Title: Satyric Festival Song 387
Medium: Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1986
Size: 36″ x 36″
Details: Edition of 100, 25 AP, 5 PP, 10 HC, 25 numbered in Roman numerals, signed and numbered in pencil on verso. Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith. Published by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc., New York. Signed by Martha Graham on verso.
Provenance: Martha Graham
Andy Warhol created Satyric Festival Song 387 in 1986 for his portfolio Martha Graham in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York. The portfolio of three screenprints is homage to dancer Martha Graham, known as mother of the modern dance movement. Based on photographs of Graham performing her famous Satyric Festival Song, Warhol and his signature pop art style bring enliven the emotion Graham portrays in the dance. Satyric Festival Song compliments Graham by showing a variation of her abilities not just as a dance, but as someone who communicates profound emotion through movement. Warhol used brightly colored outlines against a black background, giving the piece a sense of movement without distracting from the subject. This particular print of Satyric Festival Song has a special provenance, as it is from the edition previously owned by Martha Graham and is signed by Graham on verso.