Andy Warhol / Jacqueline Kennedy (Jackie) II

ANDY WARHOL – Jacqueline Kennedy (Jackie) II
Techinque: screenprint on paper
Year: 1965
Dimensions: cm 61 x 76.2
Edition: 200+50 in roman numerals. Signed and numbered on verso.

The Jacqueline Kennedy (Jackie) series is one of the most iconic and the most touching set of works done by Andy Warhol.

These works combine two of his signature themes—celebrities and fatal disasters. The images of Jackie were sourced directly from the newspapers and therefore do not have the glamour touch which Warhol widely used as the basis for his other works.

The three prints were published in 1965 as part of the portfolios “11 works by 11 artists” in an edition of 200 + 50 in roman numbers.

Even though they are an editioned work, the three Jackies immediately became a key work in the Warhol production and started to be exhibited in the most important retrospectives dedicated to the artist.

As mentioned, the series (Jackie I, Jackie II and Jackie III) is based on press images that Warhol collected on the newspapers and magazines after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Warhol chose photos of Jacqueline Kennedy in the presidential car -just a few minutes before the assassination-, at the Capitol ceremony and at the funeral; three paramount moments.

He cropped the photos very closely around Jacqueline’s face and dissolved the background with flat, metallic colours, focusing the whole print on Jackie herself; on her different facial mimics and emotions.

Jackie II portrays the First Lady during the ceremony in which Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin was carried to the Capitol.

Her expression is sad, but at the same time she looks quiet and stoic. Warhol once again cancelled all the background and focused on Jackie and her feelings. He also repeated the subject twice, probably to avoid the power of the individual (the First Lady) and to emphasize the strength of pure emotions: by doing this, Warhol moved the observer’s attention from the actual subject -First Lady or Jackie herself- to the pain of a woman.