Accession Number
2008/2.36

Title
Unidentified Woman #30

Artist(s)
Andy Warhol

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1986

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 is a portrait of an unknown sitter. The subject depicted is a middle-aged woman with a dark green dress or shirt, a necklace, and dramatic makeup. Absent from these images is the signature white makeup to make the woman's features appear flat and blur imperfections.

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, her body turned toward the right side of the frame, her head turning to the camera. She wears red lipstick, a necklace and a dark green shirt.

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
cosmetics
fashion (concept)
flash photography
lipsticks
necklaces
pose
single-sitter portraits
women (female humans)