About
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings and related works by Andy Warhol. Beginning with the early drawings that were a catalyst for his signature style, this exhibition explores the great breadth of his oeuvre on paper between 1951 and 1986.
While Warhol is perhaps best known for his screenprints and paintings from the late 1960s, he was a prolific draftsman throughout his life. The exhibition includes drawings that span the length of his career, from successful commercial artist to cultural pop icon. Like his paintings, these works on paper bear witness to Warhol's trademark style, ranging from whimsical to somber, appropriating his iconic visual vocabulary from the world around him.
The early drawings, many of which have never been seen before in public, reveal Warhol's burgeoning interest in fashion illustration, flowers, ready-made products, and the political and social issues of the period. The works, which move between the worlds of commercial advertising and the New York art scene, include intimate portrait studies, shoe designs, and automobiles. Later drawings depict Warhol's obsession with death and celebrity, including early disaster works, multiples, and portrayals of rock stars such as Mick Jagger.
The exhibition also includes related works that demonstrate Warhol's remarkable creativity and interest in a variety of media. Highlights include sketchbook drawings from his travels to Asia in 1956 (never before exhibited in public), a sculptural shoe model and decorative screens adorned with flowers and butterflies.
A fully illustrated catalogue, including an essay by Judith Goldman, art historian, will accompany the exhibition.
Share
In Conversation
Christopher Makos and Jessica Beck
Andy Warhol’s Insiders at the Gagosian Shop in London’s historic Burlington Arcade is a group exhibition and shop takeover that feature works by Warhol and portraits of the artist by friends and collaborators including photographers Ronnie Cutrone, Michael Halsband, Christopher Makos, and Billy Name. To celebrate the occasion, Makos met with Gagosian director Jessica Beck to speak about his friendship with Warhol and the joy of the unexpected.
Andy Warhol: Silver Screen
In this video, Jessica Beck, director at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, sits down to discuss the three early paintings by Andy Warhol from 1963 featured in the exhibition Andy Warhol: Silver Screen, at Gagosian in Paris.
The Art History of Presidential Campaign Posters
Against the backdrop of the 2020 US presidential election, historian Hal Wert takes us through the artistic and political evolution of American campaign posters, from their origin in 1844 to the present. In an interview with Quarterly editor Gillian Jakab, Wert highlights an array of landmark posters and the artists who made them.
I’ll Be Your Mirror: Allen Midgette
Raymond Foye speaks with the actor who impersonated Andy Warhol during the great Warhol lecture hoax in the late 1960s. The two also discuss Midgette’s earlier film career in Italy and the difficulty of performing in a Warhol film.
Andy Warhol: From the Polaroid and Back Again
Jessica Beck, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, considers the artist’s career-spanning use of Polaroid photography as part of his more expansive practice.
Book Corner
On Collecting with Norman Diekman
Rare-book expert Douglas Flamm speaks with designer Norman Diekman about his unique collection of books on art and architecture. Diekman describes his first plunge into book collecting, the history behind it, and the way his passion for collecting grew.