U.N. Stamp

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)

U.N. Stamp

signed (right margin); printed with the artist's signature and numbered (lower margin)

offset lithograph and stamp on Rives Paper

image: 7 x 8 1/2 inches (17.8 x 21.6 cm)

sheet: 8 1/2 x 11 inches (21.6 x 27.9 cm)

framed: 13 3/4 x 16 1/4 inches (34.9 x 41.3 cm)

Executed in 1979. This work is from an edition of 1,000.

Published by United Nations Disaster Relief Organization.

PROVENANCE:

Private collection, New York

Private collection, California

LITERATURE:

Feldman & Schellmann II.185

NOTES:

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) emerged as a pioneering figure at the forefront of the 1960s Pop Art movement. His vivid silkscreens of Campbell’s Soup Cans, Marilyn Monroe, and other commercial icons blurred the lines between fine art, mass production and advertising. Working across film, photography, painting and printmaking, Warhol upended traditional notions of authorship and elevated the artist to celebrity status. His Factory studio became an incubator for artistic innovation, and his incisive critique of consumerism and fame continues to shape contemporary art and popular culture today.

Created to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the United Nations, Warhol’s U.N. Stamp translates a symbol of global diplomacy into the visual language of Pop Art. Using bold color and graphic simplification, Warhol elevates the postage stamp—an everyday vehicle of communication—into a work that reflects his fascination with circulation, authority, and mass distribution. The print underscores Warhol’s belief in images as powerful tools of visibility, capable of carrying political meaning across borders and cultures.