Gilbert and George
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© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London 2009

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Gilbert and George 1975
  • Artist Rooms
Unlike many of his other celebrity portraits, these paintings of Gilbert and George, the British artist-duo, are sober and restrained in their treatment. The colours are toned-down and pastel-like and applied uniformly over each canvas. The screenprinted images in black ink are un-smudged and clearly defined. They are based on polaroids taken by Warhol, for which Gilbert and George posed in a highly self-conscious manner. In order to stress the formality of the portrait poses of the two artists (who specialise in staged photographs of themselves), Warhol has included the paper edges of the polaroids as narrow strips on either side of the figures.

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Screenprint

A print made by forcing ink through a screen on which a stencil is placed. Traditionally used for commercial printing, it has been taken up by artists since the 1960s when it was used extensively in Pop art.

Screenprint

Details

  • Acc. No. AR00040
  • Medium Acrylic paint and silkscreen on 2 canvases
  • Size 102.20 x 101.90 x 2.10 cm (framed: 109.10 x 109.10 x 7.30 cm)
  • Credit ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008

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