拍品专文
An iconic piece of Pop Art, Campbell’s Tomato Juice Box was made as part of The Factory’s first series in the Spring of 1964. Warhol worked on seven branded boxes for this project, which also included Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Del Monte Peaches and the iconic Brillo boxes. Rendered in the brilliant red of the Campbell’s logo, Campbell’s Tomato Juice Box builds upon the 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans, continuing Warhol’s deft perception between low culture and high art, the combination of arrestingly simple visual graphics with conceptual complexity. Representative of this much larger series, this particular box serves as an early example in Warhol’s development of his most remarkable achievement: the revolutionary silk-screening technique, in combination with his most famous brand partnership: “Andy was fascinated by the shelves of foodstuffs in supermarkets and the repetitive, machine-like effect they created” (G. Malanga, Archiving Warhol: Writings and Photographs, New York, 2002, p. 94).
With this project, Warhol started exploring sculpture, a medium that could further reduce the boundary between real-life object and sculpted facsimile. He commissioned the wooden boxes from a woodworking shop on East 17th street, and had studio assistants paint all sides upon arrival. With everything primed, Warhol would take over screen-printing all sides except for the underside, an industrialized process that incurred small imperfections as Warhol moved from box to box. These imperfections, and presence of the direct hand of the artist, firmly plant the works inside the realm of sculpture; the unfinished underside denotes the piece is for exhibition, rather than utility, and immortalizes the brand in unchangeable, immobile wood.
As one of the finest examples of Warhol’s early sculptures, this work comes from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art, and to encourage the study of the arts. Through the Office of Statewide Partnerships program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences and workshops by visual and performing artists. In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 6,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass nearly 40,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, and the finest collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco outside of Paris. VMFA is also home to important collections of African, American, Ancient, East Asian, European and South Asian art, with particular strengths in African American art, British sporting art, English silver, French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and Modern and Contemporary art. In May 2010, VMFA opened its doors to the public after a transformative expansion, the largest in its history, and last year had an attendance of nearly 700,000 visitors. It is the only public art museum in the United States that is free of charge and open 365 days a year.
With this project, Warhol started exploring sculpture, a medium that could further reduce the boundary between real-life object and sculpted facsimile. He commissioned the wooden boxes from a woodworking shop on East 17th street, and had studio assistants paint all sides upon arrival. With everything primed, Warhol would take over screen-printing all sides except for the underside, an industrialized process that incurred small imperfections as Warhol moved from box to box. These imperfections, and presence of the direct hand of the artist, firmly plant the works inside the realm of sculpture; the unfinished underside denotes the piece is for exhibition, rather than utility, and immortalizes the brand in unchangeable, immobile wood.
As one of the finest examples of Warhol’s early sculptures, this work comes from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art, and to encourage the study of the arts. Through the Office of Statewide Partnerships program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences and workshops by visual and performing artists. In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 6,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass nearly 40,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, and the finest collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco outside of Paris. VMFA is also home to important collections of African, American, Ancient, East Asian, European and South Asian art, with particular strengths in African American art, British sporting art, English silver, French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and Modern and Contemporary art. In May 2010, VMFA opened its doors to the public after a transformative expansion, the largest in its history, and last year had an attendance of nearly 700,000 visitors. It is the only public art museum in the United States that is free of charge and open 365 days a year.