25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy by Andy Warhol

In the 1950s, Andy Warhol worked as a freelance children’s-book illustrator while sharing a Lexington Avenue apartment with his mother and 25 cats. He apparently never intended to host an entire cat colony in his apartment, but the head count continued to grow after he decided to find a companion for his first cat, Hester.

Warhol created colorful lithographs of the felines in his spare time. In 1954, the artist released the drawings, accompanied by his mother’s calligraphy, in the limited-edition book 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy. While original copies of the book are hard to come by — Christie’s once estimated one copy at $40,000 to $60,000 — a reprint of a 1987 edition is available from AbeBooks, along with a small number of offset lithographs.

Untrue to its grammatically flawed title, 25 Cats features prints of only 16 different cats. Except for the cat named Blue Pussy, each one is named Sam, after the first cat Warhol bought to keep Hester company. Click ahead to see prints from the book.

About the Artist:

Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. Andy Warhol’s works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn and Andy Warhol’s Soup Cans are some of the most recognized and collectible of his artworks. From Andy Warhol Paintings to Andy Warhol Prints and unique pieces, the artist’s works are available for sale from Guy Hepner.

More than twenty years after his death, Andy Warhol remains one of the most influential figures in contemporary art and culture. Warhol’s life and work inspires creative thinkers worldwide thanks to his enduring imagery, his artfully cultivated celebrity, and the ongoing research of dedicated scholars. His impact as an artist is far deeper and greater than his one prescient observation that “everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” His omnivorous curiosity resulted in an enormous body of work that spanned every available medium and most importantly contributed to the collapse of boundaries between high and low culture.

A skilled social networker, Warhol parlayed his fame, one connection at a time, to the status of a globally recognized brand. Decades before widespread reliance on portable media devices, he documented his daily activities and interactions on his traveling audio tape recorder and beloved Minox 35EL camera. Predating the hyper-personal outlets now provided online, Warhol captured life’s every minute detail in all its messy, ordinary glamour and broadcast it through his work, to a wide and receptive audience.

For more information on work like 25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy by Andy Warhol, contact info@guyhepner.comcreate new email.