Andy Warhol Portraits
by Tony Shafrazi, Carter Ratcliffe, Robert Rosenblum
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carter Ratcliffe, Robert Rosenblum, Tony ShafraziEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-19
ISBN: 0714846678
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Book Reviews of Andy Warhol Portraits
Book Review: Face-to-Face Comparisons Reveal Warhol's Perspectives
Summary: 5 Stars
When most people think of Andy Warhol, images of Campbell's soup cans and a vividly colored Chairman Mao come to mind. For those who know Warhol better, memories also include Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, most wanted posters, and self-portraits of the artist.
What few appreciate is that portraiture was the bread-and-butter that Warhol used to finance his experimental work at the Factory. Before this book, you could not see the full range of this work. Unframed and grouped with similar and complementary works in the same time period, these 300 portraits show a considerable range of style and expression that will be a new perspective for all but collectors of Warhol portraits. I found the work to be so impressive that it totally changed my sense of who Warhol was as an artist.
In this book, the portraits do the talking. The brief essays merely describe the processes that Warhol used and that he tried to make people look good . . . and larger than life. But you knew that already, didn't you?
The range of the ways he captured the spirit of his subjects is what's most impressive in this volume. Repetition of the same image in one work with different treatments could help us see many different expressions of the person (see Natalie 1962). In other places, many images of the same person in one work express mood, movement, and a story (see Sixteen Jackies 1964). In other cases, multiple images of the same subject give us deep insight into personality (see Ethel Scull 1963). In other cases, the multiple images show the reality as well as the personality (see Merce Cunningham 1963 and Triple Rauschenberg 1963).
Exploring different use of colors and backgrounds, Warhol could totally change our emotions as viewers (Silver Liz 1963 gives us a sense of coolness and elegance while Liz 1963 shows a woman of great emotion and passion).
In Warhol's process, subjects were photographed around 100 times using a Polaroid camera. The subject then picked the images (or image) that she or he liked best. The images were turned into silk screens. Then, Warhol added the background and color to capture what the mere shape could not. The degree of focus also creates more or less power and immediacy (compare Donald Judd 1967 and Robert Rauschenberg 1967).
The portraits also create dialogues, such as when married couples had their portraits done around the same time. In the book, these images are often on facing pages. You'll be arrested to see Nelson Rockefeller 1967 and Happy Rockefeller 1968 looking off into the same spot in space . . . but not each other. The color overlap is minimal, emphasizing their differences.
These images are even more arresting when the pair are portrayed looking away from one another as with Gianni Agnelli 1972 and Marella Agnelli 1972.
In places, painterly backgrounds add remarkable depth and power to the images as with the Agnellis.
In places, the painterly treatment is sufficient to remind one of the work of Degas such as Lee Radziwell, 1972.
Portrait creators have always arranged sitters carefully to emphasize a certain point. Warhol does this in a very minimal way, often adding more than part of a hand touching the face or a bit of clothing. Because of its slight use, the impact is much stronger.
How do the subjects fare? Those with strong personalities do best. Those with complex personalities are rendered beautifully, but aren't as accessible. Subjects who want to look physically attractive often appear merely decorative, like a background model at a party.
Warhol's talent can best be seen by comparing the various ways he renders eyes. Male and female subjects alike receive slashes of color that sometimes resemble eye shadow and other times seem like tiny masks.
There isn't much that's soulful about these works. They are more about promotion than about moral uplift. It's all the more surprising when that soulfulness appears as in Farah Dibah Pahlavai (Empress of Iran) 1977.
Seeing Judy Garland 1979 and Liza Minelli 1979 made me wish that Warhol had done more mother-daughter combinations. These two stunners crawl right inside you.
Part of Warhol's art comes in knowing something about the person. Where the subject is unknown, you'll find yourself a little more baffled about what the message is. Think of each of the celebrity portraits then as being in part a reflection of the public image and our current perceptions. Warhol uses this celebrity awareness to good purpose in creating very minimal works that express the dominant impression of a person (see Martha Graham 1980).
As his career continued, the works became more daring. I was particularly drawn to the line drawings with bold bands of color such as in Paul Delvaux 1981 and Jean Cocteau 1985.
Some of these portraits will cause you to stop and rethink what you know about the people. I had that reaction to the pairing of Prince Charles 1982 (coolly displayed as a young symbol of the monarchy) with the almost flirtatious Princess Diana 1982 (appearing as a powerful force with an earthy grounding).
The portrait of John Lennon is simply stunning (1985-86).
For a good sense of Warhol's progress, you'll enjoy seeing many of his self-portraits.
Enjoy a good look!
Summary of Andy Warhol Portraits
First Book to Feature over 300 of Warhol's Famous Faces"I think everybody is my friend." -Andy Warhol To the general public, Andy Warhol is known as a painter of legendaryicons, from Marilyn and Jackie O to his own ever-changing self-portrait. Less known are the portraits he made of socialites, art dealers,collectors, politicians, fashion designers and a variety of contemporarycult figures, mostly commissioned work that helped finance Warhol's manyother artistic activities.Never before has there been a book thatprovides a comprehensive overview of all of Warhol's famous faces. ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS by Tony Shafrazi, is the first book to provide acomplete overview of Warhol's many celebrity portraits, from the famous tothe infamous.It features over 300 glamorous portraits including manyworks largely unknown even by avid fans.ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS grew out of an exhibition that was organized by theTony Shafrazi Gallery, New York in 2005.Shafrazi paid homage to a seminaldisplay of Warhol's portraits that took place at the Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art in 1979-80.The Whitney exhibition presented for the firsttime a large array of the commissioned portraits that the artist began inthe early 1970s as a way to offset the cost of multiplying activities atthe Factory.Shafrazi's exhibition included many portraits from theoriginal Whitney exhibition as well as others.ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS takesShafrazi's exhibition even further, nearly doubling the number of worksshown.On the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death in 1987, there has never been abetter time to reflect on Warhol's life and influence on pop culture today. According to a recent interview with Charlotte Abbot from PublishersWeekly, "It's a good moment for Andy Warhol.Culturally, he is still ontop."Art historians and critics have long neglected this body of Warhol's work,preferring to discuss and study the more iconic Marilyns or Campbell SoupCans of the 1960's.ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS includes, in addition to famousportraits of Marlon Brando, Liz Taylor and Dennis Hopper, lesser-knownimages of actors Bill Murray and Meryl Streep, fellow artists Donald Juddand Cy Twombly and royal family members such as Princess Diana and PrincessCaroline.It also features a number of musicians, including Prince andDolly Parton, and fashion icons including Diane von Furstenberg and GiorgioArmani. The book begins with an introduction by Tony Shafrazi, and features essaysby established art historians/critics Carter Ratcliff and Robert Rosenblum,who lend insight into one of the least fully known but neverthelessprolific aspects of Warhol's endlessly fascinating career.The book makesthe perfect gift for any pop culture fan.Schools, Periods & Styles Books
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