Steven Bluttal, the former curator of the Warhol Estate, will be bringing his choice of drawings by Andy Warhol to Timothy Taylor's gallery on 25 January for the most extensive collection of Warhol's drawings shown in Britain to date. The collection predates Warhol's graduation from Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and spans his first decade living in New York City.
"There are drawings on newsprint here, from when Andy travelled to the East in the 50s. Drawings of people in Bangkok, in Singapore - eating, drinking, cycling by. Andy would just draw them onto the newspaper he was reading at the time," said Bluttal last week, speaking from New York. Warhol's private drawings, including still-life, intimate portraiture, and documentation of his travels will sit alongside studies for his commercial work of the same period, for clients including Harper's Bazaar, Doubleday (now Random House), Moss Rose and I. Miller. The catalogue for the show is inspired by a book of poetry that Bluttal found by Rene Ricard. Rene Ricard 1979-1980 was published in 1979 in the US with a duck-egg blue cover, appropriated from an original Tiffany's catalogue (Warhol once designed a series of whimsical Christmas cards for Tiffany and Co). Extracts from Warhol's privately printed, hand-coloured books, Wild Raspberries and 25 Cats Named Sam, will also be in the show.
The salon-style exhibition will chart the development of Warhol's use of media, from his first signature aesthetic - the 'blotted-line technique' - to his use of gold leaf, spray-paint, intricate collage, ballpoint pen, Aniline dye and tempera. "He was an old-fashioned artist - I think people tend to forget that because he broke so much ground as well. Many see him as merely an appropriator or a voyeur but he was technically superb as a draughtsman - akin to Picasso - and a brilliant figurative artist. As well as being able to demonstrate private expression, he also worked so hard at being a commercial success. I just wanted to show what an exceptional talent he was, how fascinated he was by everything around him," said Bluttal.
Bluttal is in an ideal position to curate this show, given his work with the Warhol Estate and his longtime dedication to sifting through extensive archives (before working on the Warhol Estate, he was curator of the Mies van der Rohe Archive at the Museum of Modern Art in New York). Bluttal first met Warhol in 1984 at a movie premiere. They subsequently hung out together, along with Warhol's business manager and friend Fred Hughes, Tinkerbelle, and Warhol's extensive entourage.
Bluttal was the photo editor of the seminal 32 x 42 inch Andy Warhol GIANT SIZE, published by Phaidon, a "cradle to grave" look at the entire Warhol canon. "Weighing in at 151lb, it's a feat to lift", said Bluttal. He's also edited a massive collection of photographs of the fashion designer Halston, and a book of Ron Galella's photographs. "I sometimes feel I've become aesthetically promiscuous", he told me, as if that was a bad thing. "So much of the overlooked Warhol stuff has pedigree but a lot of it has slipped through the net. Because I have spent so much time with the collections, I'd say that there will be some nice surprises in this exhibition."
Steven Bluttal is currently editing a book of the costume collection of the Museum of the City of New York. 'Andy Warhol 1948 - 1960' will be on view from 25 January - 3 March 2007 at the Timothy Taylor Gallery, 21 and 24 Dering Street, London, W1S 1TT. Open 10-6pm Mon-Fri; 10-1pm Sat. For further information please contact Lee Johnson (T: +44 (0) 207 409 3344; email: lee@timothytaylorgallery.com) or visit the gallery's website.
Laura K Jones
Laura K Jones is a London-based journalist and a regular news correspondent for Your Gallery magazine.
Andy Warhol, 'Male Lower Torso', c. 1956
Black ballpoint on manila paper
Andy Warhol, 'Seated Monkey', c. 1957
Gold leaf, gold trim and ink on Strathmore paper
Andy Warhol, 'Two Men Fencing', c. 1957
Gold leaf, ink, Dr Martin's Aniline Dye and stamped gold on Strathmore paper
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