Some 150 original Andy Warhol polaroid and gelatin silver prints were donated by the Photographic Legacy Program, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, to our Fine Arts Center Galleries last spring. URI is one of only 180 academically affiliated galleries/museums nationwide to receive such a gift, which was given due to the galleries’ prominence as a contemporary art showcase.

Warhol (1928-1987), a central Pop Art figure, was particularly prolific during the ‘60s when he created his famous images of a Campbell’s Soup can and Marilyn Monroe.

Using a Polaroid Big Shot and a Minolta SLR automatic 35 mm camera, the artist often captured a person or event with both cameras, cropping one in Polaroid color as a “photograph” and snapping another in black and white as a “picture.”

URI’s Warhol collection includes images of celebrities such as Carly Simon, Jack Nicklaus, and Giorgio Armani as well as celebrities’ animals, urban landscapes, and more.

The prints are available for public viewing and study in the Special Collections Unit of the University Library in its permanent collection. For more information visit http://uri.edu/library/special_collections/.