''Reigning Queens'' is a 1985 series of

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

portraits by American artist

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

. The screen prints were presented as a portfolio of sixteen; four prints each of the four

queens regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning ...

. The subjects were Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, Queen

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...

, Queen Ntfombi Twala of Swaziland and Queen

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

Description

''Reigning Queens'' only includes ruling queens. The series portrays four queens at that time: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, Queen Beatrix of Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntfombi Twala of Swaziland. The images used by Warhol that to make the screen prints were derived from official photographs. The images were then overlaid with Warhol's trademark abstract blocks of color. A separate 'Royal edition' was issued of the portfolio; with the portraits featuring diamond dust or 'ground up glass' applied to the portrait when wet.

Tate Galleries Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

described the dust as having "a sparkly, extravagant effect". Thirty sets of the Royal edition were produced.''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' wrote that Warhol's portraits of Queen Elizabeth II "treat her like any other celebrity, frozen in time and bright colours". The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was based on the official photograph released for her Silver Jubilee in 1977, taken by Peter Grugeon at Windsor Castle on April 2, 1975. The British Royal Collection wrote in a description that "Warhol has simplified Grugeon's portrait so that all that remains is a mask-like face. All character has been removed and we are confronted by a symbol of royal power". Four prints from the Royal edition of Queen Elizabeth II from the ''Reigning Queens'' series were acquired by the Royal Collection of the British royal family in 2012. These prints are the only ones in the Royal Collection that Queen Elizabeth did not sit for or commission.

Critical reception

''Reigning Queens'' was shown at the

Leo Castelli Gallery Leo Castelli (born Leo Krausz; September 4, 1907 – August 21, 1999) was an Italian-American art dealer who originated the contemporary art gallery system. His gallery showcased contemporary art for five decades. Among the movements which ...

in New York City from September 1985 to October 1985. Warhol was upset about the exhibition. He wrote in the '' Andy Warhol Diaries'', "I just hate George Mulder for showing here in America. They were supposed to be only for Europe—nobody here cares about royalty and it'll be another bad review." According to art critic

Wayne Koestenbaum Wayne Koestenbaum (born 1958) is an American artist, poet, and cultural critic. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University and is a 1994 Whiting Award recipie ...

, the show represented, in Warhol's eyes, his "rock bottom."

Alfredo Jaar Alfredo Jaar (; ; born 1956) is a Chilean-born artist, architect, photographer and filmmaker who lives in New York City. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war— ...

felt the series was a "monument to kitsch" in a 2012 interview for the book ''Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years''. Anthony Haden-Guest wrote that the series "had been correctly seen as a shameless assault on the rich kitsch market" in his 1998 book ''True Colors: The Real Life of the Art World''.

References

1985 paintings Paintings by Andy Warhol Cultural depictions of Elizabeth II Portraits by American artists Portraits of the British Royal Family Portraits of women 20th-century portraits {{Art-stub