Andy Warhol: Big Shot

“I told them I didn’t believe in art, that I believed in photography.”
~Andy Warhol

By Elin Spring

From social change to scientific advances, so many “disruptions” seem to blossom from putting a novel technology into the right hands. In the case of revolutionary artist Andy Warhol, it all began with instant photography – using the Polaroid Big Shot and SX-70 cameras.  Now at Newport Art Museum through December 20th, 2020, Andy Warhol: BIG SHOT illustrates how everything from Warhol’s commercial work to paintings, prints and drawings drew inspiration from the artist’s prolific embrace of instant photography.

Polaroid “Big Shot” (Left), released in 1971, was bulky and had a fixed focal length. Polaroid SX-70 (Right), released in 1972, offered variable focus and folded down for improved portability, among other features. (Photo by Elin Spring).

LEFT: Six Polaroid Photographs (Polaroid Type 108 film) “Kay Fortson, 1976” (Courtesy of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.)
RIGHT: “Portrait of an American Lady, 1976” Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas (Courtesy of Kasmin Gallery, New York). Installation photo by Elin Spring, with apologies.

Andy Warhol’s art is immediately recognizable for its graphic impact, bold colors and repetitive reproductions, such as his famous multiples of the Campbell Soup Can and Marilyn Monroe. However, rather than displaying a collection of these all-too-familiar pieces, Francine Weiss, Senior Curator at Newport Art Museum in Newport, R.I. placed an enticing assortment of multi-media artwork into context with the nearly obsessive photographic practice that turns out to be at the core of all Warhol’s creations. In the process, we are invited to ponder various enigmas surrounding the artist, such as the irony of Warhol using a unique, non-negative form of photography to generate mass mechanical reproductions in his studio, aptly named “The Factory.” His enormous and vibrant 1975 portrait series “Ladies and Gentlemen” presents a more disturbing paradox. These portraits of Black and Latinx queer models purport to celebrate an “ideal moviestar womanhood” but they also obscure individuality, seemingly reinforcing the “erasure, violence and oppression“ the models experienced in real life.

Installation view of “Andy Warhol: Big Shot” showing the progression of work from Polaroid photographs to a line drawing to silkscreen prints, all a part of his “Ladies and Gentlemen” portrait series from the mid-1970’s. (Photo by Elin Spring)

“Ladies and Gentlemen, 1975” Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen (Courtesy of The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT) Installation photo by Elin Spring.

Starting in the 1970’s, Warhol used Polaroid Big Shot and SX-70 cameras to generate tens of thousands of unique instant pictures. His self-portraits, portraits of “unknowns” and celebrities, and his still-lifes became documentation, memorabilia, and aids to his commercial assignments. The sheer volume and manifold purposes of these snapshots resulted in a conflation of the mundane and the glamorous. Warhol elevated the ordinary, as in his still-lifes of bananas or shoes, while conversely homogenizing the dazzle of celebrities, friends and strangers through his stylized, frontal approach. Such an egalitarian regard explains his pronouncement that “everyone will be famous for 15 minutes” and presaged our current culture of Kardashians and selfies.

TOP: “Grace Jones, 1984” Polaroid (Private Collection James R. Hedges, IV and Hedges Projects)
BOTTOM: “Grace Jones, 1984” Polaroid (Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and Hedges Projects)
Installation view by Elin Spring, with apologies.

“Blue Jeans, 1984” Polaroid (Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and Hedges Projects) Installation view by Elin Spring, with apologies.

“Levi’s 501 Jeans, 1984” Lithograph on paper (Courtesy of Williams College Museum of Art, Museum purchase, Wachenheim Family Fund) Installation view by Elin Spring, with apologies.

TOP LEFT: “Diana Ross, 1981” Polacolor 2
TOP RIGHT: “American Indian (Russell Means), 1976” Polacolor Type 108
BOTTOM LEFT: “Rosalyn Carter, 1976” Polacolor Type 108
BOTTOM RIGHT: “Ladies and Gentlemen (Orange Dress), 1974” Polacolor Type 108, all four Courtesy of The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. (Installation photo by Elin Spring).

Warhol’s methodology was both formulaic and inventive, depending on who he was photographing. For commissioned portraits, women were requested to remove accessories like jewelry, then white makeup was applied to their faces and other exposed skin. By helping to eliminate shadows caused by his flash cube, facial features were flattened, softened, and rendered in the high contrast Warhol desired for his subsequent creation of acetates and silkscreens. On the other hand, Warhol’s self-portraits and other original photographs flaunted his inventive zeal. Examples of self-portraits using double exposures, movement, mirrors, and shadows are on display, along with rare samples of his unique stitched photographs, photobooth strips, photo collages and gelatin silver prints.

TOP: “Self-Portrait With Fright Wig, 1986” Unique Polaroid Polacolor Type 108 print (Private Collection).
BOTTOM: “Self-Portrait With Fright Wig, 1986” Unique Polaroid print (Private Collection)
Installation view by Elin Spring, with apologies.

Warhol and his work have become so iconic that you might assume there is little new to discover. Surprise! The extent and significance of the artist’s photographic work is eye-opening. What is especially fresh and irresistible about this exhibit is the display of Warhol’s photographs alongside the work that evolved from them. By seeing these diminutive Polaroid snapshots alongside his related projects, we gain insight to one of the most elusive and enthralling aspects of creative expression, the artist’s process.

TOP: “Shoes, 1980” Polaroid (Courtesy of Kasmin Gallery, New York)
BOTTOM: “Shoes, 1981” Polaroid (Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and Hedges Projects)
Installation view by Elin Spring, with apologies.

“Shoes, 1980” Screenprint and diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper from the Diamond Dust Shoes series (Courtesy of Simmons University Collection and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York).

Wallpaper created from “Shoes, 1980” Screenprint and diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper, from the Diamond Dust Shoes series (Courtesy of Simmons University Collection and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York).

For information, hours and directions for this exhibit, go to: https://newportartmuseum.org/exhibitions/warhol/

Feature Image: Undated paparazzi photo of Andy Warhol at Studio 54 disco in NYC with (L to R): model Jerry Hall, singer Debbie Harry, author Truman Capote and designer Paloma Picasso.