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polity united states cold warconcept:era contemporary

Eight Elvises

Silkscreen ink on canvas by Andy Warhol, 1963. The largest and most celebrated work from Warhol's 1963 Elvis Presley series, depicting eight repetitions of a gun-drawing publicity still from the film Flaming Star (1960). Sold privately in 2008 by Annibale Berlingieri to an anonymous buyer for an estimated $100,000,000, making it one of the most valuable Warhol works outside public auction.

Scholarly Significance

Extend the Warhol / Pop Art cluster with Eight Elvises (1963), one of the largest and most valued works from Warhol's Elvis Presley series. The private treaty sale in 2008 for an estimated $100M was among the highest prices ever achieved for a Warhol work outside of public auction.

Notes

  • ·The photographic source is a still from the 1960 Western film Flaming Star featuring Elvis Presley in a gun-drawing pose.
  • ·The 2008 private treaty sale, if confirmed at $100M, would rank Eight Elvises among the ten most expensive paintings ever sold at the time.
  • ·The private nature of the sale means no public lot record, buyer, or seller premium documentation exists.
  • ·Warhol reportedly produced the Elvis works at one canvas per second of film using a continuous roll of canvas that he later cut to size.