Mick Jagger 1975

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In the mid-1970s, Andy Warhol became the portraitist of high society: industrialists, fashion moguls, art dealers, film actresses, and fellow artists were clamoring to have their portraits painted by him. He himself became a celebrity—the media called him a pop star, pop genius, and pope or high priest of pop art—and moved in these circles as a matter of course. Mick and Bianca Jagger were among the party crowd around Andy Warhol—his studio, the “Factory,” was a popular meeting place for the New York scene and a venue for wild parties. In the summer of 1975, the Jaggers rented Andy Warhol's house on Long Island, and during their stay there, he took the opportunity to take extremely intimate and very personal portrait photos of the pop idol, which he used for a series of silkscreen prints.

“Warhol's best portraits capture ‘the look and charisma of a person with tremendous verve,’” and the Mick Jagger series is certainly among the best and most impressive works in this genre.

The actual motif taken from the photographic template is overlaid with a drawing emphasizing the contours on a second level. Here, Andy Warhol draws on the graphic style of his early work. The background is no longer monochrome. The artist adds color to the image with collage-like gray and turquoise elements that partially overlay the face, emphasizing Mick Jagger's characteristic features and sex appeal, his status as a “modern-day Adonis.” At the same time, Warhol also alludes to society's treatment of celebrities as modern deities, to the cult of stardom.

The print is part of a series of ten different motifs signed by both Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger, which indicates the close collaboration between artist and model and at the same time adds additional value to Warhol's coveted work through the pop star's signature.