Mao by Andy Warhol - Andy Warhol's Mao Tse Tung (1972) is a silk-screen portrait of the Chinese leader that was made in many versions. It is one of the series of silk-screens that he made on the subject of fame. They began in the early 1960s with his many portraits of Marilyn Monroe whose sad death in 1962 led him to contemplation of what it meant to be famous and what it could possibly be worth. The fame of the individuals in these portraits was usually of the Hollywood variety and various representations of Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, and others are among the best known. Usually the different versions employed the same image--sometimes repeatedly within the same piece. In every instance, however, Warhol's method was to use appropriated images. They were usually taken from the press or from Hollywood promotional materials and adapted for the artist's purposes.