Images(2)

Jane Lang

Date1976

Maker Andy Warhol American, 1928 - 1987

Label TextA provocative figure of American Pop art, Warhol had a long-standing interest in portraiture. Starting as a commercial illustrator, he scandalized the New York art world with paintings of Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles while also creating iconic portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Jackie Kennedy, and others using film stills and promotional photographs. Polaroid photographs were a frequent starting point for his portraits, and in the late 1970s and 1980s, he frequently accepted commissions. In anticipation of the Seattle Art Museum’s 1976 exhibition Andy Warhol: Portraiture, Richard Lang commissioned the artist to create a double-panel portrait of Jane Lang, to be presented as a surprise. Warhol insisted on a photography session in his New York studio, so Richard and Warhol told Jane he had commissioned his own portrait; the artist then casually suggested that she sit for a few snapshots. Jane discovered the finished portrait only at the opening, with Warhol and his entourage in attendance.

Object number2020.19

ProvenanceCommissioned from the artist by Richard E. Lang (1906-1982), Seattle, Washington, 1976; Lyn Grinstein and Don Hussong, Seattle, Washington, 2018; Lyn and Jerry Grinstein, Seattle, Washington, 2019; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2020

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Andy Warhol: Portraits, Nov. 15, 1976 - Jan. 9, 1977 (Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, Feb. 5 - Mar. 27, 1977). New York, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s, Nov. 20, 1979 - Jan. 27, 1980. No cat. no., p. 137, reproduced p. 88 (with 76.47). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Richard and Jane Lang Collection, Feb. 2 - Apr. 1, 1984. Cat. no. 44, reproduced p. 60 (with 76.47). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pop Departures, Oct. 9, 2014 - Jan. 11, 2015. No cat. no., p. 103, reproduced p. 71 (with 76.47). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Frisson: The Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Collection, Oct. 15, 2021 - Nov. 27, 2022. No cat. no., pp. 21-22, 25-26, 31, 45, 194, reproduced pp. 21 (fig. 10), 27. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reverberations: Contemporary Art and Modern Classics, Dec. 22, 2022 - ongoing.Published ReferencesPrintz, Neil and Sally King-Nero, eds. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne: Paintings and Sculpture, late 1974 - 1976, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Cat. no. 3372.

Credit LineGift of Lyn and Jerry Grinstein

Dimensions40 x 40 in. (101.6 x 101.6 cm)

MediumSilkscreen ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas