The Andy Warhol Museum has announced that it is to rehang its entire collection, to mark its 20th anniversary. Founded in May 1994, the establishment, which is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, explained that this major undertaking would be ‘the most extensive and comprehensive re-examination’ of the pop art maestro’s work.
This significant revamp will be ready for celebrations next month. Across five of its seven floors, the collection will be chronologically organised, and new installations will see masterpieces, rarely seen work and archival material brought together.
One of the standout shows is The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which has been described by the museum as being a thorough reading of Warhol’s memorable multimedia performances (which were delivered between 1966 and 1967 and featured the likes of The Velvet Underground, Nico and Edie Sedgwick).
Eric Shiner, director of The Warhol, as it is commonly referred to as, said that he and his colleagues are looking forward to unveiling the “new look and feel” of this institution, which is the most wide-ranging single artist museum in the world.
“Our goal is to both engage and educate our guests to that everyone leaves with a true understanding of who Andy was and why he matters so much,” he added. “To keep the content fresh, the curatorial team will rotate artworks in all galleries on a frequent basis. It will be a fun experience and definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been to the museum in a while.”
Nicholas Chambers, the Milton fine curator of art at The Warhol, added that the rehang is the culmination of two years’ work, which has been exemplified by a commitment to showcasing the artist’s work in the best way.
He said that the rehang is “built” upon scholarship and exhibitions that have been commended internationally. This has placed the museum at the forefront of Warhol curation since the mid-nineties.
“It is, of course, impossible to reduce Warhol to a single overarching narrative and the rehang reflects this by emphasising the artist’s multiplicity and the extraordinary diversity of his output,” he continued.
“It brings together painting, film, television, music, immersive installations and numerous other aspects of Warhol’s life and work – revealing the manner in which Warhol fundamentally redefined our understanding who an artist could be.”
The Warhol’s collection is extensive, containing over 8,000 works of art executed in a range of media, and offers an authoritative account of each decade of the artist’s career from the forties right up to the eighties.
Although Warhol is considered to be one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, his sardonic, mass media appropriated art, often characterised by an unashamed infatuation with celebrity, still divides critics.
Cadogan Tate can ship works of art from the US to most destinations around the world.