First-ever exhibition of Warhol works at a Ukrainian American institution
NEW YORK – Andy Warhol came to The Ukrainian Museum on October 6, and so did some 200 admirers.
The occasion was the opening of “Andy Warhol: Endangered Species,” the first exhibition of Warhol works ever shown at a Ukrainian American institution. Timed to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the exhibition features an exceptional if lesser-known series of silkscreens depicting 10 of the world’s endangered animals, which Warhol (1928-1987) created in 1983 at the behest of New York City art gallery owners Ronald and Frayda Feldman, along with a companion piece created two years later.
The Ukrainian Museum
Prof. Jaroslaw Leshko
The large (38 x 38 in.), brilliantly colored “Endangered Species” works are not just drawings of animals – they are “portraits” of these beautiful, majestic creatures, rendered in the same Pop Art style as Warhol’s portraits of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor. In a word, breathtaking.
“Andy Warhol’s images of soup cans and celebrities are familiar to most of us,” writes Adam Duncan Harris in the exhibition brochure, “but fewer people realize that he also created a stellar portfolio depicting endangered animals, raising awareness about wildlife in need of human protection in order to survive.” Indeed, Warhol donated 100 of the prints to various conservation organizations to auction for fund-raising purposes. The works in the exhibition are on loan from the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, where Dr. Harris is chief curator of art.
At the exhibition opening, co-curator Jaroslaw Leshko, professor emeritus of Art at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., eloquently made the connection between Warhol’s “Endangered Species” series and his body of work, between Warhol’s artistry and the world of art, and between Warhol’s legacy and the world of celebrity that encompasses us every day.
“Warhol’s artistic career will always be defined by his indisputable contribution to the avant-garde,” Prof. Leshko said. Calling attention to the artist’s obvious fondness for animals, as evidenced by their representation in his vast repertory of works, he noted that it was not surprising that Warhol responded positively to the Feldmans’ idea and created a series devoted to the fate and survivability of animals. “The ‘Endangered Species’ series represents Warhol’s most sustained exploration of animal themes. In it he strove to acknowledge and celebrate the viability and variety of animal life and to explore the vulnerability, indeed frailty, of its existence.”
Slavic Roots
While most of the world knows Warhol as an icon of the pop art movement – an internationally renowned “trend-setting New York avant-garde artist” who was as famous for photographing and being photographed among the “it” people as he was for his art – co-curator Alexander Motyl, professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark, noted during his remarks at the exhibition opening that Warhol – born Andrew Warhola – “was also, above all, a shy boy of Slavic peasant stock, born and raised in a deeply religious and cloistered Eastern European community in Pittsburgh.”
Volodymyr Gritsyk
Museum visitors view “Andy Warhol: Endangered Species.”
The artist’s Carpatho-Rusyn parents came from the village of Miková, in an area of the Carpathian Mountains corresponding to today’s western Ukraine/eastern Slovakia/southeastern Poland; most Ruthenians eventually opted for a Ukrainian identity – a fact that the Hon. Oleksii Holubov, consul general of Ukraine in New York, underscored several times in his opening remarks.
The tightly knit Warhol family spoke Ruthenian, followed the original Julian calendar, and worshipped at the local Greek-Catholic church, where Andy was baptized. Even after graduating and moving to New York City in 1949, Warhol remained a devout Greek-Catholic who frequently attended Sunday liturgy. His mother, Julia, lived with him in New York for many years until her death.
Personal perspective
One of the most highly anticipated speakers at the opening was Warhol’s nephew, James Warhola, a successful illustrator and author in his own right, who recounted how Andy’s mother instilled in her son a love of art and nurtured his talent during his formative years. As the Warhola family archivist, Mr. Warhola has unique knowledge about his “Uncle Andy’s” private life, as well as a trove of personal items that trace Warhol’s early years in Pittsburgh, his heritage and other influences that spurred him along the path toward becoming one of the most influential American artists and one of the most recognized artists in the world. Ukrainian Museum staff member Hanya Krill-Pyziur, who initiated and organized the exhibition, invited Mr. Warhola to assist the museum in developing a special section of the exhibition dedicated to Warhol’s ethnic roots. He responded enthusiastically, providing valuable information and background material, including several of Warhol’s early drawings, family photos, a number of personal artifacts (among them Andy’s first Brownie camera) and a self-portrait that Andy inscribed to his nephew James. About the exhibition
Yuri Mishchenko
Prof. Alexander Motyl with James Warhola (on the right).
“Andy Warhol: Endangered Species” was made possible by a major gift from the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union, and with the support of numerous individual sponsors.
The exhibition includes the 10 silkscreens from the 1983 “Endangered Species” series – “Bighorn Ram,” “Black Rhinoceros,” “Grevy’s Zebra,” “Orangutan,” “San Francisco Silverspot,” “African Elephant,” “Bald Eagle,” “Siberian Tiger,” “Pine Barrens Tree Frog,” “Giant Panda” – as well as the silkscreen “Sea Turtle” (1985).
“Andy Warhol: Endangered Species” will be on view through February 17, 2019. Visit The Ukrainian Museum’s website, www.ukrainianmuseum.org, for hours, admission, directions, information about group tours and exhibition-related items for sale in the gift shop.
Exhibition events
The Ukrainian Museum has organized a number of events in conjunction with “Andy Warhol: Endangered Species;” the first was an informal gallery talk on October 27 featuring co-curator Prof. Motyl and Mr. Warhola that enlightened even the most ardent Warhol devotees. The evening began with a conversation between the two focusing on “Uncle Andy’s” early years. Following their conversation, Motyl, author of the novel “Who Killed Andrei Warhol,” and Mr. Warhola, author and illustrator of the children’s book “Uncle Andy’s: A Faabbbulous Visit with Andy Warhol,” read brief excerpts from their respective books, and then took questions from the audience.
Two additional events are planned at this time, both in February. Ticket and other information will be available online at www.ukrainianmuseum.org.
On Sunday, February 3, 2019, at 2 p.m., the film “Absolut Warhola” (2001) will be screened.
In this extremely entertaining documentary about Warhol’s extended family in rural Slovakia – a family that he never met – the filmmakers travel through eastern Slovakia to interview Warhol’s surviving relatives, Rusyns (Ruthenians) living near the Polish border in Andy’s ancestral village of Miková, and visit the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in nearby Medzilaborce. Mr. Warhola will discuss the film after the screening.
On Friday, February 15, 2019, at 7 p.m., exhibition co-curators Prof. Leshko and Prof. Motyl will be joined in a roundtable discussion on “Andy Warhol and His Carpatho-Rusyn Roots” by Dr. Harris of the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States, Jackson, Wyo., Paul Robert Magocsi, professor of history and John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto; and Elaine Rusinko, professor of modern languages and linguistics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.