PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Several never-before-seen photographs from University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Andy Warhol collection, as well as a number of newly acquired original Warhol screen prints donated by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, are now on display at the university’s Reed Fine Art Gallery as part of its latest exhibition, “Warhol: Faces.”
The gallery will be showcasing the collection until Feb. 21, Reed Gallery Director Heather Sincavage said Thursday afternoon, and the public is invited to view the exhibition.
The opening reception will take place on Feb. 6 from 5 to 7 p.m., which is being held in conjunction with the First Friday Art Walk.
This exhibition focuses on Warhol’s attention to the portrait. With access to pop culture icons, socialites and the Hollywood elite, Warhol photographed his subjects countless times to prepare for his finished work. “Warhol: Faces” includes images of athletes and entertainers, such as Wayne Gretzky and Carly Simon.
These images are part of the collection of 153 silver gelatin prints and Polaroid photographs — valued at more than $100,000 — that UMPI was gifted from the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program in 2008.
“We received them last February, and you get to see a little bit of his process and then you get to see the finished results,” Sincavage said. “When I take my classes there, we talk about why he did so many Polaroids, and why he took so many pictures of them from so many different angles. And it was because they were reference photos, and those were the photos he would use for his screenprints.”
UMPI’s Reed Fine Art Gallery was among 183 college and university art museums and galleries across the U.S. that received a gift from the program to provide greater access to Warhol’s art and process. The university was one of three institutions in Maine, along with the University of Maine and Colby College, to receive a gift from the foundation. The Reed Fine Art Gallery was the first in Maine to put these photographs on public display.
The five Warhol original screen prints that will be on display during the show comprise the second gift of its kind to UMPI from the Andy Warhol Foundation. These images, valued at about $25,000, include screenprints of Queen Beatrix, Queen Margrethe and Sitting Bull, as well as pink camouflage and a fiesta pig, and range in size from approximately 20×30 inches to 38×38 inches. The prints were created between 1979 and 1987.
Some of the prints were completed close to Warhol’s death in 1987 and are thought to not have left his studio until the foundation cataloged the work. This means the prints have not been exhibited before, although there are other editions of these images that are on display. Indiana State University has a print similar to UMPI’s Sitting Bull piece.
Sincavage said that she uses the Reed Fine Art Gallery as a teaching space, especially with the Warhol exhibit now hanging.
“He is a master artist, and the Reed Gallery is a living breathing history space,” she said Thursday. “You can have a lesson going on right there. Education doesn’t have to be all about lecture. This exhibition is another clue into the artistic process of Warhol.”
Sincavage said that after the exhibit is taken down, the five screen prints will be hung in offices and other spaces around campus so that they can be enjoyed.
The public is encouraged to come out to First Friday on Feb. 6 and attend this free event. Light refreshments will be served. The Reed Fine Art Gallery is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Sundays and university holidays.
For more information about this event, please contact Sincavage at 768-9442 or heather.sincavage@umpi.edu. Please follow gallery happenings on at Facebook.com/ReedArtGallery.