In this book, Patricia Lee examines Warhol Marilyn as representing a shift in thinking about artistic authorship and originality, highlighting a decisive moment in the rethinking of the contemporary artwork.

Warhol Marilyn (1965) is not a work by Andy Warhol but by Elaine Sturtevant. Sturtevant (as she preferred to be called) remade and exhibited works by other artists, among them Warhol’s 1962 silkscreen portraits of Marilyn Monroe. In this book, Patricia Lee discusses the way Sturtevant’s methodology challenged contemporary interpretations of modernism, and addresses the cultural significance of both Warhol and Marilyn as well as the consequences of celebrity culture for art practice.

According to Sturtevant, when asked how he made his silkscreened work, Warhol answered, ‘I don’t know. Ask Elaine.’ Lee focuses on Warhol Marilyn to reveal a decisive shift in thinking about artistic authorship and the originality of the contemporary artwork. She describes how Sturtevant’s work initially operates on a dynamic of mistaken attribution and then unfolds as a conceptual work, critiquing art and culture.

This title is part of the One Work book series, which focuses on the artworks that have significantly shaped the way we understand art and its history.

87 pages, 21 cm x 15 cm, paper cover, Afterall Books