Andy Warhol Prints : Jean Cocteau 1983

Andy Warhol. (American, 1928-1987). Jean Cocteau. (1983). Oil stick on paper and colored paper, 31 1/2 x 24″ (80 x 61 cm). Original source stolen without remorse from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Click on image to download 4167×5500 JPEG suitable for large format printing.

“Cocteau and Warhol’s work share an…ironic detachment,” observes Phil Watts, Associate Professor of the French Department at the University of Pittsburgh. “There’s also a common sensibility in their works, a common aestheticization of the body, of the male body…. I know that Jean Marais was one of Cocteau’s favorite stars, and he may have had the same function in Cocteau’s films as some of the Factory stars had for Andy Warhol’s films.

“Cocteau was a galvanizer of talent, a catalyst in the art world” continues Watts, confirming further uncanny similarities between the French surrealist and pop’s largest icon. “He’s someone who discovered new talent, who encouraged new talent. He’s one of the people who discovered the writer Raymond Radiguet , and who helped to publish Jean Genet, who had started writing his novels in prison. Cocteau was sort of a prominent figure in a the gay world,” notes Watts, “and he brought a lot of underground gay writers to the attention of the public.