Viewpoint 329 by Andy Warhol is a print featuring the image of a city building, layered with blocks of color, giving it a collage-like effect. The disjunction of the layered colors provides many possible interpretations, perhaps signifies a spatial break in each of the buildings. Viewpoint is a unique Warhol print because of its uncharacteristic division through vertical segments, which encourage the viewer to see the image in four separate pieces, rather than as a continuous whole. The print is a staple of Warhol’s work created in 1985, two years before his death, in a period during which his work became increasingly characterized by vibrant patterns of color blocking.
Viewpoint 329 as Part of Andy Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Many of Warhol’s colorful prints are accented with color blocks applied uniformly or diagonally. In Viewpoint 329, however, the colors are applied in columns, breaking up the image into four vertical sections. Another screen print that is similar to this style of color blocking is Jean Cocteau 329A, which was created around the same time. Rather than breaking up the image into vertical color blocks, Warhol applies horizontal lines of color. These two images are some of the only ones characterized by this type of color illustration by Warhol.
Photo credit: Andy Warhol with Bike on 11th Street, NYC 1981, 2015. Original print made with archival ink on acid free rag paper from a negative processed by the photographer in 1981 on Kodak Tri-X 35mm film. photo by Robert Levin. Courtesy of Maison Gerard, New York.
