Andy Warhol: Double Elvis | Sunday B. Morning Edition
In 1963, for his landmark exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, Andy Warhol famously bypassed sending finished canvases. Instead, he sent a single, continuous roll of silver-painted canvas silkscreened with repeating images of Elvis Presley in a gunslinger stance, an image sourced directly from the film Flaming Star. By overlapping these figures, Warhol created a rhythmic, strobe effect, suggesting both the flickering movement of film and the ghostly, manufactured nature of a public persona. Rather than providing multiple final compositions, Warhol sent a bundle of stretcher bars to gallery director Irving Blum with instructions to cut and stretch the canvas however he saw fit.
The Sunday B. Morning screenprint of Double Elvis is a significant edition because it translates this fluid, experimental vision into a definitive print medium, much like Warhol did with his Campbell’s Soup series. Selecting a powerful section of that original imagery, this composition features two "flashing" images of the King in his iconic pose. While the earliest Sunday B. Morning iterations of the 1970s featured black verso stamps, this modern edition maintains that exact historical lineage and quality, distinguished now by the publisher's signature blue ink stamp.
This edition captures Warhol’s cinematic energy with precision, utilizing a high-contrast Pop Art aesthetic to elevate a familiar publicity still into the realm of fine art. The thick, vibrant ink saturates the museum board, providing a tactile depth and a commanding gallery presence. Featuring the "fill in your own signature" blue stamp on the verso, the piece remains a cheeky nod to Warhol’s own provocative stance on authorship, reproduction, and the democratization of art.
- Artist: Andy Warhol (After)
- Medium: Screenprint
- Edition: of 3500
- Original Work: Sunday B. Morning limited edition after Ferus Gallery Exhibition Canvas
- Signature: Unsigned
- Paper Size: 36" x 36"
- Paper Type: Museum Board
- Framing: Unframed
- Publisher: Sunday B. Morning
- Reference: SBM 11.51