Acquired directly form the artist by the previous owner
Thence by descent to the present owner

(i), (ii), (iii) Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Andy Warhol: Ladies and Gentlemen, 1975
(i), (ii), (iii) Venice, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Andy Warhol in Venice, 1988, p. 68, illustrated in colour; (ii) p. 84, illustrated in colour
(iii) Lugano, Gallerie Gottardo, Andy Warhol. Ladies and Gentlemen, 1990, illustrated
(i), (iii) Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art; Chiba, Kawamura Museum of Art; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum; Osaka, Daimaru Museum, Pop Muses: Images of Women by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, 1991-1992, illustrated in colour

 

 

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the red background in the central panel tends more to true London bus red in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Green Panel: There is some light wear to all four extreme corner tips with isolated specks of associated media loss. There are three stable tension cracks to the left overturn edge, and one to the lower section of the right overturn edge. Some light discolouration and wear is visible in the extreme corner tips, in particular the top two. Some white paper fibres are adhering to the surface 5cm below the upper left corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light. Red Panel: There is some light wear and discolouration in a few places to the thicker impasto passages as well as to the extreme corner tips. There are a several small spots of paint loss to the upper left and right extreme corner tips; to the right overturn edge, approximately 3 cm. below the top right corner tip (visible in the catalogue illustration); to the extreme bottom left corner tip as well as to the corner, approximately 1 cm. in from the tip (visible in the catalogue illustration). Some specks of white media fibres have adhered to the impasto in several places along the right edge above the bottom right extreme corner tip and to the immediate right of the upper left corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light. Black Panel: There is some very light wear to the bottom right extreme corner tip, resulting in a minute speck of associated paint loss. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Warhol's Ladies and Gentlemen series of paintings, drawings and prints from the mid-1970s, titled, is a key group of portraits that relate to many enduring themes in Warhol's oeuvre and life. These images of transvestites and drag queens touc🎃h on the manufacture of a ꦗpublic persona that is different form the private self – a recurring motif reflected in Warhol's fascination with Marilyn Monroe, his attitude toward his own celebrity status, and the potential to recreate oneself in our modern media age. This post-modern focus on the conscious manufacture of a chosen self is a prescient legacy that connects Warhol to many in the current generation of artists, from Jeff Koons to Matthew Barney to Charles Ray.

The transvestites of Ladies and Gentlemen also celebrate the flamboyant enthusiasm for life and experience that permeated The Factory and Warhol's social world, as well as a predilection toward gender confusion and a wilful refusal to be definitive about sexual identity. In the films of Andy Warhol, sexual identity is elusive and satirical. Male actors, such as Joe Da🔯lessandro in the Hustler films, have an androgynous appeal, and female impersonators edge out the actual female actresses as the "leading ladies". In Flesh (1968), Candy Darling (James Slattery) and Jackie Curtis (John Holder, Jr.) appear in only one scene, nonchalantly discussing movie magazine gossip while Dalessandro engages in sex with a go-go dancer nearby. Candy Darling, a lady-like platinum blonde, is perhaps the quintessential Warhol drag queen, who immersed himself in female personae at a young age, building his fantasy life around various stars form Lana Turner to Kim Novak. Holly Woodlawn (born Harold Danhaki) played the lover-protector of Dalessandro in Trash (1970), stealing every scene in which he appeared. As the hustling and voracious, yet resilient heroin of the film, Holly Woodlawn won rave reviews from critics, including 🥀Vincent Canby of the New York Times who commented that Holly "fancies herself as Marlene Dietrich but sounds more like Phil Silvers". Art mirrored life at The Factory, as Andy's entourage of "girls" embraced both his female friends, such as Jane Holzer, Viva and Brigid Polk, and the elaborately manufactured "female" personalities in his orbit.

The genesis of the Ladies and Gentlemen series occurred during a European trip in 1974, when Warhol was completing a portfolio of prints of his portraits of Man Ray for Luciano Anselmino. Anselmino suggested another portfolio of prints based on portraits of drag queens from Andy's films. The idea only bore fruit when "Anselmino proposed that he photograph men who are clumsily trying to pass as women... The Factory staff had recently entertained a group of Parisian visitors at the Gilded Grape, a bar on Eighth Avenue and 45^th Street with a Black and Latino clientele. Warhol realized that this would probably be the perfect place to search for less polished drag queens." (Gordon Baldwin and Judith Keller, Nadar/Warhol: Paris/New York, Los Angeles 1999, p. 190)

With its long figurative tradition, Europe was an appropriate arena for the genesis of this series, and it was only exhibited as a group once during the artist's lifetime at the 16^th century Palazzo di Diamante in Ferrara. In 1988, the works were shown again, for a single day, in an installation at the former abbey, Abbazia di San Gregorio in Venice. In a foreword to the catalogue, Leo Castelli extolled this exhibition as a "significant presence because Andy Warhol was never shown at the Venice Biennale with the importance he deserved." (Exhibition Catalogue, Venice, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Andy Warhol in Venice, Milan 1988, p. 9) In writing on this series and its exhibition in the ancient culture of Ferrara, the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini commented "Does Warhol feel that history can be divided? Can it have a moment in which one way of being finishes and another begins?... Can a dividing line run between men? And particularly between their consciences? And more particularly still, through the ideological ground of their consciences?" (Ibid., p. 11). Sexual impersꦍonation and questions of identity are perfectly embodied in Warhol's portraits of drag queens, and the resonance of presenting these works amid antique surroundings simply☂ deepens the paradox.