Title: Alexander The Great (FS II.292)
Medium: Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1982
Size: 39 1/2″ x 39 1/2″
Edition: 25, 5 AP, 1 PP, signed and numbered in pencil lower right. Published in cooperation with the Hellenic Heritage Foundation to conicide with “The Search for Alexander” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 27, 1982-January 3, 1983.
Alexander the Great 292 is based on a Hellenistic bronze bust in a private Swiss collection. By the 1980s Warhol was appropriating themes from across art historical periods for use in his pop pantheon, from Nineteenth-Century European paintings to iconic Italian Renaissance portraits. Alexander the Great is Warhol’s only series with classical sculpture as its subject. It deviates greatly from Warhol’s revolutionary style of work, which is celebrated for its originality and how it breaks from tradition. The images of Alexander the Great pay tribute to influences of the masters of classical antiquity, that are not readily apparent in Warhol’s work.
