Based on well-known photographs, Andy Warhol's ten portraits of Jews portray Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein. In this work, the figures are transformed into typical Pop icons-colossal portraits splashed with asymmetrical blocks of bright color. After completing this series of prints, Warhol was so enthusiastic about the subject that he began a series of paintings of these subjects-a reversal of his usual method.
		Andy Warhol (American, 1931-1987) Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, 1980 (Sarah Bernhardt) Portfolio of 10 silkscreen prints and colophon, 40 x 32 in. (43 x 35 in. framed) The Jewish Museum, New York: Promised gift of Lorraine and Martin Beitler ©2001 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris