Andy Warhol Permanent Art Collection

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All images © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc.

This exhibition was made possible by a donation of photographs from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., and it's Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.

Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.

The Black & White Prints

Pulling it out when the moment struck, Andy would photograph anything from the sublime to the mundane. The 8"x10" gelatin silver prints in this exhibition reveal more of his personal side. But a lack of documentation leaves us guessing why at any given moment he decided to push the shutter button. Are Warhol photographs part of a holistic vision made important because he conceived and took them? Or are they mere documentations of his daily half thoughts, now re-evaluated to avoid being heaped upon the recycle bin of art history?

Whether intended or not, these images from the late 1970s and 1980s are like time capsules that show us fashions, hairstyles, street signs, graffiti and the well-known people he socialized with. They are snapshots of low and high life, taken by a man who moved between the grimy outside world of New York City and the plush stylings of its high society interiors with the ease of a cab ride. Due to the sheer number of images left behind, Andy and his work have easily outlasted the 15 minutes of world fame he predicted for everyone else.

Some of the black and white photos, like that of a lone woman on a bench, a vacant store, a barren New Jersey waterfront, and a stranded pup (below) repeatedly portray solitude one wouldn't expect from an artist always surrounded by others. They counter-balance Warhol's more sociable people-filled photos. Friends say that Andy went out every night because he was lonely and didn't feel comfortable at home by himself. He could be equally uncomfortable with relatives after his mother Julia, who lived with him until 1971, passed away. Warhol generally kept his Pennsylvania family members separated from his New York life.

Andy Warhol Photo Gallery

Unidentified man & woman, undated Gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Truman Capote, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

New York skyline, May 11, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

4 / 149 Stores, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

5 / 149 Mrs. Damencian & daughter, October 1980 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Cornelia Guest, Joey Arias & Dolly Fox, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Fashion model, April 22, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Dog, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

German Shepard, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Suzanne Rapp, May 1981 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Dog, 1985 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Ron Dugay, March 1982 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375""

Pat Hackett, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Tony Berlant, August 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

George, December 1975 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375""

Mary Tyler Moore & New York City police officer, February 24, 1981 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Tony Berlant, August 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

19 / 149 Tony Berlant, August 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

20 / 149 Tony Berlant, August 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

21 / 149 Liza Minnelli & Lorna Luft, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Cornelia Guest & unidentified man, 1983 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

23 / 149 Mrs. Estelle Feldman, May 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

24 / 149 Mrs. Estelle Feldman, May 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

25 / 149 Mrs. Estelle Feldman, May 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Mrs. Estelle Feldman, May 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Christopher Makos, November 1980 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Homeless person, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Nude model - male, 1986 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified woman (white make-up, earrings), June 1976 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

31 / 149 Unidentified woman (white make-up, earrings), June 1976 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

32 / 149 Unidentified woman (white make-up, earrings), June 1976 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Unidentified woman (white make-up, earrings), June 1976 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

34 / 149 Union Square, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

35 / 149 Marguerite Littman & unidentified woman, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

36 / 149 Sylvester Stallone, 1980 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Dolly Parton, 1985 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Evelyn Kuhn, 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Madonna & child, December 1980 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Tina Chow, 1985 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Bianca Jagger, 1979 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Tracee Ross, 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Jerry Hall, 1984 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Kay Fortson, May 1976 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Diana Vreeland, late 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Gilbert, December 1975 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

George, December 1975 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Nude model (male), 1977 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Nude model (male), 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Torso, 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Nude model (male), 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Maria Shriver, 1986 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Lorna Luft, Ocotber 1982 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375" Lorna Luft, October 1982 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Irma Mann, November 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Whitney Tower & Jon Gould, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Jon Gould & unidentified man, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified man, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified man painting, 1984 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified man, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified man, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Unidentified woman, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

New Jersey waterfront, 1984 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Rocks on the beach, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Garden hose, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Suitcase, March 9, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Magazines, November 17, 1980 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Sconce, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Cut flowers, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Table setting, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Window, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Bedroom, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

John Oates & unidentified woman, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Bicycle, 1984 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Fire Island house, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Boxes, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Boardwalk, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Brick town houses, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Police car, April 26, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Sam Bolton, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Nude model - male, August 13, 1982 gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Mary Richardson, undated gelatin silver print. 8" x 10"

Easter eggs, 1982 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Uncle Sam, 1981 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Luciano Anselmino, October 1973 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Luciano Anselmino, October 1973Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Gianni Agnelli, August 1972 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Guglielmo Achille Cavellini, May 1974 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Michael Chow, August 1980 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Lucio Amelio, after August 1975 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Lucio Amelio, after August 1975Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Lucio Amelio, after August 1975 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Paul Jenkins, after August 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Paul Jenkins, after August 1977Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Paul Jenkins, after August 1977 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Miguel Bose, 1983 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Unidentified woman (clipped black/blonde hair), June 1980 Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Unidentified woman (short styled hair), January 1985 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Kimiko Powers, August 1971 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

unknown Polaroid Polacolor 2. 4.25" x 3.375"

Mrs. Howard, May 1979 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Kimiko Powers, January 1980 Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. 4.25" x 3.375"

Evelyn Kuhn, 1977 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

Natalie Sparber, 1984 Polaroid Polacolor ER. 4.25" x 3.375"

The Color Polaroids

Warhol's Polaroids tell a different story, that of a busy artist with lots of work orders on his plate. Because Polaroids were instant cameras that could process a color print in one minute, he relied on them to capture the faces of almost everyone who sought him out for a portrait. In the early years, Andy worked from images made by somebody else. His Marilyn Monroes and Elvis Presleys were created using standard publicity photos.

But Warhol's first paid commissioned portrait, 1963's "Ethel Scull 36 Times," was a breakthrough. Andy and the wife of a taxi tycoon improvised in a Times Square photo booth. He shoved quarters into the machine and told jokes to Ethel to keep her posing until he had over 300 shots, four at a time on tiny vertical strips. From those he made his large 24 by 5 foot screen-painted masterpiece. It led to the birth of Warhol's Polaroid-based portraits. Perfect for his needs, when hearing that Polaroid would discontinue the Big Shot camera after only two years, he contacted the company and bought several more. After shooting scores of Polaroids, Andy would choose which images to use, then make acetate prints that could be transferred onto a canvas along with the color patches he selected. Adding some hand-done brush work, each finished portrait included at least one 40"x40" canvas and started at $25,000.

Sometimes extra silkscreen prints were produced for Warhol to sell himself. When Mick Jagger commissioned a portrait in 1975, Andy made an additional 2,500 prints, then asked Mick to come over and sign them with him. Not that Jagger minded. "It was fun staying up all night," Andy made Mick a part of the history of American art.

Warhol photographed celebrities, artists, writers, athletes, CEOs, art collectors, children, dogs, nudes, and mythical characters. He never strayed far from commercial jobs, designing album covers for example, and sometimes the portraits look formulaic. But his subjects were always relevant to their times. When he photographed Ron Duguay in 1983 (below), the New York Rangers hockey star led the NHL in scoring, while partying with Andy in Manhattan discotheques. Duguay said of Andy, "He'd always be quiet, in the background taking pictures."

Robert Hughes' book on modern art, Shock of the New, claimed that Warhol's art had a "half-life," and that by the 1970s Andy was little more than a "perfunctory social portraitist." But Hughes ate those words later, when Andy's influences lasted well beyond the next generation of New York artists. Warhol's visual ideas, however simplistic, helped inspire the very onrush of electronic images that now invades our daily world." - Ken Magri, ARC Art History Professor Emeritus.

"When I have to think about it I know a picture is wrong... as soon as you have to decide and choose, it's wrong. And the more you decide about it, the more wrong it gets. Some people, they paint abstract, so they sit there thinking about it because their thinking makes them feel they're doing something. But my thinking never makes me feel like I'm doing anything. Leonardo da Vinci used to convince his patrons that his thinking time was worth something-even more than his painting time-And that may have been true for him, but I know that my thinking time isn't worth anything. I only expect to get paid for my 'doing' time." - Andy Warhol

Warhol's New York- by Ken Magri

Born in 1928 and raised in Pittsburgh, Andrew Warhola moved to New York City in 1949 to work as an artist. In those next four decades, which many call the golden years of American Modernism, New York City was a Mecca for both commercial and fine art. It was a time when the self-assured styles of Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Photo-Realism and street art would place young American image makers at the apex of Western culture.

When Warhol died in 1987 he was estimated to have owned at least 65,000 photographs, most of which he took himself as potential inspiration for artworks. A tireless voyeur, he carried Leicas, Minoltas or other point-and-shoot cameras around Manhattan the same way people now have cameras on their cell phones.

The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program's

mission is "to spark interest, discussion and future scholarship about the essential role photography played in Warhol's artistic production and to draw attention to the lifelong commitment he had to the medium." Begun in 2007 on the 20th anniversary of the artist's death, the program has donated Warhol photographs to over 180 American colleges, universities and museums.

Special thanks to: Don Reid, Ken Magri, Kirsten Dubray, Samantha Gale and David Viar

American River College
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