Andy Warhol Screenprints at San Diego Museum of Art

Wednesday, 21 June 2006 13:05

San Diego, CA - The San Diego Museum of Art is featuring one of the most influential and provocative American artists of the 20th century, Andy Warhol (1928–1987).  The exhibition Andy Warhol’s Dream America: Screenprints from the Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation runs until September 10, 2006, and showcases more than 110 of Warhol’s memorable prints.  With a focus on prints made in series, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Warhol’s printmaking career, as well as a unique opportunity to view a large selection of his complete screenprint portfolios.

All works in the exhibition are from the collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and range in date from the 1960s to the 1980s.  Among the most recognizable are prints of Marilyn Monroe, Jacquelyn Kennedy, Mick Jagger, and the Campbell’s Soup can.  The prints are grouped chronologically and in portfolios, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the development of Warhol’s classic Pop images.  Other highlights of the exhibition are Warhol’s The Souper, a cotton paper dress decorated with screenprints of the Campbell’s Soup can, and Jonas Mekas’s groundbreaking 12-minute film Award Presentation to Andy Warhol (1964).

“Andy Warhol was one of the most critical artists of our era, and his work has an enduring place in the visual culture of the United States.  The opportunity to share this stellar representation of Warhol’s graphic production with the public in San Diego promises to be a highlight of our 80th anniversary celebration,” says Derrick R. Cartwright, SDMA’s executive director.  “I am grateful to the Schnitzer family for allowing us to present their collection as the only West Coast venue on the exhibition’s tour; a distinction that I am certain will not be lost on the tens of thousands of visitors we look forward to welcoming this summer.”

Recognized as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Warhol seized on the methods and imagery of pop culture and the mass media to create some of the most defining images of our time.  He began making silkscreen prints in 1962 and was highly influential in turning it into a popular art form rather than a process used solely for commercial purposes.  Although the silkscreen process facilitated the repetition of images, Warhol often made each one unique through subtle variations.  Over the years, he turned everything from Hollywood celebrities to household items into colorful prints, which he made in his downtown New York studio, known as the Factory.

Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928.  He moved to New York in 1949 where he started his successful career as a commercial artist.  He created advertising and window displays and worked as an illustrator for such magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New Yorker.  In the 1960s, Warhol’s interest in photography became apparent, and he also made several films, including Sleep and Empire.  He focused again on painting in the early 1970s, when he also began publishing Interview magazine.  He died on February 22, 1987, following a routine gall bladder surgery.

Jordan Schnitzer began collecting art at the age of fourteen and soon discovered his passion for contemporary art, especially prints.  He began focusing on buying contemporary prints in 1988 and soon his collection grew so large that a museum requested to borrow works for an exhibition.  After that, Schnitzer developed an outreach program to loan works from his collection for exhibitions.  Believing that Warhol is an artist who “may be recognized in the future as the most important artist of the last century,” Schnitzer’s goal is to facilitate greater understanding of his artwork through this retrospective exhibition of his prints.

Visit The San Diego Museum of Art at : www.sdmart.org