Warhol, Andy
These images are all taken from a series of wire-service photographs taken over the weekend of November 22nd to 25th 1963, the weekend of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Warhol started on this project soon after the event and the works depict images prior to, the day of and shortly after the assassination, all cropped to focus on Jacqueline Kennedy. Warhol spoke out on his lack of emotion at the announcement of John F. Kennedy's death: ''It didn't bother me that much that he was dead… What bothered me was the way the television and radio were programming everybody to feel sad.'' Although some prints in the series are depicted in muted tones, appropriate for a tragic event, Warhol insisted these images were concerned with the wire-service photographs and how this event was represented in the media, not the emotion surrounding the national tragedy. This is evident in the print Jackie II; the image is reminiscent of newsprint, further alluding to the press coverage of this event.
Jacqueline Kennedy No 1 (edition of 125)
1965