What could be more common with Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn Monroe), and Jewish religious thinker Martin Buber (Martin Buber)? .. Both of these celebrity inspired the famous painter, the father of pop art of Andy Warhol (Andy Warhol). But the canvases depicting Marilyn hang in every major museum of modern art and often appear at auction, and portraits of the philosopher is not well known. Curators new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco decided to rectify this unfortunate omission, and staged an exhibition of Andy Warhol, which you can see portraits of Buber and other famous thinkers, politicians, writers and artists who are united by one thing - the Jewish origin.

Series «Ten Portraits of Jews of XX century» was founded in 1980, Warhol. It includes portraits of the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (Golda Meir), the writers Gertrude Stein (Gertrude Stein) and Franz Kafka (Franz Kafka), composer George Gershwin (George Gershwin), physics of Albert Einstein (Albert Einstein), the actress Sarah Bernhardt (Sarah Bernhardt ), a lawyer Louis Brandeis (Louis Brandeis), comedians Marx Brothers (The Marx Brothers), the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (Sigmund Freud) and the philosopher Martin Buber. All are made in the company «uorholovskom» style - the artist took photographs, enlarged them and «processed», nakladyvaya their geometric shapes and bright colors outline the contours of those colors for the silk-screen printing. Portraits, like the famous picture Marilyn, Mao, and Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor), deprived of any context - they can see only the face and nothing more.

Many wonder: why this is suddenly Warhol, who was Catholic, and never showed much interest in Jewish culture, has suddenly decided to create a series of paintings? .. It all started with a portrait of Golda Meir. In 1973, Warhol created prints with its image, and art dealer Feldmane Ronaldo (Ronald Feldman) had an idea to ask the artist to create a few portraits of the great Jews. Feldman has created a list of 100 names, of which the artist chose ten. This list, as well as its extended version presented at the exhibition. Art dealer mistakenly included it a few celebrities who are not Jews, including the Russian abstraktsionista Vasily Kandinsky . The list was composed, and now living celebrities, including Woody Allen (Woody Allen) and Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan), but the artist has decided to focus on writing portraits of people already dead. The exhibition displays photographs that Warhol used for his paintings, as well as pictures of those who have not got in the series: the artist Amedeo Modigliani (Amedeo Modigliani), the founder of political Zionism of Theodor Herzl (Theodor Herzl), the writer Marcel Proust (Marcel Proust).

Interestingly, the first Warhol created a series of prints and only then, увлекшись, wrote a story. Very typical of this artist, vozvedshego mass production of the cult. Even his paintings are not unique - each written in five copies. Each print run of 200 pieces produced. On display and paintings and prints. In addition, there you can see a slideshow with a pull that Warhol created in conjunction with his printer Rupert Smith (Rupert Smith). Typically, these prints are destroyed or removed somewhere far away, but Warhol, like a businessman, and they decided to put on the market. Each image in the series exists in several versions - trial print, print, and the final picture. The exhibition also exhibited preliminary sketches to the canvas.

When the series soon, responses to it in the press was, to put it mildly, mixed. According to some critics, Warhol simply had no right to take up writing portraits of great personalities. Hide view and irony painter perfectly suited to write Hollywood stars or Bohemian characters, but not Martin Buber or Louis Brandeis. In his paintings Warhol painted people, which is most suitable definition of «Cultural Icon» - he admired these paintings, but also sought their «razvenchat». As Marilyn Monroe, Mao, Einstein and other famous artists are not interested in the achievements and not any personal qualities, namely the fact that they have hands-free reputation. Critics say that the portraits of Warhol «obeschelovechivayut» depicted on these people, bring them up to the plate. And if in the case of Marilyn Monroe, whose image was rastirazhirovan in the press to the point that it has ceased to be perceived as a separate identity and become a regular brand, that strategy even as it may be justified, then why turn in the person of George Gershwin or Golda Meir - is unclear. A resourceful blogger, in his article about the exhibition in the contemporary Jewish Museum asked this question and decided that the best it can be answered Warhol picture, which depicts a beautiful big dollar sign. Although, according to the artist, U.S. not the only reason for which he has taken for the project. What are famous, some pictures on his portraits of people, it's true, he did not know ( «And who is this Martin Buber?»), But others, such as Golda Meir, he is very respected. Creating prints and paintings, Warhol so проникся that - unprecedented case - began to think about how to better express in these works the individuality of their characters.

Portraits Warhol good because looking at pictures on them from an unexpected side. For example, adolescents, for whom the style of Warhol - is «cool», may think that Freud, Einstein and the same Buber does not necessarily relate solely to the school skukotische. Photos of the artist chose a very expressive: in particular provided a snapshot of Franz Kafka, in which the writer looks grim young and very frail, with protruding, like elves, ears. And Albert Einstein is very good eyes. And, of course, you can not ignore the portrait of Gertrude Stein, for which Warhol took a truly shocking picture, where the writer is like a man.

The museum can also see archived video «premiere» Warhol series in Miami. Scenes where glamorous artist's way through the crowd of happy fans, alternate with funny scenes in which reporters interview local retirees, whether they know who this Warhol. Grandparents are responsible, that has not heard such a name.

Exhibition «Jewish portraits» Warhol continue until 3 February. It is the first exhibition of a famous artist in the contemporary Jewish Museum. This museum was opened only recently - in June 2008. The building was made by the famous architect Daniel Libeskind (Daniel Libeskind).

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: thecjm.org , artinvestment.ru