayscentury. He alsoand theapplied picture a schematic was applied outline as a mediumdrawing, of which tracing he the found contours in the of 1913 the selected details of the original painting.

By drawing on the pop-cultural iconosphere, Warhol covered da Vinci’s endowedpainting them with with the trademarksreligious properties. of some Dillenberger distinctive affirms products that of the everyday Wise Potato use, occasionally labeling them with their price tags. In doing so he seems to have wisdom.Chips logo,33 which resembles an owlLas andSupper rotates (The before Big C) the viewer, obscuring the Apostlesexplicitly onreligious. Christ’s “The right Big hand, C” stands that isfor John, the slogan Judas “Canand Peter, the Mind symbolizes Act as a Cancerdivine In the canvas entitled the imagery is even more withCure?” Christ. It appears34 thatLast for Warhol,Supper (Dove) who, due to his childhood, as well as adulthood experience, was very much anxious about his health, “The Big C” is synonymous In the Warhol used the religious imagery even more extensively. In his translation of the original he put the figure of Christ whereasbetween theelectric following light istwo associated logos: Dove with from power. soap GE packages is the symbol and GE forfrom the packaged creator, light bulbs. His intention seems to be obvious. The dove symbolizes cleanliness, constitute the concept of the Holy Trinity.35 the dove epitomizes the Holy Spirit. Together with the sketchy figure of Christ they of the details which he subsequently exposed in the multiplied series of images. In the decomposed and transformed original Warhol outlined the contours connotations of death, especially that of Jesus. As it was typical of his idiom, in Although the dominant colors are bright, the figures are black, evoking the Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 86. 3433 Ibid Ibid 35 ., p. 92. ., p. 93. RELIGIOUS MOTIFS IN ANDY WARHOL'S SELECTED VISUAL REALIZATIONS [55] with the outlined images of Jesus Christ and the inscriptions attributed to Jean- Michelanother Basquiat, version, Warholwhich had shocked the word the audience Judge as withtheir several focus. punching bags adorned a direct reference to the series of his abstract realizations Finally, which he heoverlaid produced one of the versions of the figurative original with an abstract camouflage. This was worktowards in thea new end context of his life, by drawing treating on it theas ideasa product postulated which by can the be representatives multiplied or ratherof Abstract mass-produced Expressionism. and soldIn his in ownlarge specific numbers way, in theWarhol form presented of tacky copies.da Vinci’s By incorporating the pattern of camouflage and shrouding the Last Supper with it, of contradictions, always appearing in disguise and masking his real self. He might Warhol might have intended to make an attempt at defining himself as a man full marines which, fascinated with the modern electronic mass-media, he could see have as well recalled the camouflages that appeared on the uniforms of American been his ambiguous stance on religious issues.36 on the TV screen. Another interpretation of using this specific cover-up might have

In a specific and laconic way Warhol renounced such interpretations, which can be best exemplified by the fragment of the last interview he gave to Paul Taylor in April of 1987: similarity between you at the Factory and Jesus at the Last Supper P.T.: “In America, you could be almost as famous as Charles Manson. Is there any ?” […] A.W.: “That’s negative, to me it’s negative. I don’t want to talk about negative things” P.T.: “Does the Last Supper 37 theme mean anything in particular to you?” A.W.: “No, it’s a good picture” of theIt Lastseems Supper that theas hisspiritual artistic tone credo, of Warhol’s it needs lastto be realization admitted isthat in contradictionit constitutes thewith quintessence his words. Although of the complexity it is hard of to his acknowledge style by referring Andy Warhol’s directly tointerpretation his religious realizations, be it a series of electric chairs, plane and car crashes, burning cars beliefs. There had always been a serious or even tragic streak in Warhol’s of Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe bear the stamp of death. The former and street riots or portraits of the most wanted men. Even the serigraphic images was rendered right after J. F. Kennedy’s assassination, the latter the day after fullMonroe’s emphasize death. the The intriguing idiosyncratic ambiguity idiom of of his Warhol’s works. various The same realizations refers to andhis constant presence of binary oppositions of which his artistic oeuvre was always the most prominent example of. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Warhol is renditions of religious themes, which his travesty of Leonardo’s masterpiece is

Dillenberger, op. cit., p. 112. 36 I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews 1962–1987 37 K. Goldsmith (ed.), (New York, 2004), pp. 384–385. [56] Marek Kucharski referred to as a “prolific, enigmatic, and complex artist, whose importance defies the test of time.”38

Bibliography Andy Warhol. Życie i śmierć. Warszawa. Teorie literatury XX wieku. Kraków. Bockris, V. 2012. The Religious Art of Andy Warhol. New York. Burzyńska, A., Markowski, P. M. 2007. I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews 1962–1987. Dillenberger, J. D. 1998. Goldsmith, K. (ed.) 2004. Honnef, K. 2007. Warhol. Köln. Avalon. Onasch, K., Schnieper, A. 2013. Ikony. Fakty i legendy. Warszawa. Ikonosfera. Warszawa. Interview. 3. Porębski, M. 1972. Słownik Terminologiczny Sztuk Pięknych. 2002. Warszawa. Radziwiłł, L. 1975. “Communion sometimes”. Warhol Konteksty. Kraków.

Smorąg-Różycka, M. 2012. „Andy Warhol tworzy ikony”. In: Motywy religijne w wybranych projektach wizualnych Andy’ego Warhola

Streszczenie serigraficznaCelem artykułu trawestacja jest analiza Ostatniej wybranych Wieczerzy motywów religijnych w twórczości Andy Warhola (1928–1987), ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem ostatniego dzieła artysty, którym była powszechnie kojarzona jest z seryjnymi obrazami Leonarda puszek da zupy Vinci. Campbell Prowokacyjnie i przejaskrawionymi mianowany przez media papieżem pop-artu, Warhol zasłynął jako grafik reklamowy, którego twórczość sitodrukowymi portretami Marilyn Monroe. Artystyczna spuścizna Warhola to jednak zjawisko bardzo złożone, w którym symbolika religijna, w tym motyw ikony, rozumiany w sensie dosłownym i przenośnym, jest stale przewijającym się wątkiem. Twórczość artysty w ciągu całego jego życia podlegała dynamicznej ewolucji. Dotyczy to również wątków religijnych stale obecnych w jego realizacjach, zwłaszcza w drugiej fazie życia artysty. Patrząc na życiową i artystyczną drogę najbardziej znanego przedstawiciela pop-artu, można by zaryzykować stwierdzenie, że tworząc serigraficzne ikony popkultury, w drugim okresie swojej działalności artystycznej sam wykreował się na postać ikoniczną, zacierając tym samym granice między prawdą i fikcją. Życie i twórczość artystyczną Andy Warhola charakteryzował zawsze silny dualizm przejawiający się w binarnych opozycjach: Wschód – wZachód, jego rozumieniu kultura wysoka koncepcji – kultura sacrum masowa, – profanum, sfera prywatna czego artystyczna – sfera publiczna, trawestacja introwertyczność wybranych – ekstrawertyczność, twórczość – produkcja. Podobna dychotomia cechowała Warhola

Słowamotywów kluczowe: religijnych w jego twórczości jest najlepszym potwierdzeniem.

dwuznaczność, dychotomia, ikona, pop art, transcendencja

Dillenberger,The Religious Art of Andy Warhol, p. 120. 38