Two original silkscreen frames used in the production of Andy Warhol's most iconic works — the Nine Marilyns and the Fright Wig Self-Portrait — bearing the inscription of his master printer, Rupert Jasen Smith.
These two silkscreen frames are not reproductions, copies, or prints. They are the actual production tools — the stencils through which ink was forced to create some of the twentieth century's most recognizable images. They are the physical link between Andy Warhol's artistic vision and the finished works that now hang in the world's foremost museums and private collections.
Inscribed with the name "Smith" and the inventory number "#2301PE," these screens trace directly to the studio of Rupert Jasen Smith, Warhol's master printer and art director from 1977 until the artist's death in February 1987. Smith printed nearly half of Warhol's total output during his final decade — a period of extraordinary productivity that produced the Reversals, the commissioned portraits, and the monumental Fright Wig self-portraits that would become the artist's final major statement.
The screens' provenance is documented by a notarized affidavit executed on December 12, 2013, by Paul Sipos, who states under oath that Rupert Smith personally gifted him these two silkscreens in or about early 1988 — screens "that Warhol had used to create his artworks." Sipos, a longtime figure in the New York art service industry who had worked with Warhol through a gallery that represented him, resided at 181 Duane Street — the same Lower Manhattan street where Smith had converted former cheese factories into his studio and living lofts after graduating from the Pratt Institute. The two men were neighbors and colleagues, connected through the orbit of Andy Warhol's Factory.
The first screen bears the unmistakable image of Marilyn Monroe — rendered in the iconic composition derived from Gene Korman's 1953 publicity photograph for the film Niagara. This is the same source image Warhol first appropriated in August 1962, weeks after Monroe's death, and returned to obsessively throughout his career.
What makes this screen distinctive is its configuration: the mesh carries a repeating grid of Monroe's face, arranged in the three-by-three format used to produce the celebrated "Nine Marilyns" paintings. These works, part of the Reversal Series begun circa 1979, represent Warhol's late-career reexamination of his own iconography. By silkscreening the negative image of the original photograph, Warhol bestowed upon Monroe's face a new and darker mood — what the art historian Roberto Marrone described as reflective of the distance between their original creation and the moment of their re-creation.
The screen's mesh is saturated with heavy pink, red, and magenta paint residue — evidence of extensive production use. Multiple color layers have built up on the frame edges and across the mesh itself, indicating that this screen was used to print numerous iterations, each with different color palettes, as was Warhol's practice with the Reversal Series.
"In August '62 I started doing silkscreens. I wanted something stronger that gave more of an assembly-line effect." — Andy Warhol, POPism: The Warhol '60s, 1980
The second screen is among the most historically significant: it carries the photographic image used to produce Warhol's 1986 Self-Portrait (Fright Wig) paintings — the last major self-portrait series of his career, completed just months before his death on February 22, 1987.
Commissioned by the London gallerist Anthony d'Offay, the Fright Wig self-portraits were unveiled at d'Offay's gallery in July 1986 in the first and only exhibition of Warhol's career dedicated exclusively to self-portraiture. Warhol photographed himself wearing his signature silver wig styled to stand on end in wild, spiky tufts — creating what d'Offay later described as an image with a "demonic aspect" that reminded him "more of a death mask."
The screen retains its blue-cyan photo emulsion in remarkable condition, with the halftone photographic image clearly visible in the mesh. The wooden frame bears the inscription "Smith" and the production number "#2301PE," linking it directly to Rupert Jasen Smith's studio operation. Pink, red, blue, green, yellow, and orange paint residues on the frame edges testify to its use across multiple color variations — consistent with the known range of Fright Wig paintings, which were produced in various monochromatic and polychromatic palettes.
Rupert Jasen Smith was Andy Warhol's master silkscreen printer and art director from 1977 until Warhol's death in 1987. Their collaboration was extraordinarily close — Warhol's published diaries record daily consultations on printing decisions, color choices, and technical execution. Smith's expertise was so valued that Warhol authorized the unprecedented step of allowing Smith's printer's stamp to appear alongside his own signature on their collaborative works.
Smith was trained at the Pratt Institute in New York, where he specialized in painting and printmaking. He began his association with Warhol on the Hammer and Sickle series in 1977, and went on to print the majority of Warhol's later works, including the portraits of Princess Grace of Monaco, Ingrid Bergman, Mickey Mouse, and Edward Kennedy; the series Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, Shoes, Myths, Endangered Species, and Reigning Queens; the Reversal Series; and the commissioned portraits that constituted Warhol's "business art."
Smith was also a distinguished artist in his own right, known for his Homage to Andy Warhol portfolio and his Greta Garbo series. He owned one of New York City's leading printmaking studios — housed in former cheese factories on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan that Smith and fellow Pratt graduates had converted into lofts, a project later featured on the cover of a national magazine as an example of "Urban Pioneers." Smith eventually purchased both buildings and operated his studio there for years. He also maintained an estate in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Smith died on February 15, 1989, at the age of thirty-seven, from complications related to AIDS.
It was on this same stretch of Duane Street that Paul Sipos — the art services professional who would later receive these two screens as a gift from Smith — had resided since 1979. Their proximity as neighbors, combined with their shared professional connection to Andy Warhol, provides the personal context for Smith's gift of the screens to Sipos in early 1988.
The provenance of these screens is anchored by a notarized affidavit executed on December 12, 2013, by Paul Sipos before Michael P. Mangan, Notary Public of the State of New York (No. 02MA6138796). In this sworn statement, Sipos deposes that he met Rupert Smith in the early 1980s through his work with Andy Warhol, and that in or about early 1988, Smith gifted him two silkscreens "that Warhol had used to create his artworks" — one a self-portrait measuring approximately five feet by five feet, the other nine images of Marilyn Monroe of the same dimensions.
A critical corroborating detail: Sipos states he has resided at 181 Duane Street, New York, since 1979. After graduating from the Pratt Institute, Rupert Jasen Smith and a group of fellow students rented two former cheese factories on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan, which they converted into studio lofts — a project later featured on the cover of a national magazine as an article on "Urban Pioneers" in 1975. Smith used one loft as his printmaking studio and eventually purchased both buildings. Sipos and Smith were therefore neighbors on the same street for nearly a decade, independently corroborating Sipos's claim of a personal relationship with the printer.
| Marker | Fright Wig Screen | Marilyn Screen |
|---|---|---|
| Frame Inscription | "Smith" — consistent with Rupert Jasen Smith's studio labeling | No visible name inscription; metal strip edge construction |
| Inventory Number | "#2301PE" — production tracking number | Not visible in photographs |
| Dimensions | Approx. 5 × 5 feet (per Sipos affidavit) | Approx. 5 × 5 feet (per Sipos affidavit) |
| Image Content | Single portrait, fright wig hairstyle, halftone photographic rendering | Repeating 3×3 grid of Monroe face from Niagara publicity still |
| Emulsion | Blue-cyan photo emulsion, well-preserved | Visible under heavy paint accumulation |
| Paint Residue | Pink, red, blue, green, yellow, orange on frame edges | Heavy pink/red/magenta saturation across mesh and frame |
| Frame Construction | Wooden frame with traditional fabric lacing | Large wooden frame with metal strip edges |
| Matches Known Works | Self-Portrait (Fright Wig), 1986 — d'Offay exhibition | Nine Marilyns (Reversal Series), c. 1979–1986 |
| Transfer Date | Early 1988 — gifted by Rupert Jasen Smith to Paul Sipos (per notarized affidavit, December 12, 2013) | |
| Documentation | Sworn affidavit of Paul Sipos, notarized by Michael P. Mangan, NYSN No. 02MA6138796, with photographic exhibits | |
The physical silkscreen occupies a unique position in the hierarchy of Warhol-related artifacts. Unlike the finished prints and paintings — which are the end product of the screen's use — the screen itself is the matrix, the generative source from which all impressions were pulled. In Warhol's practice, where the boundary between original and reproduction was deliberately and provocatively blurred, the screen holds a paradoxical status: it is simultaneously the most and least "original" object in the production chain.
Warhol's screens were typically prepared by commercial screen makers working from photographic film positives provided by the Factory. The screens were then delivered to Smith's studio, where the actual printing took place. Smith would consult daily with Warhol on color selection, image registration, and the degree of ink saturation — decisions that gave each impression its individual character, even within nominally identical editions.
After Warhol's death in 1987, many of the production screens were dispersed through Smith's studio and through the broader network of Warhol associates. These two screens were gifted by Smith to his Duane Street neighbor Paul Sipos in early 1988 — approximately six months before Smith's AIDS diagnosis in September of that year. Sipos, who had been involved in the art service industry since the 1970s and had worked with Warhol through a gallery that represented him, documented the provenance of the screens in a notarized affidavit executed in December 2013. In 1991, the Vrej Baghoomian Gallery in New York exhibited and sold unique Warhol prints from Smith's estate, authenticated by the Andy Warhol Foundation — establishing a clear precedent for works from Smith's possession entering the commercial market.
"I think somebody should be able to do all my paintings for me." — Andy Warhol to Gene R. Swenson, 1963
The Catalogue Raisonné of Warhol's prints — first published in 1985 by Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann, and expanded in a second edition two years after Warhol's death — includes an interview with Rupert Jasen Smith that documents Smith's central role in the production process. The expanded third and fourth editions, co-sponsored by the Andy Warhol Foundation, further establish the systematic working methods that Smith employed, including the tracking and numbering systems visible on the screens presented here.
These screens should be understood not merely as historical artifacts but as essential components of the Warhol production system — the physical embodiment of the mechanical reproduction that defined his artistic philosophy.
A strictly limited edition of archival prints is being prepared from these original screens by a qualified master printer, using period-appropriate inks and substrates. Each print will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity referencing the notarized Sipos affidavit and documenting the screen's complete provenance from Warhol's Factory through Rupert Jasen Smith's studio. Details and availability will be announced here.