Andy Warhol is arguably the most important American artist of the 20th century. In the 1950s, he was an in-demand and celebrated illustrator working for New York's toniest publications (like Harper's Bazaar) and elegant shops (such as Bonwit Teller) in addition to many smaller independent fashion companies.

Throughout the decade, Warhol received numerous awards and accolades for his illustrations - yet he found it difficult to surpass the designation of “commercial artist”. As an aspiring artist and as a commercial illustrator there were a number of motifs or elements that made frequent appearances in his work including his mother's famous hand-writing as well as hearts, butterflies, stars and angels.

"In the Bottom of My Garden" is one of Warhol's earliest and best-known hand-made books. It showed how Warhol tried to bridge the commercial and fine-art realms through self-promotion. Throughout the 1950's Warhol would self-publish hand-made books composed of lithographs. These were given to both past and potential clients or important players in the New York cultural scene. The book was composed of 16 unbound lithographs with a small number of hand-colored prints.

This page, a hand-colored print from "In the Bottom of My Garden" is a delightful paradigm from this era. Here Warhol presents his signature aesthetic realizing a playful combination of putti, angels, and flowers.

Warhol was dedicated to bookmaking during the 1950's, publishing a number of elegant and whimsical (and mildly erotic) narratives that often took on his wry sense of humor. Warhol would create lithographs and then he would hand-color important or key pages that appeared in the finished books.

This delightful example, with a bashful angel wearing a floral hat, serves as both a glimpse into Warhol's vast imagination and a striking look at his commercial background. Perhaps this early exposure to mass commercialization increased Warhol's draw toward universal cultural archetypes, making this piece a marvelous precursor to Pop Art.

Condition: very good