Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)
Uncle Sam from Myths (FS II. 259) (6/200), 1981
Screen-print on Lenox Museum Board
38 x 38 in
Now Available at New River Fine Art
Andy Warhol’s 1981 “Myths” portfolio is among the artist’s most sought-after print series.
“Everybody has their own America, and then they have pieces of a fantasy America that they think is out there but they can’t see,” the artist once observed. “You live in your dream America that you’ve custom-made from art and schmaltz and emotions just as much as you live in your real one.”
Nowhere is this national fantasy clearer than in Warhol’s Myths series of from the early 1980s.
The 10 silkscreens showcase a variety of fictional characters, from Uncle Sam to Santa Claus and Superman, that Warhol viewed as essential components of American culture.
While Warhol often used found images for his portraits of celebrities, he took a different approach for the “Myths” portfolio. The Pop artist invited friends and actors into his studio to pose for his Polaroid camera, dressed up as Dracula, Uncle Sam, the mammy archetype, and the Wicked Witch of the West from the film The Wizard of Oz.