Deeda Blair

Accession Number
2008/2.34

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 photograph is a close up view of Deeda Blair’s arm. 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. This photo was created during a shoot with Blair in which she wore a dress with floral prints. Her arm and dress are slightly out of focus due to the camera being so close to her body.

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
An out-of-focus photograph of a woman’s arm and the pattern of her floral dress.  

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
Pop (fine arts styles)
dye diffusion transfer prints
fashion (concept)
flash photography
floral patterns
instant cameras
philanthropists
single-sitter portraits
women (female humans)

& Author Notes

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