Andy Warhol

“The Nation’s Nightmare”

1951

© 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Right Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London

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Not on display

Artist: Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Medium: Ink, graphite and acetate on paper
Dimensions: Support: 371 × 345 mm
Frame: 685 × 550 × 28 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00240

Online caption

This provocative linear drawing depicts a young man injecting drugs. It is one of several works that Warhol made relating to the radio programme, ‘The Nation’s Nightmare’ in 1951. A similar drawing to this was printed on the cover of an album of the show and published as a full-page advert in the New York Times – for which Warhol received his first Art Directors Club Medal in 1952. Although employing his blotted-line technique, this work is clearly different from his other commercial drawings of the time. Renowned for quirky illustrations of shoes and handbags, ‘The Nation’s Nightmare’ reveals the darker side of American culture - an aspect which would feature in much of his later work, such as the 'Death and Disaster' series and some of his films of the mid 1960s.