Andy Warhol Portraits Book

First Book to Feature over 300 of Warhol's Famous Faces "I think everybody is my friend." -Andy Warhol To the general public, Andy Warhol is known as a painter of legendary icons, from Marilyn and Jackie O to his own ever-changing self-portrait. Less known are the portraits he made of socialites, art dealers, collectors, politicians, fashion designers and a variety of contemporary cult figures, mostly commissioned work that helped finance Warhol's many other artistic activities. Never before has there been a book that provides a comprehensive overview of all of Warhol's famous faces. ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS by Tony Shafrazi, is the first book to provide a complete overview of Warhol's many celebrity portraits, from the famous to the infamous. It features over 300 glamorous portraits including many works largely unknown even by avid fans. ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS grew out of an exhibition that was organized by the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York in 2005. Shafrazi paid homage to a seminal display of Warhol's portraits that took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1979-80. The Whitney exhibition presented for the first time a large array of the commissioned portraits that the artist began in the early 1970s as a way to offset the cost of multiplying activities at the Factory. Shafrazi's exhibition included many portraits from the original Whitney exhibition as well as others. ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS takes Shafrazi's exhibition even further, nearly doubling the number of works shown. On the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death in 1987, there has never been a better time to reflect on Warhol's life and influence on pop culture today. According to a recent interview with Charlotte Abbot from Publishers Weekly, "It's a good moment for Andy Warhol. Culturally, he is still on top." Art historians and critics have long neglected this body of Warhol's work, preferring to discuss and study the more iconic Marilyns or Campbell Soup Cans of the 1960's. ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS includes, in addition to famous portraits of Marlon Brando, Liz Taylor and Dennis Hopper, lesser-known images of actors Bill Murray and Meryl Streep, fellow artists Donald Judd and Cy Twombly and royal family members such as Princess Diana and Princess Caroline. It also features a number of musicians, including Prince and Dolly Parton, and fashion icons including Diane von Furstenberg and Giorgio Armani. The book begins with an introduction by Tony Shafrazi, and features essays by established art historians/critics Carter Ratcliff and Robert Rosenblum, who lend insight into one of the least fully known but nevertheless prolific aspects of Warhol's endlessly fascinating career. The book makes the perfect gift for any pop culture fan.Read More