Mccaffrey Fine Art is proud to present an exhibition of 100 celebrity Polaroid portraits by Andy Warhol accompanied by documentary photographs by Warhol's long-time collaborator Christopher Makos. The exhibition dates are January 15th - February 23rd, 2008.
While Warhol had made ballpoint pen portraits of friends and family during the early Fifties, he began his silkscreen portraits sourced from his own photo booth instant photographs in 1963. Beginning in the early Seventies, Warhol's portrait production took on a more business-like approach as the costs of financing The Factory mounted and commission requests became more commonplace. He adopted the Polaroid Big Shot camera around 1971 and this would remain his portrait camera of choice until his death in 1987.
During this 15+ year period, Warhol produced hundreds of unique Polaroid photographs which were the basis for his standard 40 x 40 inch painted portraits. Made side-by-side with the great historic themes of the Seventies and Eighties (Mao, Hammer & Sickle, Ladies and Gentlemen, Shadows, Rorschach and Oxidation paintings, and The Last Supper), Warhol's portraits helped reinvigorate and reinvent the tradition of portraiture, paving the way for Francesco Clemente, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince and Elizabeth Peyton, amongst others.