What would you guess is the most reproduced work of art in the world? A work of Islamic art? The Mona Lisa? Monet’s Water Lillies (which can be found in the dorm room of every college-aged female in America)?
The answer is likely to surprise you—unless you’re British
It’s an effigy of Queen Elizabeth created by sculptor Arnold Machin, who was hired by the Royal Mail to come up with the design for postage stamps.
The 1966 design is said to be so well-liked by the Queen that she has declined to have it updated and changed over the years, unlike her effigy on coinage.
It is still seen on almost every British stamp today and some 320 billion copies have been made over the last 40 years, making it the most reproduced work of art in history.
(Via: Neatorama)
March 2nd, 2010 | 4:09 pm
I’m relieved. When I saw this post’s title in my RSS feed reader I was afraid it would be a velvet Elvis, or a Precious Moments figurine, or the dogs playing poker painting.
March 2nd, 2010 | 4:15 pm
God bless her and save her!
March 2nd, 2010 | 4:18 pm
Well, that’s just . . . cheating. Rule Britannia, hip, hip, and all that.
I might have guessed “American Gothic”, but that is probably just the most parodied work of art.
March 2nd, 2010 | 5:37 pm
Rev McCain,
Your crack about the velvet Elvis painting brought to mind a line in a song by Greg Brown entitled “Jesus and Elvis” inspired by seeing side by side black velvet paintings of Jesus and Elvis at a roadside stand in Missouri. It goes, in part:
“Elvis, he died young. Jesus, he died younger. Elvis died of too much. Jesus died of hunger.”
Never underestimate the power of kitsch.
March 2nd, 2010 | 5:46 pm
I too had an immediate image of the King – a velvet Elvis.
Then I thought of another King – Christ in da Vinci’s Last Supper.
Then I pictured the Last Supper done in velvet.
Much to my relief, I toggled down to the real answer – Elizabeth II Regina.
God save the Queen!
March 2nd, 2010 | 6:09 pm
Beautiful picture (effigy?) of the Queen. It’s like some exquisite work of ancient art. No wonder she likes it.
March 2nd, 2010 | 8:05 pm
Actually I could live with the “dogs playing poker” painting. I think secretly there is a legion’s worth of admirers of that work.
March 2nd, 2010 | 8:06 pm
Well, if we’re going to count stamps, than what about Washington’s picture on the dollar bill?
March 2nd, 2010 | 8:46 pm
In defense of college-aged female art lovers everywhere, I did have a copy of Monet’s Water Lilies in my first dorm room, but I soon asked the powers that be to get rid of it for me. Not actually a big fan… so there! :-P
March 3rd, 2010 | 8:08 am
If only we could find an Arnold Machin to design our coins. The new designs look like the results of an elementary school competition.
March 3rd, 2010 | 9:01 am
[...] Speaking of art and reproduction, having probably just read Guillaume Apollinaire’s The Cubist Painters or one of André Breton’s surrealist manifestos, eighteen-year-old German Helene Hegemann has written a book on “Berlin’s club scene” incorporating large portions of another writer’s prose. Charges of plagiarism flew, as they always do on such occasions. However, instead of responding with “the plagiarism-gotcha script of contrition and retraction,” as The New York Times puts it, Hegemann stated that she intended to “borrow” the material all along—thus supposedly making the action art, not plagiarism. “There’s no such thing as originality, just authenticity,” Hegemann is reported to have said to the collective sigh of philosophy professors worldwide. [...]
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