Mick Jagger (F&S II.142), 1975

PI Fine Art, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto

Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann, "Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987", 4th edition, Milan, 2003, catalogue no. II.142 Christopher Andersen, "Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger", New York, 2012, page 66 Stuart Lenig, "The Many Lives of Andy Warhol", London, 2021, page 91

The pop art sensation Andy Warhol first met the Rolling Stones frontman at “The Mods and Rockers Ball” held at the American photographer and filmmaker Jerry Schatzberg’s Park Avenue South apartment. While Mick was inescapably drawn to this white-blond painter of Campbell’s soup cans, Warhol “was beguiled by Jagger’s unique blend of raw, unschooled talent and gender-bending glamour.” This fateful meeting between two pioneering figures during the revolutionary cultural moment of the 1960s is significant, offering us a glimpse into what animated the zeitgeist at the time. Their friendship would not only last until Warhol’s death twenty-four years later but, most importantly, lead to the production of one of the most captivating celebrity portfolios. The series captures Mick’s sexual charisma in ten poses, all gamely playing it up for the man behind the lens. Here, Mick is shown in profile with crinkled eyes, his wide mouth open in laughter. The work focuses primarily on his joyful expression framed by unruly locks of hair curling around his forehead and ear. His slopping, naked shoulders are merely traced and shadowed, covered by shimmery fragments of silver, gold, and midnight blue Color-Aid paper. Mick appears almost godlike. With the right side of his face meticulously outlined on a glistening gold sheet, the singer’s idealized persona has been layered onto the subject’s actual features captured on a Polaroid. The effect is mesmerizing, immortalizing Mick’s outsized personality in print. During the 1970s, Warhol regularly attended the party circuit in New York, meeting people of wealth and stature who were all too flattered to have such a famous artist in their midst. Even though he was an inveterate socialite who enjoyed gossiping and having a good time, Warhol also attended these events with a singular purpose: finding the right patrons to commission celebrity portraits. The artist would then arrange a photo session with the subject, often going through ten rolls of film while snapping informal shots. They would review the day’s work together, choosing the perfect shot, which would be sent to a photo lab to be enlarged to poster size before being delivered to Warhol’s studio. Once received, the artist would “attach it to an easel, dab it with acrylic transparent paint, often in subtle pastel colors that would retain all the elements of the original portrait with a dash of color, and finish the work. The completed standard-sized, portrait poster artwork would be framed, the work packaged and delivered to the customer with an invoice for $25,000 to $40,000.” Through his celebrity portraits, Warhol reclaims the stars themselves, whether Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, or Liz Taylor, and replaces the star in the public’s mind. Ultimately, Warhol has preserved the aura of the Rolling Stones frontman in his series of repetitive and glamorous representations, ensuring that Mick Jagger—as both a celebrity to be worshiped and a commodity to be consumed—can live on eternally.