Marilyn and More: Marking Time with Andy Warhol

In 1967, on the fifth anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death at the age of thirty-six, Andy Warhol created a series of ten Marilyn screen prints. His decision to produce these “anniversary” prints fits a pattern in his practices as an artist, and in ours as a culture. The varied ways Warhol explored such moments is the subject of Reva Wolf’s talk. It is well known that Warhol was obsessed with time, as seen in his use of repetition, his work in the time-based media of film and tape recording, and his creation of Time Capsules. Less familiar is his multifaceted exploration of the related topic of commemoration, whether of holidays, things, events, birthdays, or, as in the case of the Marilyn prints, death. The focus of this talk derives from the exhibition Marking Time, which was part of Warhol x 5, a series of exhibitions organized by five university art museums in the region; drawing upon each other’s collections, each museum has focused on a different theme. Subject and Seriality, currently on view at the Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, is the final exhibition in Warhol x 5.  Reva Wolf is Professor of Art History at the State University of New York at New Paltz