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Tomato Soup

Andy Warhol

Unframed size: Not available

$1,600.00

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Reproduction

About the work

This silkscreen shows the famous image of ‘Campbell’s Soup Cans’ that Andy Warhol first created in 1962 as a series of 32 paintings on canvas. In 1968, he reproduced the paintings via silkscreen. The reproductions were enormously popular; additional editions were published for the European market.

The first of Warhol’s prints—Marilyn and his Flowers series—were produced in editions of 250. They are referred to as the “Factory Editions” and are extraordinarily desirable in the art market. Notably, because Warhol made these prints early in his career as a printmaker, the quality is generally poor, with poor quality paper, excess inking, misalignments, and so on.

Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans were Warhol’s favorite creation. He said of Campbell’s Tomato Soup, “I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again.”

In 1970, after the publication of the “Factory Editions”, Warhol began a collaboration with two Belgian friends—whose identities have remained unknown—on a second series of prints aiming to play with the concept of mass production. These new prints were exacting in adhering to every detail of the Factory Editions; it was Warhol’s way of mocking the idea that the “original”—the Factory Editions—were somehow better than these new prints. Warhol advanced that message with his imprint en verso of his now-famous “fill in your own signature” with a blank signature line above it. He used this device to say, “these pictures are mass produced. They aren’t special. Sign your name here—your name (or any name) is just as good as mine on this mass-produced picture.”

“Sunday B. Morning”? No one knows the reason for publishing under the name Sunday B. Morning.

Before the first Sunday B. Morning prints were issued, however, Warhol had a falling out with his Belgian friends. No one knows why. Warhol wished to cancel the project, but by the time of the falling out the Belgians already had possession of the photo negatives and the color codes and, indeed, had already begun printing. They issued editions of 250—all identical to the Factory Editions (except in the quality of the printing). The Warhol catalogue raisonné refers to these as unauthorized editions, and whenever Warhol would come across a Sunday B. Morning print, he would sign them “This is not by me. Andy Warhol”. No one knows why he never challenged Sunday B. Morning’s use of his art.

In the late 1990s Sunday B. Morning began publishing the prints again. The 1970 editions had used black ink for the “fill in your own signature” text; for the 1990s and later printings they have used blue ink. These prints were printed at the same printshop that they have used since the very beginning.

Sunday B. Morning color screenprints are printed on museum board with the highest quality archival inks. They are stamped en verso, in blue ink, “Published by Sunday B. Morning” and “fill in your own signature”.

The Sunday B. Morning prints are generally considered to be authorized reproductions.

We are pleased to offer other examples of Warhol’s Soup Cans. We welcome your inquiries.

This print is custom framed using strictly conservation-grade materials behind 99% UV-blocking art glass. The foamcore substrate has been cut away to reveal the “fill in your own signature” and “Sunday B. Morning” text, protected with mylar, as seen in the photos. Please note that though it is not visible in the photograph, a spacer holds the glass safely above the artwork.