Andy Warhol: Revelation Explores The Impact Of Faith On His Art
Andy Warhol . Self-Portrait, 1986. Acrylic and screenprint on linen, 40 × 40 in. .
In both his life and his art, Andy Warhol, like Marcel Duchamp before him, was something of a sphinx, albeit one hewn from more impenetrable rock than his predecessor. While Duchamp couched his meaning in riddles, Warhol abjured readings of his art altogether. If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, he once said, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. Theres nothing behind it.
But what if this empty shell was really a carapace concealing a squishy, vulnerable interior life? Thats one takeaway from the Brooklyn Museums exhibit, Andy Warhol: Revelation, which explores an aspect of his career that was always hiding in plain sight: His religiosity. The show makes its case compellingly with a combination of ephemera and works both familiar and not, including little-seen outtakes and projects that became dead-ends.
Andy Warhol . The Last Supper , 1986. Screenprint on HMP paper.
Warhol was born in Pittsburgh to a family of working-class immigrants from Slovakia. He grew up skinny and badly-complected, but more pertinently Catholic and gay at a time when being either wasnt welcome in mainstream America.
Installation view, Andy Warhol: Revelation. Brooklyn Museum November 19, 2021-June 19, 2022.
Andy Warhol . Orange Disaster #5, 1963. Acrylic, screenprint, graphite on canvas, 106 × 81 1/2 in. .
For Andy Warhol Faith And Sexuality Intertwined
The Brooklyn Museum shows how Catholicism seeped into his art, complicating our view of the Pop master.
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The art historian John Richardson, speaking to the glittering crowd at Andy Warhols memorial service at St. Patricks Cathedral in 1987, said of the artists Catholic faith: Those of you who knew him in circumstances that were the antithesis of spiritual may be surprised that such a side existed. But exist it did, and its key to the artists psyche.
Andy Warhol: Revelation, a paradigm-shifting exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, takes this eulogy and runs with it, finding ample evidence of religious belief in Warhols public-facing art as well as the more private self observed by Richardson. It explores Warhols Catholicism in all its anxiety and complexity with full attention paid to his life as a gay man and to the secular consumer objects and celebrities of his Pop Art.
These conflicts play out in his lesser-known works on view, like the 1985-6 painting The Last Supper , which merges Leonardo da Vincis Christ with a buff fitness model from an advertisement, and in new readings of such familiar objects as boxes screen-printed with the logo for Heinz ketchup .
Andy Warhol: Revelation
Idol Worship: The Brooklyn Museums Important New Warhol Show Casts The Pop Artist In A Spiritual Light
“Andy Warhol: Revelation” paints an unusually complex picture of both Pop art and of contemporary faith.
Eleanor Heartney, December 13, 2021
The Last Supper
Andy Warhol famously instructed an interviewer to just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. Theres nothing behind it. But its been a long time since the pioneering Pop artist has been seen simply as an empty cipher. In the years since his death in 1987 Warhol has been reborn many times. The ever-multiplying Andys include social critic Andy, queer Andy, proto-postmodern Andy, reality TV Andy, and commercial Andy.
Andy Warhol: Revelation, currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum, homes in on Catholic Andy. Originally organized for the Warhol Museum by its chief curator José Carlos Diaz and overseen in its Brooklyn incarnation Carmen Hermo, the exhibition draws a line from Warhols religious upbringing as a Byzantine Catholic through the twists and turns of his career to his last major undertaking, a set of over 100 paintings based on Leonardos Last Supper.
This is touted as the first exhibition to explore this aspect of Warhols work. However, it is not exactly a new takethe catalogue references both art historian John Richardsons paean to Warhols secret piety in his 1987 eulogy and Jane Daggett Dillenbergers 1998 tome The Religious Art of Andy Warhol.
Installation view for Andy Warhol: Revelation, at the Brooklyn Museum, November 19, 2021-June 19, 2022. , New York
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Andy Warhol Revelation At The Brooklyn Museum
The upcoming exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum will take a closer look at the influence Catholic imagery had on the work of the Pop prince, Andy Warhol. With more than one hundred works including iconic paintings such as The Last Supper, archival materials, drawings, prints, film, and rarely seen items, the survey titled Andy Warhol: Revelation will present a new interpretation of the practice of this outstanding artist. To give a thorough insight into the way Warhol appropriated spirituality, Revelation will be thematically organized to underline the role and representation of women, the significance of Renaissance themes and production models, the artists interest in Catholic body and corporeality, family and diasporic traditions, and beliefs, as well as his fascination with imitations and duplications of Christ.
Andy Warhol: Revelation will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum in New York from 19 November 2021 to 19 June 2022.
Press Releasethe Warhol Announces The Discovery And Digitalization Of The Rare Master Tapes Of The Velvet Undergrounds Debut Album The Velvet Underground & Nico
Master Tapes for the Velvet Underground at Scepter Studios, 1966, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
For immediate release
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
The Andy Warhol Museum announces the discovery and digitization of the rare master tapes of the Velvet Undergrounds debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico . Recently identified while processing Andy Warhols archive at The Warhol, the nine initial tracks recorded by the band were the bedrock of the album that became one of the most jarring and influential albums in rock music. The monophonic reel-to-reel ¼ tapes feature alternate versions and mixes of songs later issued on the 1967 release.
Youre hearing the album as the band originally intended, said Matt Gray, manager of archives at The Warhol. The track listing alone is a retelling of the album the quality of sound is remarkable it gives you a new perspective.
The Velvet Underground signed on with MGM/Verve Records on May 2, 1966. After some re-mixing and re-recording of the nine tracks from the Scepter master tapes The Velvet Underground & Nico was released in March 1967, with Warhols iconic peelable banana on the cover. The original master tapes were given to Warhol after the albums creation and have remained unheard since that time.
The recording will premiere as part of an upcoming exhibition at The Warhol in 2023.
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Carnegie Museums Of Pittsburgh
Established in 1895 by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The museums reach more than 1.4 million people a year through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.
The Brooklyn Museums New Andy Warhol Exhibition Will Take You To Church
A look inside Andy Warhol: Revelation, which observes the iconoclasts Catholic faith and its influence on his art.
Alexis Schwartz
Alexander Iolas, a Greek ballet dancer turned art dealer, once had an idea that seemed mad: he wanted Andy Warhol to reimagine Leonardo da Vincis Last Supperfor the Palazzo delle Stelline refectory in Milan, directly across the street from da Vincis original masterpiece. Of course, Warhol accepted.
The Last Supper featured 22 of over 100 works Warhol had created under the commission: an excédent outturn from an artist consumed by his, then unknown, last assignment. Hed enlist Jean-Michel Basquiat for a collaboration, screen-print Last Supper replicas in neon yellow and hot pink, and in the end, hed wear a spectacular silver wig to the opening. One month later, hed unexpectedly die from gallbladder surgery complications.
The stars of the exhibit are loud and large, like Warhol himself: a room with two massive The Last Supper screenprints, a bevy of Basquiat boxing bags depicting the messiahs last hurrah, and the unfinished Warhol film **** commissioned by the Catholic church. The showstoppers nail the thesis home, providing ample opportunity and space to reflect. If youre interested in kicking yourself due to art-history ignorance , the Brooklyn Museum makes sure there is enough square footage to do so.
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The Andy Warhol Museum
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhols birth, The Andy Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhols artworks and archival materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The Warhol is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Club Of Nyc Andy Warhol: Revelation At Brooklyn Museum
Although Andy Warhol is one of the most celebrated and recognizable artists of the twentieth century, his Byzantine Catholic upbringing, and its profound impact on his life and work, remains a lesser-known facet of his career. Throughout his life, Warhol retained some of his Catholic rituals, while also unapologetically living as an out gay man.Join us as we explore Warhols lifelong relationship with his faith that frequently appeared in his artworks with an exclusive tour of Andy Warhol: Revelation led by Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, who organized the Brooklyn Museum presentation of the exhibition.This event has reached capacity and registration is now closed.
Please note: All visitors to the Brooklyn Museum are expected to wear a mask, and must show proof of vaccination. For more information about what is accepted, please visit the Plan Your Visit section of the Brooklyn Museum website.
Andy Warhol Living Room, 1948. Watercolor on paper, 15 x 20 in. . The Paul Warhola Family Collection. © 2021 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society , New York
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Andy Warhol’s Revelation At The Brooklyn Museum
May 11, 2022Olivia Horvath
Warhol-mania has been resurrected, with new exhibitions, documentaries, and shows coming out of the woodwork. We visited the current exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol: Revelation, to experience the first master of brands’ lifelong take on his faith, exploring themes of life and death, power and desire, the role and representation of women, Renaissance imagery, family and immigrant traditions and rituals, depictions and duplications of Christ, and the Catholic body and queer desire.
Andy Warhol: Revelation, All Photos: Carl Riley, Brooklyn Museum
Simply go to enjoy the power of these pieces or dive into how Warhol crafted such a robust and unmistakable brand, still making waves 35 years after his passing. With all the varied subject matters represented in this exhibition, each piece is distinctly Warholian because of its unique yet indisputable nature.
Even to a layperson, the Warhol brands easily perceived because of its roots in screen printing, each work embodying a notorious bold yet flat style. From the beginning of his career, Warhol strategically chose to utilize his expertise in screen printing to showcase his craftsmanship, because it was economical and allowed him to build his brand by quickly reproducing art in large quantities.
Andy Warhol, The Last Supper Photo: Carl Riley, Brooklyn Museum