Press Release Andy Warhol: Revelation

For immediate release

Thursday, June 13, 2019

The Andy Warhol Museum announces Andy Warhol: Revelation, opening October 20, 2019. Revelation will be the first exhibition to comprehensively examine the Pop artist’s complex Catholic faith in relation to his artistic production.

Christian motifs frequently appear in both explicit and metaphorical forms throughout the body of Warhol’s oeuvre. While his monumental crosses and depictions of Christ directly reference biblical stories, the exhibition will also explore his coded depictions of spirituality such as an unfinished film reel depicting the setting sun, originally commissioned by the de Menil family and funded by the Roman Catholic Church.

Born in Pittsburgh to a devout Byzantine Catholic family, Warhol grew up attending multiple weekly services at his local church with his mother, Julia Warhola. He would stare for hours at the icon paintings of Christ and the saints that hung in the elaborate iconostasis, or icon screen, at the front of the nave. In the Warhola family’s Carpatho-Rusyn neighborhood, life revolved around the church community, and the young artist was deeply impacted from this environment. Using The Warhol’s robust holdings of the artist’s early works, the exhibition will trace the influence of his religious roots in Pittsburgh to his Pop career in New York City.

Throughout his life as a celebrity artist, Warhol retained some of his Catholic practices when his peers were distancing themselves from their religious backgrounds. Yet, his relationship with Catholicism was far from simple. As a queer man, Warhol may have felt a sense of guilt and fear towards the Catholic Church, which kept him from fully immersing himself in the faith. Nevertheless, he used various media to explore this tension through his art.

From iconic portraits of celebrities to appropriated Renaissance masterpieces, Warhol flirted with styles and symbolism from Eastern and Western Catholic art history, carefully reframing them within the context of Pop. Through this process, the artist elevated kitsch and mundane images from mass media and transformed them into sacred high art.

Revelation will feature over 100 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, including archival materials, drawings, paintings, prints and film. Rare source material and newly discovered items will provide an intimate look on Warhol’s creative process. Through both obscure works such as the “sunset” film commission from 1967 and late masterpieces like the pink Last Supper (1986), the exhibition will present a fresh perspective on the artist.

To complement the exhibition, a schedule of public programs are being organized and will be announced at a later date.

Andy Warhol: Revelation is curated by José Carlos Diaz, chief curator at The Warhol. The exhibition includes a full-color catalogue with contributions from Diaz and Miranda Lash, curator of contemporary art at the Speed Art Museum.

After opening at The Warhol, Andy Warhol: Revelation will travel to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky and be on view from April 3 through August 21, 2020.

Andy Warhol: Revelation is presented by Bank of America, and supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fine Foundation.

The Warhol receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

The Andy Warhol Museum

Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The Warhol is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Established in 1895 by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The museums reach more than 1.4 million people a year through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.

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