Silver Liz as Cleopatra 1963 waits patiently in the cold inert basement vaults of the Art Gallery of Ontario amongst other resting treasures of the art world. She only appears before the public at very rare moments when the AGO pays tribute to her creator.I was lucky enough to be invited into her "sarcophagus" during an exclusive tour of the vaults after hours. (Last December). The gallery received the work as a gift from Mrs. Else Landauer, in memory of her husband, Walter Landauer in 1979. The Art Gallery of Ontario last presented the famous piece in 2006, during an exhibit entitled Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964. It was guest-curated exclusively for the AGO by film director David Cronenberg, a Toronto native. When la Liz was pulled out from the storage slats before me, I was in awe. Not only did the linen canvas brightly shimmer with the silver ink, but the iconic image of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, solidified it's blinding star power. It seemed to illuminate the room once uncovered. I was told that it was worth well over 8 million dollars.
I was equally intrigued to learn that a self-portrait executed by Warhol in the same year (1963) fetched 38.4 million this morning, at Christie's in New York. The hues of the blue and the irony of Warhol experimenting with his own new-found fame testify to his plight as a serious artist. I just loved the following observation by Jonathan Jones, art writer and blogger at The Guardian. It truly made me see deeper intention that underlies Warhol's obsession with superficiality, fame, commercialization and "shock and awe."
This one review single-handedly convinced me of the piece's 38.4 million dollar worth.
"The artist who made this is not just interested in gossip and glamour – he is interested in art and richly aware of the history of portraiture. Warhol in 1963 is newly famous, and it looks like he is trying his fame on for size."
(Jonathan Jones' review, The Guardian 5/16/11).
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