10 Facts About Andy Warhol's Hammer And Sickle

The hammer and sickle is the quintessential communist symbol. Representing proletariat solidarity, the symbol was first adopted during the Russian Revolution. With the hammer representing the workers and the sickle representing the peasants, this is one of the most ubiquitous political symbols in modern history. Indeed, it might seem strange that Warhol - the King of Pop and champion of consumerism - should choose to depict the symbol of communism. However, Warhol's interest lay primarily in the nature of mass media and collective visual memory. There was perhaps no symbol more fitting of Warhol's attention than the hammer and sickle, hence this extensive foray into the Soviet motif.

Warhol's Hammer And Sickle series is perhaps the ultimate antithesis to his entire ethos. The premise behind Warhol's Pop was capitalism, exploring the imagery perpetuated by mass media to sell products to the populous. As we see in his Campbell's Soup and Brillo Box series, Warhol was committed