The Campbell’s Soup can, a pattern of repeating images of Mao Zedong, bright orange daffodils with acid green stems. This, of course, is some of the well-known imagery of Pop Art icon Andy Warhol. On view now, the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, is hosting an intimate exhibition of these iconic works in a “more personal size—some as diminutive as 5 by 5 inches,” the museum notes. Andy Warhol: small is beautiful presents close to 100 paintings that delve into the creative mind and process of the major 20th-century artist.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Campbell’s Soup Can, 1961. Casein and pencil on canvas, 20 x 16 in. Hall Collection, courtesy Hall Art Foundation. © 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Hall Art Foundation.
“The exhibition’s chronological scope is quite broad, including some of Warhol’s earliest works from the 1960s—such as his Campbell’s Soup Can of 1961—to a self-portrait completed just nine months before his death in 1987,” says Margarita Karasoulas, curator of art at the Bruce Museum. Karasoulas adds that the subject matter featured in the exhibition is incredibly diverse as well. “Visitors will encounter iconic works like Warhol’s well-known portraits of celebrities and fellow artists as well as less-familiar paintings that demonstrate his career-long engagement with Catholicism, or abstract works such as the Oxidation Paintings and Shadow Paintings from the late 70s and 80s, which stray from his dominant mode of figuration,” she says. The Oxidation Paintings and Shadow Paintings series come from the last two decades of Warhol’s career and are particularly indicative of the artist’s passion for experimentation. “All of the works in the exhibition are small in scale, which creates an intimate, and perhaps surprising, viewing experience for visitors,” Karasoulas adds.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Twenty Fuchsia Maos, 1979. Synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas, 39½ x 38 in. Hall Collection, courtesy Hall Art Foundation © 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy Hall Art Foundation.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Flowers, 1964. Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 14 x 14 in. Hall Collection, courtesy Hall Art Foundation © 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Hall Art Foundation.
Works in the exhibition will be presented within the Bruce Museum’s Grossman Family Gallery and Barbara and Edward Netter Foundation Gallery.
“Warhol’s work engages with our omnipresent culture of looking, of seeing and being seen, and his interest in popular culture and contemporary news media remain salient for artists working today,” Karasoulas continues. “Warhol not only celebrated fame and celebrity culture, but he also had an acute understanding of how to cultivate his own self-image and self-presentation, recalling our current era of social media and ‘influencers.’ Finally, he revolutionized painting through his innovative use of the photographic silkscreen process. His relentless experimentation across media anticipates some of the predominant modes of artmaking today.”
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Untitled (Oxidation Painting), 1978. Mixed media on canvas, 14 x 10 in. Hall Collection, courtesy Hall Art Foundation © 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Hall Art Foundation.
Visitors can explore Andy Warhol: small is beautiful through October 13.
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