Dumb blond or deep thinker?

Sopaporn Kurz

Special to The Nation

Paris

 While best known for his popular Campbell's soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles, it is actually portraits of people that are at the heart of Andy Warhol's works. Through his career from the 1960s to the '80s, Warhol created more than 1,000 portraits of celebrities like Chairman Mao, Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, many of them now poster and T-shirt icons.

 When about 50 of these went on display at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art in 1979, their subjects -- Truman Capote and Sylvester Stallone among them -- showed up as guests. So did the critics, who took one look at the celebrity gathering and decided the show was shallow. The works have never been exhibited together since.

 Until now, that is. The Grand Palais in the heart of Paris is holding "Warhol's Wide World", an attempt to reveal a depth of artistic ambition that so far has gone unnoticed. The show argues that Warhol fans should drop the label "pop art" and see him in a new light -- as a skilful portraitist, obsessed by life, death and religion. Curator Alain Cueff says this is the first re-reading of Warhol since his death 21 years ago.

 The world's largest ever exhibition of Warhol is arranged by theme, focusing on key points in Warhol's work such as self-portraits, screen tests, the power of money, the world of glamour, disaster, the last supper etc. Showcasing more than 130 portraits (250 if you count the repetitions) and a range of Polaroids, headshot footage and film clips featuring the artist himself, Warhol's works have never looked so classic.

 The exhibition begins with 1962 when he discovered silkscreen techniques and used them in a publicity shot of Marilyn Monroe for the film "Niagara", after her suicide in August that year. He outlined her head and shoulders in black-and-white, blew them up and then painted the eyes, lips and face with different colours. The resulting series was something new and brilliant. "Twenty Marilyns (Marilyn in Colour)" and "Marilyn Monroe in black and white (twenty-five Marilyns)" quickly became famous.

 Soon after came his first commission from collector Robert Scull, whose wife Ethel wanted the same treatment as Marylin. Instead of photographing her professionally in his studio, Warhol took her to a photo booth at the corner of 42nd Street and Broadway, ushered her in and told her to "watch the little red light" while he poured coins into the machine. She was unnerved at first, but Warhol joked and prodded until she relaxed. Warhol had a $100 worth of coins in his pockets and they ran from booth to booth and ended up with more than 300 photos.

 Twenty-four shots were eventually silk-screened onto the thirty-six panels which form the painting showing Scull in a whole variety of poses - smiling, hidden behind dark glasses, pensive, open-faced, preening, back to the wall, carefully patting her hairdo, self-conscious, dreamy, laughing out loud and so on. Some images and colours are repeated. When "Ethel Scull Thirty-Six Times" was delivered, the subject was delighted to see herself so alive.

 The Scull work marked a turning point in Warhol's career. Now, instead of using pre-existing images, he developed a direct approach to his human subjects. Commissions came pouring in at the price of $25,000 for the first set, $15,000 for the second. Those lining up for the silkscreen treatment included royals, art dealers and collectors, politicians, film and rock stars, and rich socialites hoping to glow with Warhol's genius.

 Besides the wide range of portraits he created, the exhibition also discusses Warhol's philosophy in creating pictures. He was fascinated by the physical perfection of film stars, so he always created the best possible image, scrupulously applying the principles of "touching-up". Exhibited intermediate works show how he altered images, covering less attractive spots. "I don't want to keep the blemishes," he once said.

 Towards the end are Warhol's works on religious images, including 112 screenprints of Christ and a portrait of an electric chair, which is interpreted as a modern symbol of crucifixion.

 While seeing portrait after same-sized portrait on the two vast floors can be tiring, reminding yourself how his works have changed art in the latter half of the 20th century is all it takes to give you goosebumps. The duplicated headshot photos in various colours seem cooler than ever.

 Warhol once said, "all my portraits have to be the same size, so they'll all fit together and make one big painting called 'Portraits of Society'. That's a good idea, isn't it? May be the Metropolitan Museum would want it someday." And while the Met has yet to answer that call, "Warhol's Wide World" at the Grand Palais has gone much of the way to fulfilling his dream.

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More than Marilyn

'Warhol's Wide World' runs until July 13. Admission is ?11 and the gallery is open everyday except Tuesday from 10am-10pm (early closing at 8pm on Thursday).

For more images from the show, visit www.rmn.fr/Warhol-s-Wide-world.