VK

April 10-May 17, 2014

I attended a lovely opening of “Warhol:Jackie” at Blain Di Donna gallery and dinner followed at La Grenouille.

and dinner that followed for a wonderful exhibition of 

“Deeply affected by the media coverage of JFK’s assassination, Warhol began the Jackie series in February 1964, continuing the Death and Disaster theme of his first European exhibition with Ileana Sonnabend in Paris, in January of that year.

The exhibition begins with the paintings of Jacqueline Kennedy on the day of JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963, from the smiling Jackie arriving at Dallas Love Field, through the motorcade, to the administration of the oath for the new President Johnson on Air Force One, and finally, at the funeral, as she transforms from glamorous and iconic First Lady to grieving widow. Warhol cropped images taken from Life magazine and silkscreened them on to canvas. By cropping her face and repeating it, Warhol focused on Jackie’s grief and courage. The news was a unifying force during the President’s assassination as people repeatedly watched and read about the events of that week. Warhol gives us a reenactment of this tragic moment in America’s history through Mrs. Kennedy’s powerful image.” (gallery press release)

Warhol: Jackie has been curated in close collaboration with Bibi Khan, former curator of the Andy Warhol Foundation; it will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Bob Colacello, writer, former Warhol associate, and an essay by Judith Goldman, writer, former Whitney Museum curator and noted Warhol expert.

gallery details