Warhol’s Ten Jews

Client: The Academy of Jewish Thought and Learning

Categorised in: 2D Illustration, Illustration, Posters & Flyers

Titled “Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century” by Andy Warhol, created in 1980. A series of portraits including the writer Franz Kafka, novelist Gertrude Stein, philosopher Martin Buber, physicist Albert Einstein, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, pianist George Gershwin, comedians the Marx Brothers, politician Golda Meir, actress Sarah Bernhardt and psychologist Sigmund Freud.

The Academy’s course focuses on the work and impact of each of these individuals who have been captured in Andy Warhol’s portraits. The first course ended with a tour of the exhibition of his work at the Wits Art Museum.

The illustration, inspired by Andy Warhol’s portraits, is suggestive of several key characters pertaining to their specialties namely George Gershwin’s piano, Golda Meir and the Israeli flag, Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, the Marx Brother’s costumes, Sarah Bernhardt holding a prop, Louis Brandeis with a gavel, Albert Einstein’s famous equation and Sigmund Freud’s couch.