Viewing room

Andy Warhol: Polaroids

Released 9 June 2022

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”

— Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol has become inextricably tied to American art. His precise ability to capture the values of American society filtered through a glamorous lens have captured our collective imagination while also infiltrating our visual landscape. Despite his association with lavish parties, Warhol was always observing. As Diana Vreeland, a friend of Warhol and herself represented in this exhibition, said, “The eye has to travel.”

It is no surprise, then, that Warhol carried a Polaroid camera from the 1950s until his death in 1987. In ways that echoed our current habits with smart phones, Warhol’s polaroids are instant and numerous. It is no coincidence that early filters on social media apps like Instagram mimicked the polaroid. In his images of everyday objects, Warhol’s influence can be seen in photographers today including Wolfgang Tillmans and Juergen Teller.

The photographs, taken on the spur of the moment and developed within minutes, also speak to the transience and ephemera of culture. Warhol would use these polaroids for his paintings and referred to the photographs as his “pencil and paper”. It is important to note that the polaroids stayed with Warhol, despite pleas from his subjects. They are a record of his life and his practice while reflecting the idea of inclusion and exclusion, glamour and desolation.

Capturing the bright and the beautiful, the famous and infamous, Warhol’s polaroids are an unfiltered look into society while being a record of the life of one of America’s most important artist. They speak to the power of image and illusion. The exhibition spans four sections – “Bring It to the Runway”, “All That Glitters”, “Me, Myself, & I”, and “Ars Longa” – focusing on different subjects within the polaroids as a whole. Visit our virtual exhibition, “Andy Warhol: Wayward Allure” to get further insight into the enigmatic genius.

Bring It to the Runway

This section brings together the glamorous and outrageous personas that inhabit that often rarefied universe. With its ability to project both an image and illusion, the fashion world perfectly encapsulates many of Warhol’s obsessions and the themes. Featured in this section are fashion models like Cheryl Tiegs as well designers Yves Saint-Laurent, Gianni Versace and more. Also showcased are Vogue Editor Diana Vreeland, actor and the incomparable Grace Jones.

All That Glitters

No other artist is as closely associated with celebrity as Andy Warhol. Celebrity was and is more than fame. In these polaroids aren’t just the subjects themselves but evidence of Warhol’s perceptive eye so that everything, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, is at once surface and symbol. Where else but around Warhol could you find Princess Caroline of Monaco, Jane Fonda, and John Denver? It is important to think deeper on Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame”. Like a good party, fame comes to an end.

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Me, Myself, & I

This section is perhaps the most reflective as it tackles the artist himself. Unlike the other polaroids, these images grapple with how the artist sees himself and the image he has crafted – both reinforcing them while simultaneously knocking them down. Armed with this knowledge, we are simultaneously aware of Warhol as artist, Warhol as image-maker, and Warhol as human. We see both the brand and the effort to create that brand.

Ars Longa

“Vita brevis, ars longa” — Life is short, art is long — refers to the brevity of human life contrasted against the lasting impact of art. While the celebrities of Warhol’s paintings fade, his work continues to fascinate. Warhol collected in these polaroids some of the most important art figures including artists from Keith Haring to Georgia O’Keeffe, Jean-Michel Basquiat to Man Ray. Despite our short lives, through art and through creation we can create a positive lasting impact.