At the exhibition of works by Andy Warhol in China there will be no portraits of Mao

At the request of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, ten works depicting former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) will be expelled from the Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition to be held in 2013 in Shanghai and Beijing, Bloomberg reports.

On this occasion, Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, said: “This is disappointing because Mao’s images are extremely common in contemporary Chinese art,” and added that drawings depicting the Chinese leader have long become classics pop art and in no way express disrespect for his personality.

Andy Warhol painted Mao’s first portrait in 1972, when US President Richard Nixon (Richard Nixon, 1913-1994) made his historic visit to China. Images of the communist leader for 40 years have attracted the attention of collectors. One of the most impressive deals was made on May 10 this year when the New York auction house Phillips de Pury & Company sold an acrylic monoblock with an image of Mao for $ 10,386,500.

“Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes of Eternity” is an exceptional traveling exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the artist’s death. The exposition has already visited Singapore, and is now available to residents and guests of Hong Kong, in full, with portraits of the Great Helmsman. In Hong Kong, the exhibition will run until March 31, 2013. The next stops will be Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. The exhibition will be in Japan from February 1 to May 6, 2014. The total duration of the Asian tour will be 26 months.

The exhibition features about 300 paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, drawings, graphics and 3D installations of iconic works of the King of Pop Art, such as Jackie, cult images of Marilyn Monroe, Campbell soup cans ”(Campbell’s Soup, 1968),“ Silver ”Elizabeth Taylor (Silver Liz),“ Last Supper ”(The Last Supper, 1986) and several self-portraits.

The organizers of the exhibition said that more than 175,000 people visited the exhibition in Singapore alone.

Anna Sidorova