Flash-November 22, 1963, 1968; Screenprint on wove paper, an unsigned proof apart from the signed edition of 200; Housed in original folder with a page of Teletype text; Published by Racolin Press, Inc., Briarcliff Manor, New York; Printed by Aetna Silkscreen Products, Inc., New York; Size - Sheet 21" x 21"; Catalog Raisonne: Feldman/Schellmann: II.34; Unframed.
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John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963 shocked the
nation and sent a wave of mourning across the country. Andy Warhol, who was
just 35 years old, stated:
"I heard the news over the
radio when I was alone painting in my studio. I don’t think I missed a
stroke. I wanted to know what was going on out there, but that was the
extent of my reaction. … I’d been thrilled having Kennedy as president;
he was handsome, young, smart–but it didn’t bother me that much that he
was dead. What bothered me was the way the television and radio were
programming everybody to feel so sad. It seemed like no matter how hard
you tried, you couldn’t get away from the thing…. John Quinn, the
playwright … was moaning over and over, “But Jackie was the most
glamorous First Lady we’ll every get.”"
Warhol
immediately launched into a series of Jackie Kennedy portraits entitled
“16 Jackies” that, in his typical fashion, expressed as he stated
“detachment from emotions," an attitude he regarded as characteristic of
the 1960s in general. Warhol often used tragic or horrific
events that appeared in the media as source material for artwork. For Warhol, “the more you look at
exactly the same thing, the more the meaning goes away and the better
and emptier you feel.”
Andy Warhol would become obsessed, just like most of the world of the early 1960's, with the Kennedy assassination; and especially the media’s reporting and it's representation. The event and those involved, became the subject of creative output for Warhol throughout the 1960s. In 1966 Warhol created three prints focusing on Jacqueline Kennedy. The source of the images were either taken from the Dealey Plaza event or from JFK’s funeral service.
Two years later, Warhol returned to the same subject, but now focusing on the assassination itself. He created “Flash-November 23, 1963”, a portfolio of eleven individual prints. For source material, Warhol turned to the primary media of the time: newspaper articles, official government photographs, and portraits of President Kennedy and the First Lady. The 1968 portfolio was named for "News Flash," Teletype machine texts that were used to report the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in real time. The print portfolio box cover included an image of the November 22, 1963,
New York World-Telegram front page, with the headline "President Shot Dead." Serigraphed actual Teletype texts were used as print folders for each individual work.
Page one of the original folder with Teletype text.
Andy Warhol used eleven different images, each created in bright bold colors to illustrate the horrific event. Some of the images are a smiling John F. Kennedy as he campaigns for the presidency, while another is a collage of Kennedy’s campaign images combined with that of a director’s clapboard. One print is the official Seal of the President of the United States, while another is the rifle advertisement for the suspected murder weapon. There is an image of the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald created in bright neon pink, an image of the Texas School Book Depository with an arrow pointing to a window on the sixth floor, and another with a centered image of a smiling Jackie wearing her iconic pillbox hat. In the eleven prints of "Flash-November 23, 1963," Andy Warhol created an extremely poignant, yet powerful glimpse into an American event that had been both covered extensively and exploited by the media. The underlying reality was that the hope of America for a better tomorrow was shattered in a flash; and the dream replaced by one of the saddest events of the twentieth century.
Page two of the original folder with Teletype text.
This work, a centered image of a smiling First Lady Jackie Kennedy wearing her iconic pillbox hat, is certainly one the highlights of the entire portfolio. The print was created using shades of peacock blue, which add to the overall richness of the composition. A really spectacular work, from one of the greatest series of prints ever created by Andy Warhol!
The Teletype text printed on two pages of the print folders is below (Note: Misspelled words in the original text were not corrected nor was the original spacing):
-5-
WASHINGTON, NOV. 22 -- AN AIR FORCE JET CARRYING SIX CABINET MEMBERS TO CONFERENCES IN TOKYO TURNED BACK TO WASHINGTON AFTER RECEIVING NEWS OF THE ASSASSINATION, THE STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCED. THE PLANE IS EXPECTED IN WASHINGTON AT 1 A.M. (EST) TOMORROW.
GD23OPCS
FLASH
DALLAS -- POLICE ARREST "HOT SUSPECT".
BULLETIN 1ST LEAD SUSPECT
DALLAS, NOV. 22 -- DALLAS POLICE ANNOUNCED THEY HAVE ARRESTED A "HOT SUSPECT" IN THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY.
HE WAS IDENTIFIED AS LEE H. OSWALD, 24, AN EMPLOYEE OF THE TEXAS BOOK DEPOSITORY, ADJACENT TO THE SITE WHERE THE PRESIDENT WAS SHOT DOWN. OSWALD, WHO HAD BEEN ARRESTED EARLIER IN CONNECTION WITH THE SHOOTING OF A DALLAS POLICEMAN, FORMERLY IVED IN THE SOVIET UNION AND WAS ACTIVE IN THE FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE.
KT21OPCS
BULLETIN
DALLAS, NOV. 22 -- LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON WA SWORN IN AS THE 36TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AT 2:39P.M.(CST) ABOARD THE PRESIDENTIAL JET AIR FORCE ONE ON A RUNWAY AT LOVE FIELD.
-6-
THE CEREMONY TOOK PLACE WITHIN MOMENTS AFTER THE COFFIN CONTAINING THE BODY OF SLAIN PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY WAS LOADED ABOARD THE PLANE. MRS. JOHNSON, MRS. KENNEDY AND A GROUP OF WHITE HOUSE AIDES ATTENDED THE OATH-TAKING, WHICH WAS ADMINISTERED BY FEDERAL JUDGE SARAH T. HUGHES, WHO WAS APPOINTED TO OFFICE BY PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN OCTOBER, 1961.
KT25OPCS
WASHINGTON, NOV. 22 -- THE XXXX AIR FORCE JET CARRYING PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON AND THE BODY OF ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY LANDED AT ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE SHORTLY AFTER 6 P.M. (EST).
THE PLANE WAS MET BY AN HONOR GUARD OF AIRMEN IN DRESS UNIFORM, WITH RIFLES AND BAYONETS, AND BY HIGH-RANKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
AS SOON AS THE PLANES ENGINES STOPPED, ATTORNEY GENERAL ROBERT F. KENNEDY, THE SLAIN PRESIDENT'S BROTHER, BOUNDED UP THE STEPS AND INTOTHE CABIN. WITHIN A FEW MINUTES, HE REAPPEARED AT THE DOORWAY WITH MRS. JACQUELINE KENNEDY AND THE TWO WATCHED, HAND IN HAND, AS THE COFFIN WAS LOWERED TO A WAITING NAVAL AMBULANCE, TO BE TAKEN TO BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL.
MRS. KENNEDY, HERX DRESS AND STOCKINGS STILL SMEARED WITH HERX HUSBAND'S BLOOD, APPEARED COMPOSED. SHE RODE IN THE AMBULACE TO THE HOSPITAL.
CD515PCS
NITE LEAD KENNEDY
DALLAS, NOV. 22 -- PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED HERE TODAY.
