Artist: Andy Warhol (American, 1928 - 1987). Title: "Man Ray #2". Medium: Color offset lithograph. Date: Composed 1974. Dimensions: Overall size: 8 1/2 x 8 5/8 in. (216 x 219 mm). Lot Note(s): Signed in black felt tip pen, center left. Edition unknown, presumed very small. Cream wove smooth paper. Printed to the edge of the sheet. Fine impression. Fine condition; affixed to very thin and supple archival acid-free support sheet, not mount/board. Literature/catalogue raisonne: cf. Feldman/Schellmann II.148. Comment(s): Rare. Issued to promote the 'Man Ray' exhibition at Galleria Il Fauno and Alexandre Lolas, Milan, Italy, in August of 1974. The show consisted of 28 separate images of Man Ray. Apparently there were very small quantities of this lithograph printed for distribution at the opening night reception and they went fast. Printed by Poligrafico Roggero & Tortia, Beinasco/Turin, Italy. In the early 1970s Warhol began to accept regular commissions to paint the portraits of the rich and famous. However, as well as commissions, he also painted a number of portraits of people he admired, especially other artists. Man Ray was one of his heroes, so much so that, when he could afford it, Warhol acquired a number of his photographs, paintings and early books. This image is based on a Polaroid photograph he took of him, cigar in mouth, in 1973. As with the portraits of his mother and other people he felt close to, these portraits of Man Ray are among the most painterly and heavily-worked Warhol ever painted. Image copyright © Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [28805-2-600]