ASPEN ART MUSEUM
ANDY WARHOL: LIFETIMES
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Gunnar Sachs My father, Gunter Sachs, was great friends with Andy. I never spent a lot of time with him myself or had in-depth conversations—although my dad said Andy didn’t really have in-depth conver- sations with anyone, not even his closest friends. My dad was one of the first people to exhibit Andy’s work in Europe, at his gallery in Hamburg in 1972. It’s a funny story: as the work was still a little bit on the fringe then, it didn’t sell very well, so my father went around putting little red ‘sold’ dots on the works to spare Andy’s blushes. It was an act of kind- ness but ended up being one of his best investments. Growing up, we had Andy’s work around: there were two portraits of Brigitte Bardot, two flower works, a fright wig and a Superman. In St. Moritz, we had a whole suite of Marilyn Monroes, so they were omnipresent. At the time, it was pretty edgy and cool; having beautiful, era-defining art surrounding us was a wonderful treat. Some of the collection has been sold off, but I’m lucky enough to have inher- ited a Brigitte Bardot (1974). If I could put the work anywhere, I’d probably hang her in the bedroom but, living with teen- agers, you have to be careful where you display your art. I think it’s fantastic to have the Warhol exhibition coming to Aspen, given the time Andy spent here. When you have an exhibition that can be enjoyed by people who knew the artist, then it takes on a different light. I’m sure Andy has touched many people’s lives in New York, but there’s nearly nine million people there. In Aspen, there are a few thousand, a lot of them long- term residents, so there’s a real connec- tion between the community and Andy. —Gunnar Sachs is a collector based in Aspen. Ronald K. Greenberg I guess Leo Castelli first introduced me to Andy’s work—or maybe it was Ivan [Karp] who first told me to go to his studio. Although actually, at that point, Andy didn’t have one: he was working
out of his house. We really became friendly after he got shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968. Andy asked me if I would be part of his entourage, when he had a show or had to give a speech, acting as a guard around him. Leo was part of that group, too: he was always Andy’s friend and it was always great to be around Andy with him. Andy liked to show up with either an entourage or a camera—the camera would often have no film in it, but he would still pretend. When I was at the Factory, there were always a lot of hangers-on: he was clearly comfortable with people that he knew. When he was at my gallery, he didn’t like to meet a lot of strange people or unfamiliar faces, but he was always curious. When he came to St. Louis, he wanted to go to the museum here, and I took him to Joseph and Emily Pulitzer’s house to see their art. Andy was very Four collectors with strong links to Aspen share their personal encounters with Warhol, and their experiences of acquiring, living with and stewarding his works. As told to Matthew McLean. ANDY, ASPEN
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