In 2007, The Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts celebrated its twentieth anniversary. To mark this milestone, a new program titled The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy was established. The program would broaden access to the artist’s photographic work by donating more than 28,500 original polaroids and silver gelatin prints to college and university museums and galleries across the country. The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is proud to have been the recipient of 102 polaroids and 50 black and white photographs which form the bulk of this exhibition.
The foundation says, “While the polaroid portraits reveal Warhol’s profound and frank engagement with the personality in front of his lens, the gelatin silver prints point to his extraordinary compositional skill, his eye for detail, and his compulsive desire to document the world around him. Taken together, these photographs survey the scope of Warhol’s aesthetic interests and demonstrate the reach of his curious, far-roaming eye.”
In addition to the photographs, the center has gathered other materials which celebrate the life and work of this important 20th century artist. Designed to be fun and informative, the installation plays off the larger than life persona that would surpass art world influence to become a mass media and marketing phenomenon.
Andy Warhol, Unidentified Model (Later identified as Iman). Black and white print, G.2008.1.138. A gift from the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.