Andy Warhol Drawings, 1942-1987

The Andy Warhol Museum

Pittsburgh, PA

412-237-8300

http://www.warhol.org

Andy Warhol Drawings, 1942-1987

Best known for his screen prints and paintings of the late-1960s, Andy Warhol was also a prolific draftsman. The first in-depth survey of more than 200 rarely exhibited and never published drawings by Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol Drawings, 1942-1987, comes to The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The exhibition will be on view February 27 through April 30, 2000. The exhibition begins with a self-portrait drawn at age 14 and ends with a work created the year of his death in 1987.

"While most often seen as the crown prince of the avant-garde, Warhol's drawings provide clear evidence that draughtsmanship sat at the very center of his artistic life. He learned to draw in the most academic manner from his years at Carnegie Tech. This skill was further honed during his stay on Madison Avenue working as an illustrator far commercial advertising. Taken together these two experiences resulted in a finely wrought, clean, quick line which created the essential artistic skeleton on which all of his art was built. I would hazard the opinion that Warhol was every bit the draughtsman that Ingres, Holbein, or even Picasso was," said Thomas Sokolowski, director for The Andy Warhol Museum. (left: Two Pears, 1950s, ©AWF; right: Monkey, 1950s, ©AWF)

Along with the drawings produced for his commercial work in the fashion and advertising industries during the 1950s, Andy Warhol also sketched intimate portraits of his friends. Occasionally he would add gold leaf to a drawing to enhance the glamour and seductive qualities of the image. (right: Horse, 1950s, ©AWF)

During the early 1960s, especially the period from 1962 when he started to use photo-silkscreen painting, Warhol's drawings have an experimental and exploratory feel. They combine elements of photography, collage, written instructions of working studies, and, on occasion, finished pencil and colored crayon or watercolor.

The exhibition was organized by The Andy Warhol Museum's former chief curator, Mark Francis, and Dieter Koepplin, Curator of Drawings from the Offentliche Kunstsammlung at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. (left: Eye, 1952, ©AWF)

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 320-page catalogue with texts by co-curators Francis and Koepplin available in The Warhol Store at the museum, 412.237.8303.

The Pittsburgh presentation of Andy Warhol Drawings, 1942-1987 is made possible by support from the Campbell Soup Company and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The exhibition has also been supported by gifts to The Andy Warhol Museum's Exhibitions Fund - recent donations have been received from Carol and Herbert Diamond and Suzanne and Sherman McLaughlin.

The exhibition will have a final stop at The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA July 9 - October 8, 2000

Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the The Andy Warhol Museum in Resource Library Magazine.

For further biographical information please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

rev. 12/23/10

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