DescriptionOriginal polaroid of an unfinished Skull painting originating from the Fred Hughes collection.
Like nearly all of Warhol's work the Skull paintings have their roots in photography hence it was fitting that a Polaroid was used to photograph them, thus creating instant art. The skull was especially relevant to the recurring theme of fame-as-death, one of the great motifs in Warhol's work.
Warhol and Polaroid were a perfect combination. The artist intended his Polaroids to serve as time-capsule glimpses and a documentation of a specific era - namely the '70s and early '80s when he was at the height of his fame. Polaroid recently discontinued it's line of signature cameras which renders this photograph doubly historic.
This photo was included in the Tag Sale (Sotheby's, New York, 1988), a sale of the collection of Frederick Hughes, the executor of the Warhol Estate.
(Stamped verso with the first and original Estate stamp).
