Deeda Blair
Andy Warhol
Description
Subject Matter:
This photograph is a cropped view of Deeda Blair’s upper-torso. A fashion icon, Blair has been greatly involved in philanthropic causes, working with biomedical scientists and venture capitalists to fund research cancer and AIDS. She is the widow of William McCormick Blair Jr., the former United States Ambassador to Denmark and the Philippines. She is seen here wearing a dress with floral prints, her dark hair swept back. The image is centered around her upper torso, her eyes cropped out the frame. She has one arm drawn across her chest, her other resting on her neck. She stands with a slightly contrapposto, the suggestion of a smile on her lips.
The Warhol Foundation, celebrating Andy Warhol’s lifelong engagement and experimentation with photography, donated this collection of Polaroid photographs. The majority of Warhol’s Polaroid images were taken using Polaroid Big Shot or SX-70 Polaroid cameras from 1970-1987, although his work in this medium began as early as 1958. Throughout his career, he photographed artists, celebrities, sports heroes, and friends using his Polaroid cameras. Over half his sitters were not well-known or remain unidentified. Warhol often photographed his subjects multiple times from a variety of angles. The resulting portraits often repeat poses and frequently portray subjects wearing similar thickly applied white makeup, eyeliner, and red lipstick, which were visual techniques used to flatten the subjects' features, as Warhol often used the Polaroid photographs as the basis for portraits made in the mediums of silkscreen and paint.
Physical Description:
A photograph of a woman’s upper torso. She is wearing a dark floral dress and has straight dark hair. She faces the camera, one arm drawn across her chest, the other resting on her neck.
Usage Rights:
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