Andy Warhol’s Hammer and Sickle, 1977 (FS II.163) presents a tightly cropped close-up of the iconic hammer and sickle, rendered in stark black against a fragmented, abstract red backdrop. Warhol’s expressive, sketch-like line work overlays the bold forms, adding texture and dimensionality to the composition. This screenprint is part of a larger portfolio derived from photographs taken by Warhol’s studio assistant, Ronnie Cutrone.

Warhol’s fascination with the symbol began during a 1976 trip to Italy, where he noticed the hammer and sickle prominently featured in political graffiti. Rather than focusing on its ideological significance—as a symbol of rising communist sentiment—Warhol was more intrigued by its repetition and visual presence, questioning whether it had crossed into the realm of pop iconography.

Cutrone struggled to find compelling source images, encountering only flat, flag-like depictions. To solve this, he purchased an actual hammer and sickle and photographed them himself. Using these images, Warhol crafted a series of prints that visually dissect and reinterpret the symbol, transforming a powerful political emblem into a layered exploration of form, repetition, and cultural meaning.