Accession Number
2008/2.30

Title
Deeda Blair

Artist(s)
Andy Warhol

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1976-1977

Medium & Support
Polaroid

Dimensions
4 1/4 in x 3 3/8 in (10.8 cm x 8.6 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Subject matter
This image is a portrait of Deeda Blair. A fashion icon, Blair has been greatly involved in philanthropic causes, working with biomedical scientists and venture capitalists to fund research cancer and AIDS. She is the widow of William McCormick Blair Jr., the former United States Ambassador to Denmark and the Philippines. She is seen here wearing a dress with floral prints, her dark hair swept back. She stands facing away from the camera, though her head is turned and she is looking into the camera’s lens.  

The Warhol Foundation, celebrating Andy Warhol’s lifelong engagement and experimentation with photography, donated this collection of Polaroid photographs. The majority of Warhol’s Polaroid images were taken using Polaroid Big Shot or SX-70 Polaroid cameras from 1970-1987, although his work in this medium began as early as 1958. Throughout his career, he photographed artists, celebrities, sports heroes, and friends using his Polaroid cameras. Over half his sitters were not well-known or remain unidentified. Warhol often photographed his subjects multiple times from a variety of angles. The resulting portraits often repeat poses and frequently portray subjects wearing similar thickly applied white makeup, eyeliner, and red lipstick, which were visual techniques used to flatten the subjects' features, as Warhol often used the Polaroid photographs as the basis for portraits made in the mediums of silkscreen and paint.

Physical Description
A bust-length portrait of a woman. She is wearing a dark floral dress and red lipstick, and has straight dark hair. She stands facing away from the camera, her head turned towards the camera lens.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
artificial lighting
dye diffusion transfer prints
fashion (concept)
hairstyles
instant cameras
philanthropists
single-sitter portraits
women (female humans)