Portrait of Marion Bloch

Artist Andy Warhol (American, 1928 - 1987)

Date1975

MediumAcrylic and silkscreen on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 40 × 40 1/16 inches (101.6 × 101.76 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Bloch

Object numberF85-38

Signedverso, along upper tacking edge (in black marker): "Andy Warhol 75 M.B."

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionBust portrait of a woman. Body in profile, facing viewer's right. Head turning toward viewer in 3/4 gaze. Exaggerated pink skin, black and orange hair, red lips, blue/green eyeshadow, black and green bead necklace, black clothing. Portrait surrounded by teal-blue background. Paint surface is relatively smooth; but some relief caused by general stroke of wide brush and artist's finger having traced outline of portrait.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Deborah Kass: My Andy, A Retrospective, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, June 22-September 15, 1996, no cat.

Gallery Label

Andy Warhol is best known for his photo-silkscreened paintings of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, but he also painted portraits on commission. The beauty in this painting is Marion Bloch, for whom, with her husband Henry, this building is named. According to Mr. Bloch, the couple engaged Warhol’s services and took a suite in New York’s elegant Pierre Hotel. With daughter Mary Jo nearby, Marion was seated on a chair near the fireplace. The artist arrived, not with paints and brushes, but with a Polaroid instant camera. To their surprise, he photographed Marion against a blank wall in the bedroom, and departed. Back in the studio, Warhol selected one image of Marion, expanded its scale and photo-silkscreened the paintings in various colors on four canvases. Two of these works remain in the Warhol Museum collection, the Blochs gifted one painting to the Nelson-Atkins, and the fourth painting hangs in Bloch's home.

Provenance

Commissioned from the artist by Marion (née Helzberg, 1931-2013) and Henry (b. 1922) Bloch, Shawnee Mission, KS, March 1975-1985;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1985.

Published References

Danny Medina, “Henry Bloch- ‘Pretty Things Aren’t Always Good Things,’” Art Talk (February 1987): 13.

“Warhol and Others.” The Kansas City Star (May 17, 1987) (repro.).

“Over My Shoulder.” The Independent (May 30, 1987).

“Museum is Given Marion Bloch Portrait.” The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Calendar of Events (June 1987): 3-4, (repro.).

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