The Paris Review is a literary journal focusing on uplifting creative writing and was founded by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in in 1953. The magazine commissioned Warhol to create a poster, and because he wanted to reproduce an object from the magazine’s headquarters, they suggested he use a subpoena that was issued to them for unpaid legal fees. Instead, Warhol appropriated an old receipt from a liquor store that was located just around the corner from the magazine’s office, calling it simply The Paris Review, and stamping his signature at the bottom. Plimpton was a well known party host, and the liquor receipt represented the remnants of a raucous party.
The Paris Review has been based in New York city since 1973.