
Andy Warhol 1928-1987
Created in the final year of his life, Andy Warhol’s Lenin (F&S II.402) is a striking departure from his earlier celebrity portraits. Based on a 1930s photograph of Vladimir Lenin, the print is austere and pared back, reducing the revolutionary leader to a graphic emblem of political authority. The background is rendered as a single, unmodulated field, forcing attention onto Lenin’s face and upraised hand—a classic pose of ideological command.
Warhol, who had built his career by transforming media-saturated icons into objects of visual consumption, here applies the same silkscreen technique to a figure of historical and political gravity. Lenin is neither parody nor tribute; it is an image presented for its cultural power, filtered through Warhol’s neutral, process-driven lens.
This screen print was issued in an edition of 120, signed and numbered in pencil lower right. It is often seen as a counterpoint to Warhol’s Hammer and Sickle series and a continuation of his late interest in the iconography of power and propaganda.
Lenin is offered by Coskun Fine Art in excellent condition, with full authentication and provenance available on request.
Literature
Catalogue Raisonnee: Feldman & Schellmann II.402