Over 100,000 unseen Andy Warhol photographs to be made public

Andy Warhol once said, ‘My idea of a good picture is one of a famous person doing something unfamous.’ It’s a sentiment that couldn’t be more apparent in a trove of over 130,000 photographic exposures made by the artist from 1976 until his death in 1987.
Acquired by Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center from The Andy Warhol Foundation in 2014, the collection of 3,600 contact sheets and corresponding negatives is set to go on show at Cantor at the end of September. Despite shooting a roll of film or more a day, Warhol only printed under a fifth of the photographs he took. The exhibition will be the first time many of these images of Warhol’s famous social circle will be seen by the public.
The pictures satiate our voyeuristic appetite for celebrities and artists with their guard down, with snapshots of young artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and stars like Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, and Dolly Parton. Look carefully and you’ll also find candid photographs of Debbie Harry, Nancy Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Truman Capote.
Contact Sheet [Photo shoot with Andy Warhol with shadow], 1986, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
‘Whether commenting on sex, money, physical appearance, or social standing, the artist sized up his friends and acquaintances, as well as himself, with merciless precision,’ says Richard Meyer, who has curated the show with fellow Stanford professor Peggy Phelan. ‘This exhibition allows viewers to experience Warhol’s photography in a depth and detail never before possible.’
‘Contact Warhol: Photography Without End’ will also trace the artist’s fascination with the gay culture of the 1970s and 80s. Photographs of drag queens and Fire Island parties will feature alongside the artist's rarely-seen, sexually explicit images. Photographs of the artist’s boyfriend, Jon Gould – an executive at Paramount Studios who died as a result of AIDS in 1986 – will also be exhibited.
Opening in tandem with the exhibition is a digitisation project helmed by Cantor project archivist Amy DiPasquale, which will make the centre’s collection of Warhol’s photographic work available to the public. The archive of contact sheets and negatives will searchable through an online database on the Stanford University Libraries system, and on the Cantor website by the end of the year.
Unidentified Photographers, c 1981, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Detail from Contact Sheet [Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Halston, Diane de Beauvau, Bethann Hardison in the back of a limousine], 1976, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Detail from Contact Sheet [Andy Warhol photo shoot with Liza Minnelli and Victor Hugo, John Lennon], 1978, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982, by Andy Warhol, Polaroid Polacolor ER. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Jean-Michel Basquiat, c 1982, by Andy Warhol, acrylic, silkscreen ink, and urine on canvas. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Liza Minnelli, 1977, by Andy Warhol. Polaroid Polacolor Type 108. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Liza Minnelli, 1979, by Andy Warhol, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution Dia Center for the Arts. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Contact Sheet [New Year’s Eve party at River Café with woman in Marie Antoinette mask, Benjamin Liu and Larissa, Michael Musto, Tama Janowitz, Paige Powell, Ron Galella], 1987, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Detail from Contact Sheet [New Year’s Eve party at River Café with woman in Marie Antoinette mask, Benjamin Liu and Larissa, Michael Musto, Tama Janowitz, Paige Powell, Ron Galella], 1987, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts the Visual Arts
Detail from Contact Sheet [Stuart Pivar with skulls and skeletons at anatomical model showroom (?)], 1986, by Andy Warhol, gelatin silver print. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Art
INFORMATION
‘Contact Warhol: Photography Without End’ is on view 28 September – 6 January. For more information, visit the Cantor Arts Center website
ADDRESS
Stanford University
Cantor Arts Center
328 Lomita Drive
Stanford CA 94305
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Beloved sushi restaurant Sōgo Roll Bar comes to Highland Park
The sushi hangout begins a new chapter in its second location, becoming the perfect spot for a quick grab-and-go or a relaxed tasting experience in east LA
-
Japanese designer Shinichiro Ogata's latest venture is a modern riff on the traditions of his home country
As he launches Saboe, a series of new tearooms and shops across Japan, we delve into Shinichiro Ogata's creative vision, mirrored throughout the spaces and objects, rituals and moments of his projects
-
These are Dover Street Market’s jewellery designers to watch, exhibiting at the London store all summer
In a special exhibition, Dover Street Market London is highlighting 36 emerging jewellery designers to know – shop our pick of their pieces
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene
'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of society
A new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscape
Artist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Photographer Geordie Wood takes a leap of faith with first film, Divers
Geordie Wood delved into the world of professional diving in Fort Lauderdale for his first film
-
New book celebrates 100 years of New York City landmarks where LGBTQ+ history took place
Marc Zinaman’s ‘Queer Happened Here: 100 Years of NYC’s Landmark LGBTQ+ Places’ is a vital tribute to queer culture
-
A major Takashi Murakami exhibition sees the world in kaleidoscopic colour
The Cleveland Art Museum presents 'Takashi Murakami 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow', exploring outrage and escapist fantasy
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park
‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Leonard Baby's paintings reflect on his fundamentalist upbringing, a decade after he left the church
The American artist considers depression and the suppressed queerness of his childhood in a series of intensely personal paintings, on show at Half Gallery, New York