Andy Warhol - Martin Buber (FS II.228)

Martin Buber 228 by Andy Warhol

Martin Buber 228 is one of the ten screenprints in Warhol's print series Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century. In 1980, a publisher in Tel Aviv asked Andy Warhol to create a portfolio on Jewish figures of the twentieth century. Warhol was captivated by luminaries of the Jewish culture, and he referred to them as his “Jewish Geniuses.” Warhol selected Martin Buber (1878 – 1965), the renowned Hasidic scholar and philosopher. Buber’s metaphysical writings, as well as his retelling of Hasidic tales, have made him one of the most popular Jewish scholars of all time. His involvement in the founding of the State of Israel, also makes him, for many, one of the fathers of the modern Israeli state.

Warhol became fascinated with a group of influential Jewish figures – a pantheon of great thinkers, politicians, performers, musicians and writers, including renowned philosopher and educator Martin Buber. His portrait is featured alongside others Jewish luminaries, such as Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein. The collective achievements of these famous Jews changed the course of the twentieth century and may be said to have influenced every aspect of human experience.