Warhol And His Pop Polaroids

A Warhol exhibit at the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Photo by me, October 2008.

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early twenty years ago, in 1998, I went to see the Pop Art: Selections Of The Modern Museum of Art exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta. I remember it being a big event in the city, going right after it opened and I remember how popular it was. It was a well attended exhibition as much hype as it garnered and how thick the crowds were. I was eager to see all the works of Andy Warhol that were on loan and to see how much color and glamour there would be on display in this exhibition. 

 

Warhol was a huge art star and personality in the 1990s, even though he died in 1987. I knew who he was, had always heard of him, seen some of his work in books, magazines and television. Warhol even had a 1980s television show on MTV when I was a kid, he was as known for his image as he was known for his art. It was cool to like Warhol and I had not even seen any of his work in person. In my excitement I purchased a High Museum hat that day from the museum store and I am not much of a baseball cap person.

After the exhibit, I remember not being impressed by the art of Andy Warhol. It was colorful, there was a glamorous veneer to it, but that was it - it was a veneer and offered no depth or meaning. 

 

Since 1998 I have seen plenty of his work in person at various museums around the country and I still cannot find it in me to like his work. It has always seemed like it was the cool thing to like Warhol and that is not enough for me to praise his work if I do not like it. People seem to overlook or might not realize that Warhol was not a painter, but was a screen printer of photographs and that diminishes his work. Further, he did not even do the screen printing himself as that was delegated to his staff. That is why his studio was called The Factory after all. Warhol was only the idea man.

In 2008 I was at the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta and had finished browsing their permanent collection on my way to see a large exhibition of Egyptian artifacts when off to the side I saw a small gallery with a Warhol exhibition. Warhol always seems to attract a buzzy crowd so I waited a little for people to empty out.

Photo by me, October 2008.

This exhibition was called Big Shots, Andy Warhol's Polaroid Portraits. There was an initial curiousity and excitement in me as Polaroids hold a special place in my heart as my first camera as a boy was a Polaroid OneStep.

For Warhol, the genesis of his screen prints came from photography. He either photographed his subject or used a photo from a newspaper or magazine as the image for the screen print. In 1970 he bought a Polaroid Big Shot camera for taking instant photos of people. This exhibition was a sample of some of those those shots of various people from celebrities, which he often screen printed to more obscure people he thought interesting.

Photo by me, October 2008.

Photo by me, October 2008.

The largest item on display was a screen print of President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian. This of course was a nod by the museum to the fact that President Carter was born and still lives in Georgia. A Polaroid that was the basis for the screen print was also on display from 1977. You can see the smiling Mrs. Carter proudly wearing her son's campaign button.

Photo by me, October 2008.

Warhol would typically take a couple hundred snapshots of his subject in various poses before being satisfied that he had want he wanted.

Photo by me, October 2008.

Photo by me, October 2008.

Photo by me, October 2008.

A young Sylvester Stallone in 1980.

Figure Skater Dorothy Hamill in 1977. Photo by me, October 2008.

Celebrities of all walks were of course his bread and butter for his screen prints like the ones he did of Marilyn Monroe.

Photo by me, October 2008.

Photo by me, October 2008.

The 1981 Mother Goose Polaroid was from a project that never was completed. He had planned to do a series on fictional characters called Myths.

Looking at the Polaroids you get a sense of how Warhol operated and some of his work process. When taking Polaroids of his subjects he was always very close and personal with the camera getting in the space of the person. There is nothing technically special about the photos and there is only so much that can be done with a Polaroid camera anyway.

Warhol famously said, "in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." His prophetic statement related as much to his own art, which was created with such minimal effort by him, as it relates to how easily someone can achieve world-fame today in any manner of ways. In era such as today when narcissism is king and people are famous for whom they are and not what they do or create, Warhol would fit in perfectly. Imagine all the selfies people probably take in front his art. Warhol would be proud.

I am open minded enough that if someone could give me valid reasons for liking his work I might change my mind about his art. Until then, I will continue to see his work in the future and not like it very much.

I still have that High Museum baseball cap from 1998 by the way.