Andy Warhol, Stavros Niarchos (Unique Original Acetate with Hand Coloring used to create Portrait of Stavros Niarchos), ca. 1974

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987)

Stavros Niarchos (UNIQUE Original Acetate with Hand Coloring used to create Portrait of Stavros Niarchos), ca. 1974

UNIQUE ACETATE NEGATIVE

Unevenly cut by Andy Warhol himself, bearing the rouge paste hand coloring Warhol himself applied to the back of the acetate as part of his silkscreening process.

approximately 11.75 inches by 9.5 inches

Provenance: The Factory (Andy Warhol's Studio) via Chromacomp, Inc.

(Warhol's printer, owned by Eunice & Jack Lowell)

Accompanied by a Signed Letter of Provenance from representative of Chromacomp Inc. 

Own a piece of Pop Art history!

As a testament to the historical importance of this collection, we recently Andy Warhol's acetate of Conceptual Artist Joseph Kosuth (from this collection) -- to the artist Joseph Kosuth - himself.  

Acetates from this collection have sold for up to $20,000. 

Great investment and historical importance!

This is an original, unique black and white photographic negative acetate taken by Andy Warhol of  famous multi-billionaire Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos. It was used as inspiration to create Warhol's series of silkscreens of Stavros Niarchos (shown in color for reference only) - and it is the only extant acetate in the world of Mr. Niarchos. 

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation donated its prestigious collection of Surrealist art to the Museum of Modern Art, which now has a Stavros Niarchos Foundation room. 

It came from Andy Warhol's studio "The Factory" in the mid Seventies. We acquired this directly from the owners of Chromacomp, Inc. Warhol's silkscreen printer, who received it directly from Warhol, so provenance is superb. 

As Bob Colacello, former Editor in Chief of Interview Magazine (and right hand man to Andy Warhol) explained, "Many hands were involved in the rather mechanical silkscreening process....but only Andy in all the years I knew him, worked on the acetates." An acetate is a photographic negative transferred to a transparency, allowing an image to be magnified and projected onto a screen. As only Andy worked on the acetates, it was the last original step prior to the silkscreening of an image, and the most important element in Warhol's creative process for silkscreening.

This acetate was brought by Warhol to Eunice and Jackson Lowell, owners of Chromacomp, a fine art printing studio in New York City, and was acquired directly from the Lowell's private collection. During the 1970s and 1980s, Chromacomp was the premier atelier for fine art limited edition silkscreen prints; indeed, Chromacomp was the largest studio producing fine art prints in the world for artists such as Andy Warhol, Leroy Neiman, Erte, Robert Natkin, Larry Zox and many more. All of the plates were done by hand and in some cases photographically.

Famed printer Alexander Heinrici worked for Eunice & Jackson Lowell at Chromacomp and brought Andy Warhol in as an account. Shortly after, Warhol or his workers brought in several boxes of photographs, paper and acetates and asked Jackson Lowell to use his equipment to enlarge certain images or portions of images. Warhol made comments and or changes and asked the Lowells to print some editions; others were printed elsewhere.

Chromacomp ended up printing a number of Warhol silkscreens and, most notably, the iconic Mick Jagger series based on the box of photographic acetates, both positives and negatives. The Lowell's allowed the printer to be named as Alexander Heinrici rather than Chromacomp, since Heinrici was the one who brought the account in. Other images were never printed by Chromacomp - they were simply being considered by Warhol. 

After working with Chromacomp, Warhol left the remaining acetates, including this incredibly rare and highly collectible one of STAVROS NIARCHOS with Eunice and Jackson Lowell. After the Lowells closed the shop, the photographs were packed away where they remained for more than a quarter of a century. 

Even in his lifetime, it is well documented that Warhol recognized the unique value of the acetates, as he would often exchange them for services with silkscreen shops.

This piece comes with a hand signed letter of provenance. It measures approximately 15.5 inches by 12.5  inches. It is unevenly cut by Andy Warhol himself, exactly as he brought it to the Lowells. 

The rarity of this original, unique Warhol piece cannot be understated. Remember - there were many thousands of Warhol Polaroids, but only one box of a couple of hundred acetate brought to Chromacomp -- most of which have already been sold. Also - this is large in size whereas the Polaroids are all miniature. 

Buyer will receive a hand signed letter from the Lowell family representative confirming the work's authenticity and provenance. Many of the acetates from the Chromacomp collection have already been acquired by museums, galleries, dealers and collectors around the world, and most recently a selection of acetates was exhibited, alongside the silkscreens Warhol created from them, at a museum in Naples, Italy.