Warhol Women | Ethel Scull

Born in the Bronx in 1921, Ethel Scull began her engagement with the New York art world as a student in the advertising art program at Parsons School of Design (she would later characterize her alma mater as “more of a finishing school then,” [1]). During the same period of time, she met Robert Scull—the man she would marry, and the partner alongside whom she would become a fixture in the Society pages of the New York media, and a significant patron of the arts.

Upon his retirement, Ethel’s father had given shares in his successful taxi company to each of his three sons-in-law, and Robert quickly built his cut into a thriving business. As their wealth grew, the couple began to collect art—Abstract Expressionism at first, then later they shifted focus to an emergent group of artists who came to be recognized as the vanguard of Pop. Andy Warhol was one of these artists. [2]

It was in 1963 that Warhol began to incorporate photo booth pictures into his practice. Harper’s Bazaar had commissioned the artist to photograph a list of subjects who were to be included in a story on new personalities in the arts: in response, Warhol supplied them with a collection of photo booth portraits. Around the same time, Robert commissioned Warhol to make a portrait of his wife, so the artist arranged for Ethel to accompany him so she could have her photo taken. The following year, Ethel recalled that appointment in an interview with Ladies Home Journal:

“’I expected to see Avedon or somebody like that,’ she says. ‘Instead, we went to one of those places on Forty-second Street where you put a quarter in a machine and take three pictures. We kept two booths going for an hour.’” [3]

Two booths running for an hour gave them 300 pictures. Of these, Warhol selected 35 to complete the full Scull commission, Ethel Scull 35 Times (which became Ethel Scull 36 Times after another portrait was added and the layout changed). At the same time, Warhol made a series of other works from the photo booth portraits of Ethel Scull, including the portrait seen here.

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] Grace Glueck, “Ethel Scull, A Patron of Pop and Minimal Art, Dies at 79,” The New York Times, September 1, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/01/arts/ethel-scull-a-patron-of-pop-and-minimal-art-dies-at-79.html.
[2] Grace Glueck, “Ethel Scull, A Patron of Pop and Minimal Art, Dies at 79,” The New York Times, September 1, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/01/arts/ethel-scull-a-patron-of-pop-and-minimal-art-dies-at-79.html.
[3] 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), 410.