Original Limited Edition Hunter S. Thompson Memorial Print "Going Home" by Ralph Steadman and Signed by Gonzo Family
ABOUT
A numbered, limited edition 35/150 silkscreen print of Ralph Steadman’s artwork for Hunter S. Thompson’s memorial service, autographed in pencil by the VIP attendees. This poster was originally sold to raise money for Hunter’s widow Anita Thompson. Ralph Steadman arranged for the prints to be hand screened in Kentucky by renowned silk screen artist, Joe Petro and to have Thompson's close friends & family sign each of the prints for the purpose of supporting The Gonzo Trust and The Owl Farm Trust to commemorate his memorial that took place on August 20, 2005 at Owl Farm.
The artwork is titled “Going Home” and the print is titled “Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Memorial Fist Print” (printed on the back).
Signed in Thompson’s “War Room”, Thompson’s Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado and at the Jerome Hotel in Aspen, Colorado. Signatures include: Ralph Steadman, Ed Bradley (60 minutes), Anita Thompson (wife), Johnny Depp (actor), Kurt Vonnegut (writer), Douglas Brinkley (writer), Deborah Fuller (assistant), Bill Murray (actor), Laila Nabulsi (ex girlfriend), Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone publisher), Bob Braudis (Pitkin County Sheriff, Aspen), and Juan Thompson (son). Thompson’s personal Gonzo stamp lower left corner. Signed on the back by the printer Joe Petro III.
This print was produced in a numbered limited edition of 150, plus several Artist Proofs (A/P).
- CREATOR Ralph Steadman. Joe Petro.
- DATE OF MANUFACTURE c.2005.
- MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Silk screened in five colors and printed on Rising Stonehenge deckle edge paper. Acrylic, Wood.
- CONDITION Good. Wear consistent with age and use. Professionally framed.
- DIMENSIONS Frame: H 33.75 in. W 25.5 in. D 2 in., Print: H 30 in. W 22 in.
HISTORY
A copy of this serigraph is owned by the National Portrait Gallery, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington. Their copy can be viewed online. To quote from the Smithsonian’s description:
“In February 2005, Hunter S. Thompson, famous for over-the-top “gonzo” journalism and his unrestrained Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, committed suicide. Ralph Steadman, his illustrator-collaborator and friend, created this print, Gonzo Memorial, imagining Thompson’s funeral as a way to raise money to assist his widow. Here, Thompson is represented as a flying peacock wearing the writer’s signature hat while the ink-trailing creature in the foreground is a stand-in for Steadman. The two-thumbed fist, a personal logo for Thompson, tops the tower planned to launch his ashes into space.”
“Six months after Thompson’s death, his final wishes were realized in a private funeral at his home in Colorado, during which his remains were successfully launched from a “gonzo tower.”
