S&H Green Stamps showcases Warhol's career–long fascination with ready–made, reproducible imagery. To create the painting Warhol hand stamped an image of an S & H Green Stamp trading coupon in three successive layers (light green, dark green, and red) using silkscreen ink. This labor–intensive three–step stamping process mimicked the more efficient process of screenprinting, which Warhol would employ in the months to follow. The lack of a focal point in the work pays tribute to the allover compositions of Jackson Pollock and other Abstract Expressionists, but with its banal motif and repetitive imagery S&H Green Stamps embodies a witty reproach to the grand and heroic canvases of these artists. This work featuring stamps, itself stamped into existence, exemplifies the artist’s sly, deadpan sense of humor.

Gallery label from

2008.

Medium Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions 71 3/4 x 53 3/4" (182.3 x 136.6 cm)
Credit Gift of Philip Johnson
Object number 512.1998
Department Painting & Sculpture

Explore more

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

American, 1928–1987 258 works online

Two exhibitions in 1962 announced Andy Warhol’s dramatic entry into the art world. In July, at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, he exhibited his now-iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans .

Learn more →
All works by Andy Warhol →

From MoMA Design Store

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.