Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is maybe the most influential and valuable American artist of the 20th century. While he is renowned for his iconic Pop art portraits, Caviar20 has been exploring and offering his inimitable works on paper from the 1950's. We believe this is an important, and for the time being, accessible and under-appreciated part of his legacy.

During the 1950's Warhol established his reputation in New York City as an illustrator for numerous fashion publications and businesses. His succinct line drawings were modern and gentle, realized with a brave yet delicate gay sensibility.

The images he created "off the clock" from his fashion commissions were romantic sketches, day-dreams of crushes, hunks and friends. His 1956 exhibition, Studies for a Boy Book, was a commercial failure because of the queer and erotic subject-matter.

In recent years there has been new wave of scholarship and commercial interest in the early work created prior to Pop Art. Taschen, the legendary art book publisher, released Andy Warhol: Love, Sex & Desire which celebrates his drawings of the male form - and inspired a new generation of collectors and curators to re-examine this material.

Warhol had many muses; both real and imagined. Drawing of a Boy / Butterflies is one of many works where the subject’s identity is left to our imagination. Warhol portrays the delicate outline of a man who parts his lips and meets his gaze.

This work is exceptional due to the surprising screen print on the verso. When flipped, this drawing is supported with a graphic pattern of butterflies - one of his signature motifs from the 1950's. Another reminder that Warhol was both an exceptional draftsman and a pioneer in the visual arts.

As the Warhol market continues to accelerate there are fewer examples of these unique original drawings in circulation.