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Andy Warhol Ads: The New Spirit (Donald Duck) 1985 Screenprint in colors, on Lenox Museum Board, the full sheet, S. 37 7/8 x 37 3/4 in. (96.2 x 95.9 cm) signed and numbered 114/190 in pencil (there were also 30 artist's proofs), published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York, a spot of slight soiling at lower right, a repaired tear at lower right (with associated ink loss and soiling in the surrounding area), cracking in the pale yellow and bright pink inks near the center right sheet edge, varying degrees of creasing in the corners and occasional nicks at the sheet edges (with associated minor ink loss), otherwise in very good condition, framed.
Literature Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 357 Catalogue Essay The New Spirit was a World War II propaganda animated short film created by Walt Disney Studios in 1942 and sponsored by the United States Department of the Treasury. In 1943 the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film begins with Donald Duck dancing to a patriotic song. Afterward, a radio announcer tells about the new patriotic spirit and asks Donald if he was willing to do his part. Donald asserts his loyalty and begs to know how best to do it. However, Donald’s enthusiasm instantly fades when the radio announcer advises he pay his income tax promptly. The announcer then changes the duck’s mind by stressing the need for the funds for the war effort with the slogan, “Taxes to beat the Axis”. Sufficiently motivated, the announcer guides Donald, with the help of a talking pen, inkwell and blotter, on how to properly fill out his simplified tax form. With the bureaucratic task completed, the announcer urges Donald to mail his payment to the Federal government at once and Donald enthusiastically and literally races across the nation to Washington D.C. to deliver it in person. Reportedly, when Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. learned that Walt Disney proposed using Donald Duck as the feature character of the film, he insisted that a generic “Mr. Taxpayer” be used instead. However, Disney persuaded Morgenthau and President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the film would be more effective with a popular and familiar character. The popular reaction of the film led to a dramatic increase of prompt taxation payments by the public. Warhol was a teenager when this short was released and a regular attendee of movies. In 1985 it was probably a bit nerdy to choose an ad for a World War II documentary. In 2011, with the United States engaged in numerous wars, Warhol’s prophecy has never rung more true. Read More Artist Bio Andy Warhol American • 1928 - 1987 A seminal figure in the Pop Art movement of the early 1960s, Andy Warhol's paintings and screenprints are iconic beyond the scope of Art History, having become universal signifiers of an age. An early career in commercial illustration led to Warhol's appropriation of imagery from American popular culture and insistent concern with the superficial wonder of permanent commodification that yielded a synthesis of word and image, of art and the everyday. Warhol's obsession with creating slick, seemingly mass-produced artworks led him towards the commercial technique of screenprinting, which allowed him to produce large editions of his painted subjects. The clean, mechanical surface and perfect registration of the screenprinting process afforded Warhol a revolutionary absence of authorship that was crucial to the Pop Art manifesto. View More Works