Andy Warhol

unique Polaroid Polacolor Type 108 print, the photographer's blindstamp in the margin, framed, circa 1979

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, American Perspectives: Photographs from the Polaroid Collection, September - November 2000, and traveling to 3 other venues through 2001 (see Appendix 1)

Boston University Art Gallery, American Perspectives: Photographs from the Polaroid Collection (a continuation of a portion of the original American Perspectives exhibition), November 2002 – January 2003

American Perspectives: Photographs from the Polaroid Collection (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2000), pl. 2 (this print)

Andy Warhol Polaroids, 1971-1986 (New York, 1992), p. 87 (variant from same sitting)

This unique Polaroid Polacolor print is in generally excellent condition.
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Photography played an integral role in Warhol's oeuvre and provided the starting point for much of his large-scale work in the 1970s, ´80s and ´90s.  The Polaroid camera, with its instant delivery of a finished print, was an ideal tool for the artist, and allowed him to see right away the results of his sessions; this was especially useful in the series of portraits, such as the one offered here, that Warhol began in the early 1970s.  At that time he discovered the Polaroid Big Shot camera, acquiring several at a time and traveling with as many as possible.  Debuted in 1971, the bulky Big Shot had a fixed-focus and was intended for indoor portrait flash-photography with Polaroid Type 108 film. 

Vincent Fremont, close friend, assistant, and eventual agent for the Warhol estate, recounts Warhol's process of staging portraits in his 860 Broadway studio: 'The [sitter] would sit on a simple side chair against a white wall in the front of the studio facing the windows which overlooked Union Square.  Andy would direct the [sitter] to pose her head in various positions: profile, three-quarter view, etc.' (Andy Warhol Polaroids, 1971-1986, p. 6).  In this manner, Warhol photographed a phenomenal range of people, from Farrah Fawcett to Edward Kennedy, from Truman Capote to Sylvester Stallone – essentially anyone who possessed a sufficient degree of 'celebrity.'  Polaroids from such sittings were often then transferred to acetates for Warhol's well-known silkscreens and paintings.