Andy Warhol's Pop Art: Polaroids That Inspired Warhol's Silkscreens ~ Vintage Everyday

October 19, 2016

Andy Warhol's Pop Art: Polaroids That Inspired Warhol's Silkscreens

October 19, 2016 1970s, 1980s, celebrity & famous people, life & culture, photography, portraits, work of art

The name Andy Warhol is synonymous with Pop Art. Clearly the most important and influential artist of the past quarter century, Warhol maintained a level of creativity already legendary before his untimely death in 1987.

Starting out as a technically innovative commercial artist in the world of New York advertising, in the early 1960s Warhol began adapting the commercial process of silkscreening to the world of fine art prints and created iconic masterpieces such as Marilyn Monroe, Campbell’s Soup, Ads and Myths, among his most famous images. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertisement.

Before creating the iconic screen prints of the stars of stage and screen, Warhol would take a selection of photographs of them with an instant Polaroid camera, which would then be used as the basis of the final works of art.

Warhol would cover his artists faces with thick, white make-up to conceal lines and wrinkles, achieving the flawless end result that both he and his subject desired.

The King of Pop Art turned the snaps into vibrant silkscreen prints – a who’s who of the most beautiful and recognizable stars of the 1970s and 80s.

Andy Warhol said of Polaroids: “There is something about the camera that makes the person look just right. They usually come out great.

“I take at least 200 pictures and then I choose. Sometimes I take half a picture and a lip from another picture. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.”