Sitting in her art-filled living room near Cedarcroft, Richardson, who was at the BMA for 23 years, doesn’t waver a bit when assessing the importance of Warhol’s work. In fact, she literally brought him to town in 1975 for a now-legendary appearance at the BMA. The BMA’s acquisition of Warhol paintings in the late-1980s/ early-1990s sparked controversy and even outrage at the time.įor years, critics have suspected that Warhol and his estate were scamming us and that his 15 minutes of fame would come to an abrupt end.īrenda Richardson is responsible for bringing Warhol to Baltimore. It seems that Baltimore’s relationship with Warhol has been fruitful and practically inevitable, given that his working-class roots and quirkiness mirror our city’s image.īut we haven’t always been so sure about courting Warhol. In fact, the BMA is a major lender to the show, which opens October 17 and closes in January 2011. Now, a major traveling exhibition, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, begins a long run at the BMA and figures to deepen the city’s relationship with the iconic artist. “Our Warhol pieces have become a signature holding for us,” says BMA contemporary curator Kristen Hileman. The Baltimore Museum of Art has the world’s second largest collection of late-period Warhol works-topped only by The Warhol Museum-and Warhol is increasingly mentioned in the same breath as Matisse when discussing the BMA’s major collections. There’s “a lot going on,” in part, because of Warhol money.Īnd the city has played a key role in enhancing Warhol’s legacy. Waters and Warhol were acquaintances, and without fanfare, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts-with Waters on its Board of Directors-has supported Baltimore arts groups with more than a million dollars in funding for exhibitions, publications, film festivals, and curatorial studies. It’s particularly notable because Warhol has had a fascinating relationship with Baltimore, both during his lifetime and, especially, since his death in 1987. “We like Baltimore, too it seems like there’s a lot going on there.” “The Warhol loves John Waters,” says the store’s clerk. She’s sleepin’.” The segment also includes film clips with locals such as Edith Massey and Jean Hill, and you can even buy Waters’s latest book ( Role Models) and CD ( A Date with John Waters) in the museum store. It’s a hoot listening to Waters tell Warhol about visiting the Enchanted Forest theme park and, in a Bawlmer accent, recall overhearing a mother tell a hilariously succinct summation of the Sleeping Beauty story to her children: “That’s Sleepin’ Beauty. Standing at one of the 50 plus video monitors devoted to Warhol’s work, watching him create one of his signature pieces, you might notice that he’s listening to Billie Holiday as he paints on another screen, he’s interviewing Frank Zappa’s kids, Dweezil and Moon and on the most prominently displayed screen, there’s an interview Warhol did with John Waters, Divine, and Van Smith, the makeup artist who developed Divine’s distinctive look.
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