Title: Kiku CompletePortfolio (FS II.307-309)
Medium: Screenprint on Rives BFK paper
Year: 1983
Size: 19 5/8 inches x 26 inches
Andy Warhol’s Kiku Complete Portfolio, was a collection that he was requested to do in 1982 by the Gendai Hanga center in Tokyo. Warhol appealed very strongly to Japanese collectors, especially after 1974 when he held a retrospective of his paintings in the Daimaru Department store in Tokyo. This began a long standing relationship between Warhol and Japanese Art Collectors and Dealers. Thereafter, sometime between 1982 and 1983 a gentleman named Atsuko introduced Warhol to someone from the Gendai Hanga Center, who then asked him to make a collection tailored specifically for the Japanese. The gentleman who approached Andy from the Gendai Hanga Center, knew that Warhol liked flowers and had made prints of them before. He was especially referring to the hand colored flowers edition in 1974 which were based on Ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangements. Andy agreed and created Andy Warhol’s ‘Kiku Complete Portfolio for his Japanese audience.
