After Andy Warhol / Sunday B. Morning, Marilyn Monroe, Print

Andy Warhol began his career as a successful commercial illustrator, and this early work shaped his interest in manipulating familiar images. He was also fascinated by fame and was enchanted by Marilyn Monroe. Shortly after Marilyn Monroe's death, he paid tribute to her with his Marilyn edition prints. The 1960s were groundbreaking years in Warhol's career. It was a time when he developed his signature style and today the works from this period are considered his most important and sought-after works.

Andy Warhol's Marilyn's are 91.4 x 91.4 cm in size. They are hand-drawn silkscreens on heavy paper and the ink extends to the edge. They are limited edition prints (edition of 250) that were published in the 1960s and were often called the "Factory Editions." Because Warhol was still perfecting his printing techniques at the time, it is difficult to find one of these prints without some kind of condition problem. Poor paper quality, use of too much ink, and just plain old age, all contribute to the rarity of finding these prints in excellent condition.

What is known is that after Andy Warhol published his famous "Factory Editions" of Marilyn, Flowers and Campbell's Soup Cans, he began collaborating with two friends from Belgium on a second series of prints in 1970. The original idea behind this collaboration for Warhol was to play with the concept of mass production. Andy liked to comment on this phenomenon through his art. The black ink stamp "fill in your own signature" was inspired by the impact of mass production on modern culture. The idea was, "here we just mass-produced these prints; sign your name here. Any name will do. Because yours is just as important as mine. The new prints were more detailed than the Factory Editions, and so Warhol mocked the idea that the Factory Edition prints were somehow more important than these new prints.

After some time, conversations between Warhol and these Belgian friends began to break down.

Today, the black ink Sunday B. Morning prints are very rare, as many did not survive the test of time. Sunday B. Morning began publishing the prints again, after many years, in the late 90s and they continue to publish Marilyn, Flowers, Soup Cans as well as Golden Marilyn, Mao and Dollar editions today. All these prints are also stamped – now with blue ink – on the verso with “fill in your own signature” and “published by Sunday B. Morning”. While ownership of Sunday B. Morning has changed hands a couple times, the prints are still published by the same print shop in Belgium, using the same printing process they’ve used since their inception.

This print is in good condition with some small signs of use. Take a good look at the pictures. We have ten prints in total. The price is per piece.