Description

Several turbulent events in her personal life made actress Elizabeth Taylor a magnet for the tabloids and a favored subject for Andy Warhol. Like the painting Marilyn x 100 (on view in the adjoining gallery), the artist used a publicity photograph as his source. In this case, it was an image for Taylor’s 1960 film BUtterfield 8. Underlying Warhol’s signature style is an enlarged halftone dot. The dot ties the image to a photograph that has been mass-produced and adds another layer of distance from the individual whose likeness is being endlessly repeated and objectified.