Andy Warhol of the Month
Long-Sharp Gallery specializes in works on paper and photography by Andy Warhol. Each month our staff selects a work from our inventory that highlights something about Warhol’s life or interests and discusses it here.
Tattoo Woman Holding a Rose
Year: 1955
Medium: Offset color lithograph
Size: 29 x 11 in (73.7 x 27.9 cm)
Frame Size: 36.5 x 18 in (92.7 x 45.7 cm)
Provenance:
Estate of Andy Warhol (stamped)
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamped)
Long-Sharp Gallery
Authenticated by the Authentication Board of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamp on verso), Foundation archive number on verso in pencil, initialed by the person who entered the works into the Foundation archive.
Price on request
A short animated vertical scan of Andy Warhol’s offset color lithograph, Tattoo Woman Holding a Rose.
About these works: Created on thin tissue paper, Tattooed Woman Holding Rose (pictured below) served as Andy Warhol’s “calling card” in the mid 1950s. The folds in the work are natural – Warhol mailed these calling cards to clients and advertising agencies alike. The inscription on the woman’s skirt reads “Andy Warhol Murray Hell 3-0555,” which reflects Warhol’s phone number when he lived at 242 Lexington Avenue.
More than forty tattoos cover the woman’s body, including: (Right Arm:) Schwepps, GE, Kelloggs, Beechcraft, Charles of the Ritz, Lucky Strike, Colgate; (Left Arm:) Bigelow, Pepsodent, Hunts Catsup, Wheaties, Texaco, CBS, Mobil Gas; (Right Leg:) Miss Clairol, Ford, Fruit of the Loom, Goodyear, Piper Heidsiec, Rinso, Monsanto, Plymouth, Colgate; (Left Leg:) Armstrong Tires, Dupont, Diorissimo, Shalimar, Dow, Cannon, Braemar, Chase & Sanborn, Chanel No. 5; (Chest:) Genuine Ford Parts, Italian Line, Greyhound, Briggs Pipe Mixture.
The tattoos in this image embody Warhol’s use of themes from popular culture to highlight America’s emphasis on capitalism, industry, and the media. Some of the logos chosen are iconic in their own right, as they would be featured prominently years later in Warhol’s Ads portfolio.