Celebutants, Groupies, And Friends

“I think anybody can take a good picture. My idea of a good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous. It’s being in the right place at the wrong time.” -Andy Warhol, 1979 For the last ten years of his life, Warhol always had a small, point-and-shoot Minox camera in hand, whether he was in his studio or at a party. By some accounts, he shot a roll a day on average, and when he died on February 22, 1987, he left behind over 66,000 photographs. The photographs have for the most part remained in storage since his death as subjects of a protracted legal battle over their appraisal. But this year, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the inheritor of the Warhol estate, has generously gifted the photographs to institutions across the country including the University of Houston. Many people think of Warhol as a painter and filmmaker, but photography always played a crucial role in his artistic practice. His earliest paintings and drawings were made from found pictures of Hollywood stars and commercial products. But in the mid-1970s, he started taking his own photographs. The Polaroid “Big Shot” was perfectly designed for his burgeoning business in portrait painting. It made colors even more vibrant and obscured any undesirable blemishes. The camera also allowed Warhol to take a stack of photographs quickly and then show them to the sitter, who would help him choose the best shots to be made in to a silkscreen and eventually a painting. A selection of Warhol’s snapshots and Polaroids will be shown for the first time ever at Blaffer Gallery this fall. They offer rare, intimate glimpses of Warhol’s life, from parties with friends and vacations in Montauk to portraits commissioned by personalities such as Caroline, princess of Monaco, and the rock star Billy Squier. The exhibition, which has been organized by the curatorial team of Rachel Hooper, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell curatorial fellow at Blaffer, Mike Guidry, curator of campus collections, and Elspeth Patient, Blaffer intern and recent UH graduate, will offer a broad cross-section of Warhol’s photographic output in the 1970s and 80s. It is an invaluable resource for University of Houston students, and Blaffer Gallery is privileged to introduce Houston and the campus community to the latest addition to the university’s renowned collection. Celebutants, Groupies, and Friends: A Photographic Legacy from the Andy Warhol Foundation has been organized in partnership with the University of Houston Public Art Collection. The exhibition has been made possible by a bequest through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support provided by Don and Chris Sanders, Mixed Emotions Fine Art, Houston, Don and Shirley Rose, and Frank and Dorene Herzog.