College of DuPage
Gahlberg Gallery
College of DuPage
425 Fawell Blvd.
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599
www.cod.edu/gallery
(630) 942-2321
WARHOL
PHOTOGRAPHS
Warhol’s Fascination
In the mid-’70s, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) would always be seen with
a camera in hand. The pioneer of pop art used the camera as his visual
diary, his recorder of life. Almost everything fascinated Warhol – from
everyday things like shoes, bathrooms and consumer products to more
glamorous club scenes, black-tie events and celebrity culture.
“Photographers feel guilty
that all they do for a living
is press a button.”
This exhibition contains never before exhibited photographs taken by
Andy Warhol between 1971 and 1986. It includes a selection from the
106 Polaroids and 51 black and white photographs donated to the College
by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Photographic Legacy
Program in 2008, marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, and three
large screen prints on loan from The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
The 1970s and ’80s found Warhol involved in many profitable ventures:
Interview magazine, three cable TV series, fashion promo videos, music
videos and a1985 guest appearance on The Love Boat. Warhol’s studio,
The Factory, was the famous hangout for artists, musicians, actors and
models, and was very active producing films, portrait commissions and
an assembly line of silk screens. His status as a media icon skyrocketed
during this period.
“My idea of a good picture
is one that’s in focus and of
a famous person.”
Warhol began taking Polaroids as a means to quickly capture imagery for
his portrait commissions. He would take multiple images of his subject
from different angles. They were not meant as artworks in themselves
but rather as a reference in creating large paintings and screen prints.
Warhol’s Polaroid portraits were often of models curiously caked with
thick, light-colored make-up. The make-up flattened the features, creating
contrast and making it easier to translate the image into separate color
screens for print.
Warhol was infatuated with fame and through his Polaroid portraits he
produced screen prints of many celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe,
Liz Taylor and Princess Caroline of Monaco. Several “star” athletes also
sat for Warhol’s camera. In 1977, he was commissioned to make portraits
of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, Muhammad Ali, Chris Evert, Rod Gilbert,
Dorothy Hamil, Jack Nicklaus, Willie Shoemaker, Pele’, Tom Seaver,
O.J. Simpson and Pete Rose.
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Warhol produced a series of mythic figures that included Mickey Mouse,
Superman, Dracula, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus and a few others. His Santa
Claus Polaroid was made into a silk screen with diamond dust.
Warhol also produced less iconic images like Fiesta Pig, 1979, named
accordingly because the pig is eating what appears to be Cheerios on
Fiestaware plates. The pet pig named “Baby Jane” was a gift to Warhol
from “Baby” Jane Holzer, an actress, model and Warhol superstar in the
’70s. Warhol took numerous Polaroids of the pig and then converted
these to an image showing a pig with red, blue, yellow and green plates
and glasses. 1
Warhol’s black and white photographs served as an archive for his social
activities, travels and daily curiosities. He captured everything from
tabletops, bathrooms, landscapes, fashion shows and dinner parties.
Many of these black-and-whites reveal the company he shared time with
– artists Keith Haring, Leroy Neiman, musician Holly Johnson, and the
famous and fashionable Stephen Sprouse, Calvin Klein and Bianca
Jagger, among others. Landscape, Skyline, Bathroom and Tabletop are
visually compelling in their composition and provide us a glimpse of
Warhol’s fascination with life through his camera lens.
Barbara Wiesen
Director and Curator
Gahlberg Gallery
1
Described in Joyce Hill Stoner’s catalog essay for the traveling exhibition, FACTORY
WORK: Warhol, Wyeth, Basquiat at Brandywine River Museum, PA. 2006. Stoner
was the guest curator. The show traveled to McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX,
and Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME.
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“A picture means I know
where I was every minute.
That’s why I take pictures.
It’s a visual diary.”
Left: Willie Shoemaker, 1977, Polacolor Type 108
William Lee Shoemaker (Aug. 19, 1931 – Oct. 12, 2003), a famous
American jockey, weighed 2.5 pounds at birth and was not expected to
survive the night. He was placed in an oven within a box to stay warm
and survived. Shoemaker grew to be only 4 foot 11 and weighed less than
100 pounds. His small stature proved to be an advantage, as he became
one of the greatest thoroughbred horse racers of his day.
Right: Rod Gilbert, 1977, Polacolor Type 108
Rod Gilbert (b. Rodrigue Gabriel Gilbert, July 1, 1941) is a retired Canadian
professional ice hockey forward who played for the New York Rangers
in the National Hockey League. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of
Fame in 1982 and was the first player in New York Rangers history to have
his number retired.
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“The best thing about a
picture is that it never
changes even when the
people in it do.”
Giancarla Berti, 6/1979, Polacolor Type 108
Giancarla Berti and her husband Luciano Berti are distinguished patrons
of the arts.
Francesco Clemente, 1981, Polacolor 2
Francesco Clemente (b. March 23, 1952) is an Italian artist whose
paintings reveal a fantastical expressionistic style. In the ’80s, he created
paintings with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Clemente spends
his time between New York City, Italy and India, often collaborating with
other artists.
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“I take my camera
everywhere. Having a few
rolls of film to develop
gives me a good reason to
get up in the morning.”
Henry Gillespie, 2/1985, Polacolor ER
Henry Gillespie is an Australian lawyer and arts advocate. He met
Warhol in 1979 and later became the Australian editor for Warhol's
Interview magazine.
Caroline, Princess of Monaco, 1983, Polacolor ER
Princess Caroline is the oldest child of the late Prince Rainer lll of Monaco
and his wife, the former American film actress Grace Kelly. When
Princess Grace died in a 1982 Monaco car crash, Caroline blossomed into
the principality’s new first lady. At the request of her father, Prince Rainier,
she took on a number of high-profile roles, including those she holds with
the Princess Grace Foundation and the Red Cross.
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Top left: Ryan O’Neal, 12/1971, Polacolor Type 108
Ryan O’Neal (b. Charles Patrick Ryan O’Neal, April 20,
1941) is an American actor best known for his role in Love
Story, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination
and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He is
also known for his long-term relationship with the late
Farrah Fawcett and starring in Paper Moon alongside his
real-life daughter Tatum O’Neal.
Top right: R.C. Gorman, 1979, Polacolor Type 108
Rudolph Carl Gorman (July 26, 1931 – Nov. 3, 2005) was a
well-known Native American artist from the Navajo Nation.
The New York Times referred to Gorman as “the Picasso
of American Indian art,” alluding to his use of vibrant
colors and free-flowing forms.
Bottom left: Marilyn Karp, 8/1974, Polacolor Type 108
Marilyn Karp, artist and wife of art dealer Ivan Karp, a
longtime friend of Andy Warhol, critic for the Village Voice
and founder of the O.K. Harris Gallery in SoHo.
Bottom right: Stephen Sprouse, 1984, Polacolor ER
Stephen Sprouse (Sept. 12, 1953 – March 4, 2004) was
an artist and fashion designer best known for pioneering
a popular clothing style in the 1980s that mixed a pop art
aesthetic with an edgy punk flair.
Calvin Klein and Bianca Jagger, 1982, black and white print
Calvin Klein (b. Nov. 19, 1942 in New York) is one of America’s top fashion designers. He first made a name
for himself by designing clean, uncomplicated sportswear. He kept his name popular with the public by
creating sometimes shocking and always news-making advertising campaigns.
Bianca Jagger (b. Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias, in Nicaragua, May 2, 1945) is a human rights advocate for
a variety of social issues, former actress and fashion model. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Jagger had
a reputation as a partygoer and fashion icon with frequent visits to New York City’s nightclub Studio 54.
She is also well known as the ex-wife of Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
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LeRoy Neiman and Unidentified Women, undated,
black and white print
LeRoy Neiman (b. June 8, 1921) is a commercially
successful American artist known for his flamboyant
colored paintings and screen prints of athletes and
sporting events.
Opposite page:
Tabletop, December 1980, black and white print
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Holly Johnson, undated, black and white print
Holly Johnson (b. William “Holly” Johnson, Feb. 9, 1960)
is an English musician, artist and writer best known as
the lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, one of the
biggest British dance acts of the mid-1980s.
Opposite page: Unidentified Model, undated, black
and white print
“Sometimes the little times
you don’t think are anything
while they’re happening turn
out to be what marks a whole
period of your life.”
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Stephen Sprouse, c. 1985, black and white print
Stephen Sprouse (Sept. 12, 1953 – March 4, 2004) was
an artist and fashion designer best known for pioneering
a popular clothing style in the 1980s that mixed a pop art
aesthetic with an edgy punk flair.
Opposite page: Keith Haring, 1984, black and white print
Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – Feb. 16, 1990) joined New
York’s art community in the 1980s and devoted his career
to public art that often contained social messages. His first
drawings in white chalk in New York’s subway system
marked the beginning of his successful but short career.
Haring obtained international recognition and popularized
graffiti as an art form.
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Gahlberg Gallery
Warhol Photographs
Thursday, June 2 to Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011
The works in this publication are a gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation
for the Visual Arts Inc. The three Warhol screen prints on exhibit,
Princess Caroline of Monaco, Santa Claus and Fiesta Pig, are graciously
on loan from The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA. All quotes
throughout this publication are by Andy Warhol.
This program is partially supported by a grant
from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and
by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cover: Fiesta Pig, 1979, Polacolor Type 108
Inside front cover: Santa Claus, 1981, Polacolor 2
Inside back cover: Landscape, undated, black and white print
MAC-11-4350(2/11)1M
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“I like boring things.”