Andy WARHOL - Flowers (FS II.6)

Title: Flowers (FS II.6)
Medium: Offset lithograph on paper.
Year: 1964
Size: 23″ x 23″
Edition: Approximately 300 signed and dated ’64 in pen lower right; some singed in pencil.
Flowers 6 by Andy Warhol was the first print that Warhol published for his Flowers series. It was published to coincide with a Warhol exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York that occurred from November 21 through December 17, 1964. The print came from a photo by nature photographer Patricia Caulfield that was found in the June issue of Modern Photography. Like in many of his works, Warhol appropriated an image, cropped and abstracted it and then played around with the colors. The exhibition that this print was created for featured 7 monumental-scale paintings featuring the same subject. The show was a sell-out even though it was such a departure from Warhol’s standard subject matter. This particular Flower print features two pink flowers, a yellow flower and an orange flower on green grass. The photograph was of Mandrinette, which is a highly rare hibiscus flower.