'A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu' by Andy Warhol (1955) in high resolution

Warhol’s commercial art mailing list included art directors and society people. To secure his position as the highly sought after New York illustrator and graphic artist, Warhol gave increasingly elaborate gifts each month rather than the customary commercial greeting for Christmas. In 1953-57, he created books as gifts: 25 Cats, A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu, In the Bottom of My Garden, and The Gold Book. He would draw cherubs, beautiful young men and butterflies and had coloring parties to socialize with his commercial crowd and friends.

In 1954, Stephen Bruce started a successful café known as Serendipity with two friends. Warhol gave the rejected drawings from his commercial work to Stephen Bruce who would exhibit ten at a time in the new café set against the space’s all white walls and colorful Tiffany lamps. He named his shoe drawings after socialites and celebrities. These pictures sold out and Warhol offered new drawings for the Serendipity ongoing exhibition. He loved the place and was often seen there in the late afternoon before the magazine editors, art directors, and theater people would flock into the café and admire his work.

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