Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Tate American Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andy-warhol-2121" aria-label="More by Andy Warhol" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Andy Warhol</a>
Queen Elizabeth II United Kingdom
Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of Eileen and Peter Norton 2012
<p>Warhol's 1985 series of screenprints <span>Reigning Queens</span> included colour portraits of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Margrethe II of Denmark, Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. The images of Elizabeth II were based on a photograph taken for her Silver Jubilee in 1977. Warhol presents the Queen as an iconic and overtly glamorous figure. His own lines, added to the photographic image, suggest the stylised make-up of a Hollywood star, associating the portrait with the cult of celebrity that was prevalent in the 1980s.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2022</em></p>
paper print screenprint
23 April 2001 – 6 January 2002
2002-01-06
23 April 2001 – 6 January 2002
2002-01-06
2001-04-23
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2001-04-23
1985: The Shape of a Year
Collection based display
25 July 2011 – 27 August 2012
2012-08-27
25 July 2011 – 27 August 2012
2012-08-27
2011-07-25
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2011-07-25
Social Sculpture
Collection based display
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
unconfirmed: 1000 × 795 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999976" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">American Fund for the Tate Gallery</a>, courtesy of Eileen and Peter Norton 2012
<p>This work is from Warhol’s <i>Reigning Queens 1985</i> portfolio. Although Tate holds only this print from the series, the original portfolio of sixteen prints was made up of four images of each of the four female monarchs who were ruling in the world at the time of the portfolio’s publication: Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. Warhol also made paintings of each of these subjects. The works were based on official or media photographs of the monarchs. 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. 
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<br/>The same basic image of each queen appears in each of her four prints but they vary in colour. 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 overlayed shapes and patches of colour. 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 multicoloured 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: 
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<br/>‘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.’ (Barry Blinderman, ‘Modern Myths: An Interview with Andy Warhol’, <i>Arts</i>, October 1981, p.145.)
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<br/>The <i>Reigning Queens</i> series brings together many of Warhol’s central themes – celebrity, portraiture, consumerism, decoration and the extremes of social hierarchy. Warhol’s portraits are often about the public face or surface image, and this is a typical example. Here the queen’s face appears as an impenetrable mask. Warhol enhances the celebrity portrait’s powerful iconic presence through repetition of the image. 
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<br/>This work is published in an edition of forty with ten artist’s proofs, five printer’s proofs and three hors commerce. This print is number seven in the edition. There are further thirty trial proof portfolios each containing one unique image of each queen. The work is also published as a Royal Edition with diamond dust on the drawing lines, published in an edition of thirty with five artist’s proofs, two printer’s proofs and two hors commerce.
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Freyda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann, <i>Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987</i>, 4th edition, 2003, reproduced p.142 in colour.
<br/><i>The Prints of Andy Warhol</i>, exhibition catalogue, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, 1990.
<br/>Andy <i>Warhol</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, 2002.
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<br/>Maria Bilske
<br/>March 2006</p>

Summary
2007-01-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
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<p>Warhol's 1985 series of <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/screenprint" title="Glossary definition for 'Screenprint'">screenprints</a> <i>Reigning Queens</i> included colour <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'">portraits</a> of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Margrethe II of Denmark, Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. The images of Elizabeth II were based on a <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'">photograph</a> taken for her Silver Jubilee in 1977. Warhol presents the Queen as an <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/iconography" title="Glossary definition for 'Iconography'">iconic</a> and overtly glamorous figure. His own lines, added to the photographic image, suggest the stylised make-up of a Hollywood star, associating the portrait with the cult of celebrity that was prevalent in the 1980s.</p>
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2022-11-02T00:00:00
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