By Emilia Otte, Copy Editor
In the Atrium Gallery of the Marshall Fine Arts Center on Friday, Jan. 27, Haverford College unveiled its latest exhibit, entitled “Andy Warhol: The Pop Image Subverted”.
Featured most prominently in the exhibit are Warhol’s famous psychedelic screen prints of flowers and of Marilyn Monroe, sets of which take up entire walls of the gallery. According to Professor William Williams of the Haverford Fine Arts Department, the exhibit includes eight of 10 of Warhol’s large silkscreen flower prints and seven of 10 of his large prints of Marilyn, an unusually large number to be displayed at one time.
Accompanying the screen prints is a glass case displaying photographs of events such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Kennedy’s funeral, Lyndon B. Johnson’s begin sworn in as President of the United States, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby. These events were said to have greatly impacted Warhol.
The exhibit also connects Warhol’s work back to the Greater Philadelphia area. Displayed on the outer wall of the gallery beside the door is a Warhol print of Grace Kelly, alongside a photograph of her and a picture of her in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Additionally, the gallery has on display a few prints by Maxfield Parrish, a Haverford alum (class of 1892) whom Warhol cited as one of his most important influences.
Stacked in the center of the gallery was a small pyramid of Campbell’s soup cans, a tribute to Warhol’s almost universally-recognized paintings of the same objects, which helped make him one of the most renown artists of the pop art movement. First debuted in 1962, Campbell’s Soup Cans now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Haverford exhibit also includes some of Warhol’s other pop art pieces, such as the Brillo Pad print and the “Souper Dress,” a dress printed with images of cans of Campbell’s soup.
According to Williams, 95% of the material in the exhibition is being displayed for the first time at Haverford. He explained, “It is a way to share research, engage our visitors — including students — in ways that are not possible in a traditional classroom.”
The exhibit will be open until April 23rd. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
