Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (1928–87) was one of the most recognisable artists of the late 20th century, yet his life and work continue to fascinate and be interpreted anew. A shy, gay man from a religious, migrant, low income household, he forged his own distinct path to emerge as the epitome of the pop art movement. Launching next spring, this major new exhibition at Tate Modern – the first at the gallery for almost 20 years – offers visitors a rare personal insight into how Warhol and his work marked a period of cultural transformation. Drawing upon recent scholarship, it will provide a new lens through which to view this American icon.

Featuring over 100 works from across his remarkable career, the show will shed light on how Warhol’s experiences helped shape his unique take on 20th century culture, positioning him within the shifting creative and political landscape in which he worked. While he is best known for his iconic paintings of Coca-Cola bottles and Marilyn Monroe that held up a mirror to American culture, the exhibition will emphasise recurring themes around desire, identity and belief that emerge from Warhol’s biography. It will show how this innovative artist reimagined what art could be in an age of immense social, political and technological change.

Born Andrew Warhola, he grew up in Pittsburgh to Carpatho-Rusyn parents who emigrated from a small village in the north-east of the former Czechoslovak Republic. The Warhola family were devout followers of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church, and the impact of the strong religious conviction of Julia Warhola, Andy’s mother with whom he lived for most of his life, will be considered as a significant context to his work. Warhol’s sexuality will also be an important theme in the exhibition, beginning with a selection of his evocative early line drawings of male portraits and nudes from the 1950s. These works will form an intimate pairing with the film Sleep 1963 – which documents Warhol’s lover, the poet John Giorno – to highlight the collaborative way in which Warhol worked with figures from outside the art world to create a broader understanding of what art could be.

Key works from the pop period, such as Marilyn Diptych 1962, Elvis I and II 1963/1964 and Race Riot 1964, will be examined in relation to contemporary issues around American culture and politics, while Warhol’s drive and limitless ambition to push the traditional boundaries of media will be represented via his famous Screen Tests 1964–6 and a recreation of the psychedelic multimedia environment of Exploding Plastic Inevitable 1966, originally produced for the Velvet Underground rock shows. Visitors will also be able to experience Warhol’s floating Silver Clouds 1966 installation, initially meant to signal his ‘retirement’ from painting in favour of moviemaking. He famously stated that ‘good business is the best art’: the exhibition will look at how Warhol’s forays into publishing and TV, as well as his interest in club culture, can be viewed as an attempt to bring the stars of the underground into the mainstream.

Following his shooting by Valerie Solanas in 1968, Warhol returned to large-scale painting projects and the exhibition will emphasise his skill as a painter and colourist with a room dedicated to the largest grouping of his 1975 Ladies and Gentlemen series ever shown in the UK. These striking portraits depict figures from New York’s transgender community, including iconic performer and activist, Marsha ’Pay it no mind’ Johnson - a prominent figure in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Warhol’s final works of the 80s, such as the poignant Sixty Last Suppers 1986 – on view at Tate Modern for the first time in this country – will be considered in relation to the artist’s untimely death as well as the unfolding HIV/AIDS epidemic, which ultimately went on to impact the lives of many in his close circle.

Andy Warhol is organised by Tate Modern and Museum Ludwig, Cologne in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto and Dallas Museum of Art. It is curated by Gregor Muir, Director of Collection, International Art, and Fiontán Moran, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern; and Yilmaz Dziewior, Director, and Stephan Diederich, Curator, Collection of Twentieth-Century Art, Museum Ludwig Cologne. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue including an interview with Factory insider Bob Colacello, an artist response by Martine Syms and a new text by Olivia Laing, as well as an extensive programme of public talks and film screenings. Exclusive new merchandise collections inspired by Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych and Skulls will also launch in the gallery shops, alongside exciting brand collaborations and a range of vintage vinyl.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Bank of America

Bank of America believes in the power of the arts to help economies thrive, to educate and enrich societies, and to create greater cultural understanding. The company supports more than 2,000 nonprofit cultural institutions each year. Bank of America’s art program is part of the company’s commitment to grow responsibly while bringing value to economies, society and the communities it serves. For more information, click here and connect with us on Twitter @BofA_Business.

Selected List of Works by Andy Warhol in the Exhibition

Boy with Flowers 1955–7. ARTIST ROOMS

Marilyn Diptych 1962. Tate. Purchased 1980

Green Coca-Cola Bottles 1962. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art

Marilyn Monroe’s Lips 1962. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972

Marilyn 1962. Museum Brandhorst

Sleep 1963. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Self-Portrait 1964. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris

Flowers 1964. Private collection

Silver Clouds 1966. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable 1966. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Self-Portrait 1967. Tate. Purchased 1971

Factory Diary: Julia Warhola in Bed Talking 1970–1971. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Mao 1972. Yageo Foundation Collection Taiwan

Ladies and Gentlemen (Iris) 1975. Italian private collection
Ladies and Gentlemen (Marsha P. Johnson) 1975. Italian private collection

Ladies and Gentlemen (Helen/Harry Morales) 1975. Italian private collection
Skull 1976. Collection Larry Gagosian

Hammer and Sickle 1976. Museum Brandhorst

Torso 1977. Private collection

Debbie Harry 1980. The Private Collection of Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport

Factory Diary: Andy in Drag, 2 October 1981 1981. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Dolly Parton 1985. The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Lenin 1986. Screenprint ink and acrylic paint on canvas

Self Portrait 1986. Tate. Presented by Janet Wolfson de Botton 1996

Sixty Last Suppers 1986. Nicole Erni Collection

RELATED EVENTS

On Warhol: Blake Gopnik and Olivia Laing

Thursday 12 March 2020, 18.30-20.00

Starr Cinema, Tate Modern; £12, concessions £8. In association with Penguin Random House

As Tate Modern’s new Andy Warhol exhibition opens, this is a unique chance to learn more about the artist’s remarkable career and ongoing cultural influence. The discussion marks the publication of art critic Blake Gopnik’s major biography Warhol: A Life as Art, which draws on hundreds of interviews and years of archival research. Gopnik is joined in conversation by writer and critic Olivia Laing, whose extensive engagement with Warhol’s work includes a new essay in the Tate Modern exhibition catalogue. The conversation is chaired by writer and journalist Charlie Porter, who has also contributed to the catalogue