Warhol`s Portraits Essay, Research Paper

Some of the portraits that were done by Warhol began with Troy Donahue and

Warren Beatty, and Elvis Presley. Then later on came Marilynn Monroe and Jackie

Kennedy. There was also a series of car crash pictures done around this time.

The Jackie Kennedy portraits were done very shortly after the assassination of

President Kennedy. They mirrored the mourning face of Jackie that was shown time

and time again in the media. There were eight different images that were all

taken from different newspapers at the time. The number of works in this series

is still unknown. (Crone pg 29) The car crash pictures had an extreme amount of

variation. They ranged from having one picture to a canvas to having up to

twenty on the same canvas at one time. There are many different colored pictures

in this set. The most major change from one to another is the background color.

It is difficult for critics to place the origination of the meaning of this set

of works. (Crone pg 29) The series involving the electric chairs has a very

serious political statement. It is a symbol of misuse of governmental

sovereignty; it has also been considered and open confession of a deficiency in

cultural development. (Crone) About the same time as the electric chair pictures

were being shown there were many other quite disturbing sets of pictures being

shown. They were of race riots and many were taken directly from newspaper

articles of the Nazi Germany and Castro?s revolution in Cuba. (Crone pg 29)

One of the last serial sets that Warhol created before moving on from painting

was of flowers. The flowers were produced in an extreme variety of sizes and

quantities. These were on display in 1964. The original flowers were taken from

a women magazine. Unlike most of his earlier works, these reproductions were

touched up by hand on the screen. These are also different in that they do not

represent anything to Warhol. They are strictly decorative. The colors used in

the painting aren?t used to symbolize anything but just to bring out color in

decoration. In all there were about nine hundred of the flower painting made in

Warhol?s studio, ?The Factory?. These were among the very last of

Warhol?s paintings, in the remainder of his life he concentrated on movie

making. (Crone pg 30) During Warhol?s life his work has been controversial. He

has become more recognized and famous after his death in 1987. I think that his

purpose for being an artist seemed to be different from that of other artists.

I?m not convinced he painted and filmed for the love of the art or so much for

his purpose in doing it. I think he had a message he wanted to get across and

this was the medium through which he chose to express himself.