By Debby Stinson, Museum of Art/WSU
PULLMAN, Wash. – For the first time, the complete collection of pop artist Andy Warhol’s Polaroid photographs and silver gelatin prints at the Washington State University Museum of Art has been lent for exhibition in another museum.
“Andy Warhol Collection: Museum of Art/Washington State University,” will show through Aug. 15 at the Missoula Art Museum (MAM) in Montana.
“MAM is a gem of the Northwest, an institution we have a rich history of collaboration with,” said Ryan Hardesty, curator of art and exhibitions at the WSU museum.
“(Warhol) rarely left the studio without camera in tow,” he said. “Most of his best-known achievements relied on photographic processes; therefore, a collection of Warhol photographs has special significance.”
The 105 Polaroid photos and 55 silver gelatin photographic prints were given to the WSU museum in 2008 by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Its photographic legacy program sought meaningful homes in museums across the United States for selections of more than 28,500 of his photos.
Although his Polaroids, taken in 1970-87, often served as aids in painting portraits, they are significant in and of themselves and represent the range of people who passed through Warhol’s life.
“In many ways photography and the medium’s inherent ability for reproduction was at the heart of Warhol’s artistic practice,” Hardesty said.
As part of an exchange between the museums, MAM’s Chris Larson sculpture, “Pause,” was lent to the Museum of Art/WSU in 2010.
To learn more about the exhibition, please visit http://www.missoulaartmuseum.org/index.php/ID/02fd8768cc14e8e40d5e3c42880a6415/fuseaction/exhibitions.detail.htm
For more about the Museum of Art/WSU, see http://www.museum.wsu.edu.
Contacts:
Debby Stinson, Museum of Art/WSU, 509-335-6282, debby_stinson@wsu.edu
Anna-Maria Shannon, Museum of Art/WSU, 509-335-6140, annamshannon@wsu.edu