In the early 1960s, Holly Solomon sat for a portrait by Andy Warhol marking a seminal collaboration between the collector-turned-gallerist and the Pop Art star. Warhol’s process for creating his large-scale canvases at the time was to start with a photobooth portrait. Warhol and Solomon met at an arcade on 47th Street and Broadway to lay the groundwork for their project. Solomon noted that Warhol was very particular about which booth they used: ‘He did pick precisely the photobooth, and he explained to me that he wanted dark and light to be quite clear.’ Once the ideal booth had been selected, Warhol left Solomon alone to perform for the camera as she saw fit. Solomon had studied with legendary acting teacher Lee Strasberg and she used this training to summon a vast array of expressions, poses, and characters for the mechanically operated camera which took four exposures per strip. The final product, an entire inventory of roles that Solomon inhabited with vigor and creativity, was handed over to Warhol to select the image he would use for the final canvas.
Warhol ultimately produced nine brilliant canvases. In each frame Solomon offers up a different avatar of herself, conveying her movie-star charisma and sharp wit. She said, ‘I wanted to be Brigitte Bardot. I wanted to be Jeanne Moreau, Marilyn Monroe all packed into one,’ and observed that Warhol’s ‘greatest gift was giving people what they thought they wanted.’
Holly Solomon was a seminal figure in the advancement of Post-War art, and her name is inextricably linked to the major artists of her day. Her Greene Street space, designed by Gordon Matta-Clark, was daringly experimental and captured the freewheeling creativity of the day with exhibitions, film showings, performances, and poetry readings. In 1975, the Holly Solomon Gallery opened at 392 West Broadway where Solomon retained her adventurous spirit and willingness to promote and support artists such as Matta-Clark, Sigmar Polke, Mary Heilmann, Nam June Paik, Laurie Anderson, William Wegman, and members of the Pattern and Decoration movement including Robert Kushner. As a collector and a dealer, Solomon demonstrated her unfailing ability to recognize creative talent long before others in the field.
