Andy Warhol’s Sunset 88 (Unique), created in 1972, is a screenprint based off of several reels of sunset photographs shot in East Hampton, San Francisco, and New York. Warhol’s film is called Sunset, and it is one of the fifty films that has been preserved by the Museum of Modern Art. Each sunset image contains different colors thus evoking a different sensation based upon the colors. This particular Sunset screen print depicts a orange, green and blue background with a yellow sun. Each print in the Sunset portfolio is unique, as they are all based off of different stills from Sunset.
SUNSET 88 (UNIQUE) BY ANDY WARHOL AS PART OF HIS LARGER BODY OF WORK
The Sunset series was produced in 1972 on smooth wove paper. This series is an extreme example of the concept of color serialization. The screenprint was produced at an unheard of 472 unique color variations with the use of only three screens. The sunset series is considered to be one of Warhol’s more expressive projects he produced in his lifetime. The commission for the work was made by Johnson & Burgee, famed architects, to be installed in the rooms of the renovated Hotel Marquette in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After the prints were removed from the hotel, they were signed, numbered and stamped.
This edition was acquired by Revolver Gallery from a Private Collection in Florida, who acquired it from Lesch Gallery in Minneapolis in 1981, and it comes with a letter from the Andy Warhol Studio (signed by Warhol) guaranteeing its authenticity.