Vanishing Animals

 
 
 

  • from Endangered Species
    Year: 1983
    Medium: Graphite on paper
    Size: Size: 23.5 x 31.625 in (59.7 x 80.5 cm)
    Framed size: 30.75 x 38.5 in (78.1 x 97.7 cm)
    Reference: FS II.296

    In 1983, Andy Warhol was commissioned by publisher Ronald Feldman to create a portfolio of screenprints dedicated to endangered animals. This series featured depictions of ten animals, including an orangutan, zebra, rhinoceros, tree frog, and bald eagle, among others. This graphite drawing is a study for the bald eagle that appeared in the famed Endangered Species Suite.

    Notes: While a 1963 estimate placed the population of the Bald Eagle at fewer than 500 nesting pairs, the further enforcement of illegal hunting regulations and the banning of certain pesticides in the US has since allowed this species to recover. [3] From 2007 onward, the Bald Eagle species has grown out of its endangered status, with 2019 estimates of the population listed at some 316,700 individuals.[4]

  • Year: 1986
    Medium: Silkscreen inks on colored paper collage on colored paper (unique)
    Size: 15.875 x 13.5 in (40.3 x 34.3 cm)
    Frame size: 23.5 x 19.625 (59.6 x 49.8 cm)
    Reference: F.S.III.B.61; Vanishing Animals p. 65

    The douc langur’s population has shown a notable decline in its habitat, mainly Indochina, since the 1970s. [7] The year in which this work was conceived saw the establishing of numerous additional reserves and National Parks in Vietnam, though enforcing protective measures around the douc langur has proven very difficult [8] – The World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimates that there are fewer than 700 of these primates in existence today. [9]

  • from Vanishing Animals
    Year: 1986
    Medium: Synthetic polymer on paper
    Size: 23.325 x 31.5 in (59.4 x 80 cm)
    Frame size: 30.5 x 38.25 in (76.8 x 97.1 cm)
    Reference: F.S.III.B.53 (No prints were made from this drawing.)

    Notes: The La Plata River Dolphins or Franciscana have been disappearing annually in a range between 500 to 1500, often the victims of shark netting. [13] The NMMF (National Marine Mammal Foundation) and Yaqu Pacha (Society for the Protection of Aquatic Mammal Species of Latin America) currently endeavor to maintain and grow the population of this South American species, estimated currently at some 40,000 dolphins. [14]

  • from Vanishing Animals
    Year: 1986
    Medium: Silkscreen inks on colored paper collage on colored paper, unique
    Size: 14 x 18 in (35.6 x 45.7 cm)
    Frame size: 19.75 x 23.75 in (50.1 x 60.3 cm)
    Reference: F.S.III.B.65; Vanishing Animals p.83

    Notes: Since 1986, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has included the Soemmerring's Gazelle on its Red List of Threatened Species. As of 2016, the IUCN published that between 4000 to 5000 remain, though it is suggested this number has declined since the most recent population assessment. [15]

These works have all been authenticated by the Authentication Board of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamp on verso), Foundation archive number on verso in pencil, initialed by the person who entered the works into The Foundation archive.

Provenance: 
Estate of Andy Warhol (stamped)
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamped)
Long-Sharp Gallery

  • Year: 1986
    Medium: Silkscreen inks on colored paper collage on colored paper
    Size: 18.5 x 12 in (47 x 30.5 cm)
    Frame size: 23.625 x 19.75 in (60 x 50.1 cm)
    Reference: F.S.III.52; Vanishing Animals p. 11 (No prints were made from this illustration.)

    Notes: It was estimated that at the time of this work’s release in 1986, fewer than several dozen condors existed. In the year that followed, conservation efforts were made to breed what were then a mere 27 birds. [5] According to a recent 2023 estimate from the National Park Service, the condor population has reached 561. [6]

In the 1980s, Andy Warhol embarked on several projects focused on animals, including among them his series of Vanishing Animals and Endangered Species, a suite. Studies and screenprints of Vanishing Animals led to an eponymous book created in collaboration with German conservationist Kurt Benirschke of the San Diego Zoo.[1] The study drawings presented here depict animals included in the Vanishing Animals project.

Warhol’s interest in endangered animals was in some ways an extension of themes Warhol had explored throughout his career. As gallerist Fergus McCaffrey posits in the catalog accompanying the 2006 exhibition Andy Warhol – Vanishing Animals [2]:

"Warhol’s concern about the death of entire species of animals fits neatly into the lexicon of untimely and unseemly ends that he repeatedly mused on during his long career. Bearing in mind the self-referential nature and frequent quotation of his own earlier work in much of the output of the 1980s, it does not take much of a leap to imagine Warhol making a connection between the suicides, car crashes, poisonings, executions, and pervasive threat of nuclear annihilation of the 1960s and the tragic plight of Vanishing Animals in the 1980s. After all, extinction is just another variety of death, and one gets the sense that Warhol was sensitized to care equally for man and beast."

 
 

References:
[1] Kurt Benischke and Andy Warhol, Vanishing Animals (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986).
[2] Fergus McCaffrey, Andy Warhol: Vanishing Animals (St. Barthélemy, French West Indies: Me.di.um, 2006).
[3] “Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus): U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.” FWS.gov. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://www.fws.gov/species/bald-eagle-haliaeetus-leucocephalus.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “California Condor.” CDFW. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Birds/California-Condor.
[6] “World CA Condor Update – 2022 Population Status (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, March 29, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/caco-world-2022.htm.
[7] San Diego Zoo Global Library staff. “Libguides: Douc Langurs (Pygathrix Spp.) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status.” Population & Conservation Status - Douc Langurs (Pygathrix spp.) Fact Sheet - LibGuides at International Environment Library Consortium, May 16, 2023. https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/douclangurs/population.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Douc Langur.” WWF. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/profiles/mammals/douc_langur/#:~:text=Population%20and%20Distribution,over%20the%20last%2030%20years.
[10] San Diego Zoo Global Library staff. “Libguides: Douc Langurs (Pygathrix Spp.) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status.” Population & Conservation Status - Douc Langurs (Pygathrix spp.) Fact Sheet - LibGuides at International Environment Library Consortium, May 16, 2023. https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/douclangurs/population.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Douc Langur.” WWF. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/profiles/mammals/douc_langur/#:~:text=Population%20and%20Distribution,over%20the%20last%2030%20years.
[13] “Franciscana.” American Cetacean Society. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://www.acsonline.org/franciscana.
[14] “Franciscana Dolphin.” National Marine Mammal Foundation. Accessed November 16, 2023. https://www.nmmf.org/marine-mammal/franciscana-dolphin/.
[15] “The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, April 20, 2016, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/63541/50197739#population