Andy Warhol is best known for his iconic depictions of consumer goods and celebrities. However, a lesser-known side of the Pop artist’s work is his persistent and deeply personal exploration of male beauty. On June 9th, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is set to open an exhibition titled “Andy Warhol. Velvet Rage and Beauty,” spotlighting Warhol’s nuanced depictions of idealized masculine figures—from his teenage drawings of his classmates, to his portrayals of celebrities like Mick Jagger, to later nude Polaroids and prints. This extensive survey, which will run through October 6th, was curated by the Museum’s director Klaus Biesenbach along with Lisa Botti, and delves into an often-overlooked yet central theme of Warhol’s prolific career.
“The red thread is that he was trying to depict a certain ideal of male beauty,” said Biesenbach in an interview with Artsy, noting that the show covers more than 250 works, in a range of media including drawings, photography, paintings, and films, that he made from the late 1940s to the ’80s. “For many people, it’s a lesser-known Warhol, or a not-at-all-known Warhol.”
The curator noted that several of the series on show, such as Warhol’s “Torso” (1977–) nude silkscreen paintings and “Ladies and Gentlemen” (1975)—silkscreen portraits of elegant drag queens and trans women in New York’s nightlife—are still rarely shown in museums. Even some collectors who will lend their Warhols for the show don’t display these works in the main spaces of their collections, he said.
The exhibition’s title pays homage to psychologist Alan Downs’s book The Velvet Rage (2005), which discusses the problems of growing up gay in a predominantly straight world—a reflection of Warhol’s own challenges. “Velvet Rage and Beauty” is a new opportunity to celebrate an artist who, during his lifetime, never saw the full acceptance of his explorations of male beauty. “There was never a moment in his life when these bodies of works were legal, legitimate, or not immoral,” said Biesenbach.
