The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction In Art

stair galleries' photo of a wall in john richardson's loft apartment, featuring his copy of his warhol portrait, his copy of another warhol polaroid of himsefl, a cat painting and some chinese urns on a red paisley-covered console, and some other artworks and objets of no discernible reputation. the wall is painted to look like yellow plaster.
Richardson Warhol Richardsons flanking a portrait of Richardson’s cat Lulu, image: The Art Newspaper

In 1973 John Richardson had his portrait as a middle-aged leather daddy painted by Andy Warhol. Warhol also photographed Richardson as a middle-aged Upper East Side art daddy. Both portraits were displayed prominently in Richardson’s loft on lower Fifth Avenue. Except the photo is an enlargement Richardson made from a Warhol Polaroid. And the painting, at least when Rizzoli and The Art Newspaper came to visit, was a giclée print Richardson had made, because he’d donated the painting to Tate Modern.

a polaroid of a white slightly jowly john richardson with a long nose and lips apart has tilted his head, his black leather cap to the side, his hand on the back of his neck, the zipper of his black leather jacket partially open to show what might be a plaid shirt or some chest hair or both, has been screenprinted onto canvas, with a grey painted background and slightly unsettling pink skin, and brash blue eye highlights in a portrait by andy warhol. except this is a giclee print of that portrait, in a black and gold striped frame, because the actual painting is in a museum, and this copy richardson kept for himself in his new york city loft, which was emptied and sold off for parts at stair galleries in 2020. this print of a painting sold for two thousand us dollars.
Richardson Warhol Richardson, 2017? 40×40 like Andy used to do, but giclée on canvas, in artist’s (sic) frame, lot 257, est. $2-4,000?? lmao [update: sold for $2,000!]

These, along with homemade collages of the Miros and surmoulages of the Giacometti furniture you cashed out, are my favorite categories of reproductions of art. Not only do they have to look like the artwork they look like, they have to stand in for them and actually do their work, like Hercules holding up the heavens for Atlas. Or like the Tethereds in Jordan Peele’s Us, which were created amidst power and privilege, share the aura of their originals, and occasionally take their place without anyone noticing–until they dramatically do.

a blow up of a polaroid head shot of john richardson by andy warhol, which has warhol's initials in the corner, which are also comically large now. in a gilt and black frame, sold at stair galleries in 2020
That signature really is choice, tho: Richardson Warhol Richardson facsimile objet, before 2014? 17×14 in. photo in 24×20 in. artist’s frame, lot 258, est. $200-400 [update: sold for $1,200!]

Richardson welcomed these and many more doppelgängers into his well-appointed homes, the contents of which are now for sale, while their true natures are free for contemplation.

a framed full-scale color photo of a picasso painting of a seated woman in a blue dress against a green and purple background. her fingers and some elements of the dress, too, are long spindly black lines with little balls on the end, like a q-tip or a miro
lot 442: Tete? color photo, 100×80 cm, est. $200-300, image: stairgalleries.com

Here are two full-scale photographs of postwar Picasso paintings, which the longtime dealer, friend, friend of the second wife, and author of four volumes of Picasso biography made for himself.

another full-scale photo copy of a picasso made by john richardson, but this one is greys white and black, a kind of insectoid form with a triangular head
lot 442: Crouching Woman? color photo, 100×80 cm, est. $200-300, image: stairgalleries.com [update: both sold for $200]

Why these? Were they favorites from the show he organized at Gagosian Britannia in 2010? Did he get a cut from their sale? Was the owner a friend, or someone who’d never get invited over, lest they discover the clone of their painting? Stair Galleries calls them Crouching Woman and Tete, though the actual titles are Chouette sur une chaise, January 15, 1947, and probably something like Femme Assise à une Robe Bleue. Or maybe they’re the titles of the photos [conceptual art galaxy brain dot gif].

this is the most picasso of all, and it's only an exhibition poster, for a 1956 show at vallauris, france, and it was signed from picasso to john richardson, who died, and so it was sold in 2020
Lot 11: After Pablo Picasso, est. $800-1200, image: stairgalleries.com [update: sold for $17,000]

Speaking of the Cote d’Azur in the 50s, these inscribed exhibition posters are just the kind of hostess gift an artist would bring the well-bred young twink boyfriend of the ornery, old British collector when they came to lunch at his Provençal chateau. And all these years later, they can still hold the wall, at least in the country.

John Richardson: A Scholar Collects, Sept. 16&17, 2020 [stairgalleries.com]
Previously, related: After Giacometti
Untitled (Glafira Warhol), 2015