Double Elvis

Date1963/1976

Maker Andy Warhol American, 1928 - 1987

Label TextThe original image for this work is likely a publicity still from the Western film Flaming Star (1960), in which Elvis played the lead. To Warhol, the movie's title was clearly suggestive on a number of levels -- it captured the fleeting glamour of celebrity, and also hinted at the singer's sex appeal for women and gay men. Evocative of movies and mass media repetition, the serial image was central for Warhol, the choice of silver an additional reminder of the silver screen of the movies. Beginning in the 1960s, he combined celebrity portraits with a blank screen to emphasize absence and loss. In 1976, Warhol made a second, blank panel to be paired with the painting.

This life-size portrait of Elvis was made at a time when his star power was beginning to be overshadowed by a new generation. The original image is most likely sourced from a publicity still for the Western Flaming Star (1960), in which Elvis played the lead. To Warhol, the movie's title was clearly suggestive on a number of levels - it captured the fleeting glamour of celebrity, and also hinted at Elvis' sex appeal for women and gay men. The serial image and silver backdrop reference the silver screen of the movies.

In 1976, Warhol made a second, blank panel to be paired with the painting. Beginning in the 1960s, he combined celebrity portraits with a blank screen to emphasize absence and loss. It is especially poignant that Warhol modified the work just one year before Elvis' death.

Object number76.9

Provenancethe artist, until 1974; purchased by Stephen Mazoh, New York City, 1974-1976; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington (Seattle Art Museum purchased the first panel from Mazoh and commissioned the second panel of the piece), 1976

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Once you 'got' Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again.

Andy Warhol

Exhibition HistoryVancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Seattle Art Museum Lends, March 13 - April 11, 1976. No cat. no. Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, Andy Warhol Portraits, Frebruary 5 - March 27, 1977. Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, An Urban Vernacular: Narrative American Art, March 12 - April 25, 1982. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Contemporary Art, 1987. Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Myth Of The West, September 13 - November 25, 1990. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 to the Present, September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Documents International: Eleven Heads Are Better than One: Sixth Graders Connect with SAM, April 1, 1999 - April 2, 2000. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 2000 1/2: going forward looking back, June 8 - July 16, 2000. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, First Person Singular, May 31, 2001 - July 21, 2002. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modern in America, II, November 5, 2004 - January 4, 2006. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pop Departures, October 9, 2014 - January 11, 2015. Text by Catharina Manchanda, et al. No cat. no., p. 103, reproduced pp. 14-15. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reverberations: Contemporary Art and Modern Classics, December 22, 2022 - ongoing.Published ReferencesMathes, Charles. Treasures of American Museums. New York: Mallard Press, 1991; 1. Selected Works. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 129, reproduced on cover (detail) and reproduced on p. 129. Frei, Georg. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne. New York: Phaidon Press, Inc., 2002. Vol. 1, Paintings and Sculptures, 1961-1963 (2002); no. 410, p. 335. McCarthy, David. "Andy Warhol's Silver Elvises: Meaning through Context at the Ferus Gallery in 1963." The Art Bulletin, Vol. 88, No. 2 (June 2006); pp. 354-372, p. 362 (54). Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures. London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007; p. 13. Archer, Michael. Jeff Koons: One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank. London: Afterall Books, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, 2011; p. 71. Abrams, Nora Burnett, Myeshia C. Babers, R. Alan Brooks, et al. Cowboy. New York: Rizzoli Electa, MCA Denver, 2023. pp. 208-209.

Credit LineNational Endowment for the Arts, PONCHO and the Seattle Art Museum Guild

DimensionsEach panel: 82 1/4 x 59 1/8 in. (208.9 x 150.2cm)

MediumSilkscreen ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas