Andy Warhol

20. June, 2000 – 23. July
When
20. June, 2000 – 23. July

The Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. PA has organised an exhibition of the artist's works for a tour of 12 countries in eastern & southern Europe during 2000 and 2001. This is the first time that artworks by a contemporary U.S. artist will be shown in several of these countries. The exhibition is one of a number of special Millennium programs sponsored by the Department.

Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, which opened on January 8 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has received the support of the President's Committee for the Arts and the Humanities and is designated as an official program of the White House Millennium Council. The 55 artworks are representative of Warhol's work over a 40-year career and include some of his more memorable images - Marilyn Monroe, Campbell Soup Cans, Mao Tse-Tung - and other artworks that uniquely captured the tenor of his times.
According to Thomas Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, "The world has always recognised Andy Warhol as the quintessential American amidst, bar none. The Andy Warhol Museum is extremely proud to add this Eastern European tour on behalf of the United States government to its long list of international touring shows. As Warhol said himself, he was, indeed, the mirror of his time. We are proud to present this great American genius to the people who previously may only have had access to his art through reproduction."
The exhibition will be presented at museums under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in each country. The venues include the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russia; as well as national museums in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bratislava, Slovak Republic; and Riga, Latvia. It will also be shown at art museums and contemporary art centres in Vilnius, Lithuania; Kiev, Ukraine; Budapest, Hungary; Thessaloniki, Greece; Tallin, Estonia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Istanbul, Turkey; and Zagreb, Croatia.
Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh on August 6, 1928, and died in New York on February 22, 1987. Though his paintings, objects, "underground" films, and personal life, he represents pop art more than any other in the public imagination.
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) fosters mutual understanding between the United States and other countries through international educational and training programs. The bureau does so by prompting personal, professional, and institutional ties between private citizens and organisations in the United States and abroad, as well as by presenting U.S. history, society, art and culture in all of its diversity to overseas audiences. The ECA Cultural Staff responds to requests from U.S. Embassies overseas for a variety of projects and selects arts professionals to fulfill various arts projects that will benefit the long-term objectives of U.S. foreign policy.