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Andy Warhol
Endangered Species Series, 1983, screen print on paper THE ART DEALERS Ronald and Frayda Feldman commissioned the Endangered Species print portfolio from Andy Warhol (1928–1987) in 1983. The idea was born after conversations the Feldmans had with Warhol about a variety of issues related to the state of the environment, including beach erosion. The topic may have arisen over Warhol’s concerns regarding his own beachfront property and its conservation. He worked closely with the Feldmans to decide which animals to include in the portfolio. After lengthy discussions, ten photogenic endangered animals were agreed upon; the Bald Eagle was the first to be completed. Warhol commented that these unnaturally colored works were “animals in make-up,” thereby linking them to his society portraits, [in which] he frequently accentuated the sitter’s features by adding color in shapes that clearly signify the use of cosmetics. . . . The San Francisco Silverspot butterfly, for example, is brown and silver in the wild, yet Warhol rendered it in a nearly full spectrum. The Giant Panda is executed in a keyed-up shade of red, and Warhol’s African Elephant is pop pink, recalling . . . the pink elephant in Walt Disney’s popular animated film Fantasia (1940), which had been re-released with a completely new soundtrack in 1982. Warhol donated 100 of the Endangered Species prints to a variety of wildlife conservation organizations to be sold at auction in support of their work. The portfolio was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1983, then traveled on a tour of other natural history museums around the United States. MATT WRBICAN CHIEF ARCHIVIST, THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM, PITTSBURGH
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Excerpted from the exhibition catalog for Warhol’s Nature, curated by Crystal Bridges’ Curator Chad Alligood, 2015
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, BEGINNING AT TOP: Andy Warhol, Elephant, Butterfly, Tree Frog, Panda, Orangutan, Eagle, Rhino, Tiger, Zebra OPPOSITE PAGE: Ram, from the Endangered Species Series, 1983, screen print on paper, 38 × 38 in. © 2016 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photos by Edward C. Robison III.
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