Warhol Wows the Russians

In recent months Andy Warhol has been making waves in Russia and Eastern Europe with a major touring show of some 55 works. Many art enthusiasts are seeing the artist's work for the first time.

Organized by the Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs in partnership with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and curated by museum director Thomas Sokolowski and associate curator Margery King, the show features many of the artist's iconic Pop images such as Campbell's Soup cans, Marilyn Monroe and Chairman Mao.

After a successful debut early last year at the Museum of Arts in Almaty, Kazakhstan, "Andy Warhol: A Retrospective" appeared this past fall at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

There, long lines of visitors waited to see the exhibition, which was the first by a contemporary artist ever held at that venerable institution.

Accompanying the St. Petersburg showing was a two-day Warhol symposium and a program featuring a number of the artist's best-known films. The exhibition is currently on view [through Feb. 6] at the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia (the homeland of Warhol's ancestors). After a stop at the State Art Museum, Riga, Latvia [Apr. 3-May 8], the show returns to Russia, where it will appear at Moscow's Pushkin State Museum of Art [May 22-July 3]. The show's tour continues through spring 2002.

Source: Brant Publicaion, February 2001