Prague, Feb 23 (CTK) – The National Gallery (NG) in Prague has put on display photographs by Andy Warhol, the late U.S. artist with Slovak ancestors, which originate from a collection the U.S. Andy Warhol Foundation previously donated to ten world museums, NG spokeswoman Tereza Jezkova has told CTK.
The photographs by Warhol (1928-1987), a pop art icon, have been displayed in the Salm Palace that hosts the NG’s permanent exhibition of the 19th-century art.
Warhol, a son of Ruthenian immigrants from what is Slovakia now, is world famous mainly for his serigraph portraits of U.S. celebrities and consumer goods.
However, he was also a keen photographer with a style that is easily to distinguish.
“Warhol received his first camera at the age of nine. He bought his first Polaroid SX70 in 1962. Unlike most of his works, his photos were not made in his The Factory studio in New York, but they were his personal and visual diary,” Milena Kalinovska, head of the NG’s collection of modern and contemporary art, who helped the NG acquire Warhol’s works, said.
The photos on display in Prague show the personalities with whom Warhol surrounded himself and also pictures from his everyday life.
Photographs hand-sewn together testify to Warhol’s interest in serial pictures hinting at consumerism and the influence of mass media.
“A few months ago, I asked the Andy Warhol Foundation whether they could consider a donation to the NG. At the time, they were choosing ten world museums to divide the rest of their collection of photographs by Warhol between them. As a result, we have succeeded [in acquiring some photos] together with the British Tate Modern gallery or the Dutch Stedelijk museum,” Kalinovska said.
