Andy Warhol, Robert Whitman, Robert Rauschenberg, Red Grooms, Marisol, Tom Gormley. ART CASH (signed by all six artists), 1971

Andy Warhol, Robert Whitman, Robert Rauschenberg, Red Grooms, Marisol, Tom Gormley.

ART CASH (signed by all six artists), 1971
Double sided offset lithograph on wove paper with full margins

Bears Andy Warhol's stamped signature, signed by Robert Whitman, Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Gormley, Red Grooms and Marisol, numbered, dated

27 1/2 × 22 inches

Unframed

Printed by the American Bank Note Company, published by Experiments in Art and Technology, Inc., New York (Robert Rauschenberg's printer)

This two sided coveted offset lithograph on wove paper bears Andy Warhol's official stamped signature, and is signed in pencil by Robert Whitman, Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Gormley, Red Grooms and Marisol, and dated and numbered RTP 7/7 in pencil. RTP stands for "Ready to Print" - and it is literally the very first print made in an edition, before the Artists Proofs, before the Printers Proofs and before the regular edition. (This rare RTP proof is aside from the regular edition of 75, printed by the American Bank Note Company, published by Experiments in Art and Technology, Inc., New York.)

What's incredibly cool is that the American Bank Note Company - the same company that prints money for the United States Treasury Dept. - printed this work on the same paper used for U.S. currency at the time (minus the threading employed for anti-counterfeit measures).

Double sided (see additional photos).

ART CASH was created by members of Experiments in Art and Technology, a non-profit organization founded by engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. ART CASH was created for a gambling fundraising event - and produced as both stacks of the bills, along with more desirable uncut editioned sheets of Art Cash signed by the artists. This is one of the editioned sheets.

Below is an excerpt from Grace Glueck's 1971 article about this unique project:

"If Andy Warhol could design this country's currency, he'd make it “easy to copy.” Robert Rauschenberg would “put a lot more fantasy into it.” And Red Grooms would, give it “a gaggy look, like play money.”

So far, the Treasury Department has not invited these artists to execute their ideas, But an unofficial body has—Experiments in Art and Technology, a collaborative of artists and engineers. To raise money—real money for artists' experimental activities in television, the group recently asked the artists named above, plus three more—Marisol, Robert Whitman and Tom Gormley—to design some “counterfeit” cash.

The bills they've come up with, in such offbeat denominations as 3's, 12's and 51's, will be used as “artcash” scrip for a benefit art auction at the organization's headquarters, Automation House, 49 East 68th Street, on the evenings of Dec. 2 and 3. There the scrip, bought for real money, may be used to purchase graphic works by such artists as Josef Albers, Richard Anuskiewicz, Arman, Romare Bearden, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Hepworth, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers, Saul Steinberg and others.

“Asking artists to design the money was a natural, since historically art and money have always been tied together,” said Billy Kluver, the organization's president. “And you need money to go on TV, too..."