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Inside An Artist’s Mind:
Andy Warhol’s Polaroid Sketchbook on Display

AUBURN, Ala.- An opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look at Andy Warhol’s iconic work waits at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Polaroid Sketchbook: Photographs by Andy Warhol in the Permanent Collection will be displayed April 18–July 3, 2009, in the Chi Omega-Hargis Gallery.

The exhibition displays photographs Warhol took as inspirations for his paintings. Warhol used his Polaroid as other artists might use a sketchbook, quickly recording ideas for future use. These Polaroid snapshots formed the basis for many of his paintings and silkscreen prints, with subjects ranging from superstar portraits to cultural and commercial icons.

A variety of images will be displayed, including portrait shots of John Denver, Chris Evert, Halston, Sean Lennon, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cheryl Tiegs, and other public figures. Selected Polaroid prints are paired with examples of their resulting paintings, on loan from The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Penn., to illustrate the photographs’ use as foundations for larger finished works.

One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was a key figure in the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. He achieved fame worldwide as a painter, printmaker, filmmaker, record producer and “celebrity figure.” Central to most of his creative activities was the Polaroid instant camera.

In 2007, twenty years after the artist’s death, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts offered gifts of over 28,500 of Warhol’s photographs to 183 college and university museums across the United States. These gifts provide greater public access to Warhol’s art and creative process, and enable study of this important but relatively unknown body of work.

Along with other institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Cranbrook Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art received more than 100 original Polaroid images and 50 gelatin-silver prints by this renowned artist.

For more information contact visit www.jcsm.auburn.edu.

Contact: Colleen Bourdeau at cbourdeau@auburn.edu or (334) 844-7075