Fact sheet AWA - Paramount (F&S II.352)

Andy Warhol
Paramount (1985) (F&S II.352)
Silkscreen on Lenox Museum Board
96.5 x 96.5 cm
Signed edition of 190
Paramount (F&S II.352) by Andy Warhol is a screen print created in 1985. The
work showcases Paramount’s iconic mountainous logo, and is part of Warhol’s
Ads Complete Portfolio, commissioned by Ronald Feldman.

Paramount Pictures Presents: Andy Warhol… or is it the other way around? The
Pop Artist’s Paramount screen print is a classic emblem that taunts Hollywood
hopefuls. A picturesque lesson in visual consumerism in both art and film
entertainment, Paramount glows for all that La La Land is worth, surrounded by
bright sunset scribbles and a sky full of stars that pop-off the page with a threedimensional
outline. In keeping with the prototypal outline, Paramount spans the
colorful mountain range background, the likes of which speak volumes to the
studio’s roots in western films.
The logo itself first originated in 1914 as the brainchild of W.W. Hodkinson,
Paramount Pictures’ founder and first president. But its earliest black-and-white
imagery was an invitation to Warhol to revitalize the already-distinguished
image. Warhol’s interests in popular imagery and silver screen stars certainly
influenced his gravitation towards Paramount, but questions remain as to
whether there may be even more personal meaning behind this choice for his
Ads portfolio.
Jon Gould was a Paramount executive when Andy Warhol came into contact with
him in 1980. For five years, the two would become more intimate and even move
in together, before breaking up in 1985.
Warhol refered to Gould in his diaries as ‘Paramount’.Perhaps within the
Paramount valley lies Gould’s shadow.
Ads was so much more than just a portfolio for Andy Warhol, it was a way of life.
Having begun in the 1950s as a commercial illustrator, Warhol never quite shook
his initial entrepreneurial artistic philosophy, and it served him well. Creating a
career that became exponentially more popular with his appropriation of famous
imagery incorporated with his personal style, Warhol’s art is imprinted on the
collective consciousness. Alongside Paramount 352, his Ads portfolio also
includes Mobil, Blackgama (Judy Garland), Life Savers, Chanel, Rebel Without a
Cause (James Dean), Van Heusen (Ronald Reagan), The New Spirit (Donald
Duck), Volkswagen, and Apple.Jagger as screen prints using the photographs he
had taken. He added hand drawn stylized lines and incorporated blocks of
irregularly shaped colour, which although printed, appear like collaged
fragments of coloured paper. These works were more expressive than his earlier
screen-prints and the abstract quality of the blocks of colour show the
development of Warhol's interest in more non-representational art that was
emerging in the 1970’s.