Years before his iconic images of Campbell’s soup cans, Andy Warhol took on the world of haute cuisine in a self-published satirical cookbook titled Wild Raspberries. First published in 1959, a copy of the cookbook is now set to go to auction, in an online sale by Bonhams New York.
Warhol designed Wild Raspberries alongside the interior decorator Suzie Frankfurt, who penned the absurd recipes (the instructions for “Omelet Greta Garbo” include the stipulation that the dish is “always to be eaten alone in a candlelit room”) while Warhol’s mother, Julia Warhola, did the calligraphy with deliberate, whimsical misspellings.
According to the auction house, only 34 editions were produced in colour, and many of these were given away to friends and associates, instead of being sold. “(They) were done in the spirit of fun, with a bit of self-promotion, and often given as Christmas gifts to friends and his graphic design clients,” Bonhams’ Darren Sutherland tells the Guardian. “A few sold through his favourite ice cream shop Serendipity, which moonlighted as an art gallery.”
As a result, the cookbooks are now incredibly rare, and the copy going on sale – which is signed by Warhol, and made out to the fashion editor and Halston associate DD Ryan – is estimated to fetch between $30,000 and $50,000 (or £22,000 and £36,000).
In the past year, Andy Warhol artworks have also been auctioned off in the sale of Keith Haring’s personal collection (alongside work by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Roy Lichtenstein), and a charity sale raising money to provide relief for artists affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Wild Raspberries is set to be auctioned on March 22. Look inside the satirical cookbook via the Bonhams auction listing.