Chromogenic Photographic Portraits of Andy Warhol by Philippe Halsman

In 1968, renowned portrait photographer Philippe Halsman photographed Andy Warhol at The Factory in New York. Among the most famous results of this session is a series of striking, dramatic studio portraits where Warhol touches or points a finger just below his eye. While black and white photogravures were distributed in the late 1960s and 1970s, the images were also printed as chromogenic color prints (C-prints). In 1989, a limited-edition portfolio of eight chromogenic prints from the 1968 session was released in an edition of 100.

Halsman used strong directional, split lighting—casting cool cyan/teal shadows across one half of Warhol’s face while illuminating the rest in warm ambient light. The dramatic close-up frames Warhol looking directly into the lens while pointing to his eye, capturing an unsettling, enigmatic vulnerability characteristic of Halsman’s psychological approach to portraiture.

Proof prints and portfolio sheets from this collaboration have been exhibited widely, including at New York's Nahan Gallery, and featured across major editorial publications including Life magazine.