Title:Hans Christian Andersen Complete Portfolio ( FS II.398-401)
Medium: Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1987
Size: 38″ x 38″
Edition: Edition of 25. Numbered and signed in pencil on verso by the Estate of Andy Warhol.
Warhol creates folk style images based on the famous Danish writer, Hans Christian Anderson. In the portfolio, Warhol creates playful renderings inspired by the fairy tales of Anderson. Warhol succeeded in translating these images and capturing Anderson’s genius for humor and beauty in his fairy tale stories. A repeated portrait was also created of the author in the single print. The mirroring we see in the fairy tale renderings was humorously translated in the authors’ own portrait of his body appearing twice. This keeps the work consistent within the series using technique that appears in each of the other works. Warhol seemed to be inspired by powerful figures of all sorts from leaders to authors. He documents these figures well in each series in his bold Pop Art style, which seems to work for every icon he has printed.