Mammy by Andy Warhol

Mammy by Andy Warhol  from the Myths Portfolio

The Myths Portfolio is one of Andy Warhol’s most sought after collections. Andy Warhol’s Myths collection contains ten screen prints of iconic mythical figures, including Santa Claus, Superman and Howdy Doody, among many others.From the 1960s on, Andy Warhol exhibited an unerring sense for the powerful motifs of his time – contemporary images that capture the modern imagination as completely as the gods and goddesses of ancient mythology once did.

In Myths, Warhol’s 1981 portfolio of 10 screen prints, he was referring not to remote civilizations, but to the beginnings of the cinema and the imaginary characters loved and recognized by millions all over the world.  Most images in Warhol’s Myths series are taken from old Hollywood films or 1950s television and portray the universal view of America’s once enchanted and powerful past.  Included in the series are characters loved by children such as Superman, Howdy Doody, and Santa Claus, as well as fictional figures like Dracula, The Wicked Witch of the West, and Uncle Sam.

The “Mammy” character is one that is not known in one particular context, but is a that character is seen in various forms of pop culture, present in movies like Gone With the Wind and comic strips and cartoons like Tom and Jerry. The earliest characterization of the Mammy figure was in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Over the years, Mammy has become a largely mythologized character that is mostly seen as a positive maternal figure, as the way Warhol has portrayed her. He chose to include her in his Myths portfolio as a character who makes up an intricate and developed narrative of American Pop culture.

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.