Warhol Women | Elizabeth Taylor

Andy Warhol first painted Elizabeth Taylor’s portrait in 1962, when the actress was severely ill with pneumonia and some believed she would not survive. [1] Taylor was then at the height of her career, and Warhol made a number of works featuring her at this time, which are regarded as two distinct groups: Men in Her Life, and Liz as Cleopatra. [2] All of the photographs Warhol used as the basis for these works came from the April 13, 1962, issue of Life magazine, which featured a story chronicling Taylor’s glamorous career, and the heady details of her personal life—including her relationship with Richard Burton, which caused a public scandal when the two began an affair on the film set of Cleopatra. [3]

In addition to the portrait of Taylor as Cleopatra that was used to make Double Liz Cleopatra, (1962), Warhol also selected an image of Taylor as a young girl from her early film National Velvet, and a shot of the actress at the Epsom Races with her then-husband Mike Todd, and their friends, the couple Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds. [4] After Todd died tragically in a plane crash in 1958, Taylor began an affair with Fisher, [5] and the two married in 1959. Warhol used the photo of Taylor, Todd, Fisher, and Reynolds as the basis for the Men in Her Life works. It has been suggested that Warhol might have chosen these three images to work from because he envisioned creating “…a sort of retrospective portrait of the movie star, similar to the Rauschenberg portrait in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.” [6]

As with the other female icons painted by the artist during the early 1960s—particularly Marilyn Monroe, and Jackie Kennedy—the interplay of glamor and tragedy that electrified Taylor’s life made her the perfect subject for Warhol. [7]

In honor of our exhibition Warhol Women, we’re sharing some of the stories behind the artist’s iconic portraits. Visit the Happenings page each week to read more!

Notes:

[1] Tate, “Andy Warhol, ‘Liz’, (1965),” online caption. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-liz-ar00320.
[2] Georg Frei, Neil Printz, and Sally King-Nero, eds. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Warhol 01 Paintings and Sculptures 1961-1963 (New York; London: Phaidon, 2002), 268.
[3] Lynn Yaeger, “Before Brangelina and Jen, Debbie Reynolds was in the World’s Most Famous Love Triangle,” Vogue, December 29, 2016. https://www.vogue.com/article/debbie-reynolds-famous-love-triangle.
[4] Frei, Printz, and King-Nero, eds. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Warhol 01, 268.
[5] Lynn Yaeger, “Before Brangelina and Jen, Debbie Reynolds was in the World’s Most Famous Love Triangle,” Vogue, December 29, 2016. https://www.vogue.com/article/debbie-reynolds-famous-love-triangle.
[6] Frei, Printz, and King-Nero, eds. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Warhol 01, 268.
[7] Sotheby’s, lot essay, “Andy Warhol, Liz #3 [Early Colored Liz],” Contemporary Art Evening Auction, New York, November 11, 2014. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/contemporary-art-evening-sale-n09221/lot.27.html.