Stephen Shore (b.1947)

Stephen Shore (b.1947)

THE VELVET YEARS: ANDY WARHOL'S FACTORY, 1965-67. A fascinating collection of work prints used in the production of the 1995 book The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-67, taken by Stephen Shore across the span of two years spent photographing Warhol's Factory. Comprising: 91 silver gelatin work prints, image sizes approx. 15 x 23cm, sheet sizes 20.2 x 24.5 cm, most annotated with printing and exposure directions in pencil and ink verso, some captioned with subject names. The annotations to the print versos are in two different hands; 39 of these prints present notes primarily using capital letters, likely Shore's own hand; 37 prints present a different hand using lower case lettering, likely a studio assistant. Additionally, there are three larger-format silver gelatin prints [depicting Andy Warhol, and Nico] image sizes between 15.3 x 22.7cm (smallest) and 30.2 x 20.5 cm (largest), each sheet size 35 x 27.8.cm.

This large group presents a wonderful array of portraits and candid scenes from Warhol's famous Factory during the time of his collaboration with American rock band The Velvet Underground, and offers a rare opportunity to see lesser-known photographs from this period. The band formed in 1964 in New York City, and the following year began their iconic artistic collaboration with Warhol. The artist became the band's manager, and The Velvet Underground served as the Factory's "house band", as well as the band behind Warhol's 1966-67 travelling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. In the present group, there is a focus on interactions with members of the band and Nico, but it also includes candid shots from the interior of the Factory and its many famous guests, from Warhol "Superstar" Edie Sedgwick to two 1966 portrait studies of Marcel Duchamp during one of his famous Warhol screen tests. The group is comprised of 23 prints depicting Andy Warhol; 7 of Lou Reed; 7 of John Cale; 1 of Paul Morrissey; 6 of Nico; 9 of Edie Sedgwick; 2 of Marcel Duchamp; 1 of Billy Name; 4 of Paul America; 1 of Yoko Ono; and 33 mixed/unidentified groups and subjects.

Shore arrived at the Factory in 1965 -- an 18year-old photographer interested in photographing Warhol's filming process, and the many subjects he attracted. "I'd photograph different people as they came through. Then I stopped going every day and returned only when something new was happening -- when Paul Morrissey came, when some new person arrived to be in the films, when the Velvets came....I think I learned by observing, not observing [Warhol] in order to learn, just by being exposed to the decisions and the actions he was making. More basic was simply a transition to thinking aesthetically. By the end of my stay at the Factory, I found that just my contact with, and observation of, Andy led me to think differently about my function as an artist. I became more aware of what I was doing." [The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-67. London: Pavilion, 1995, pp.21-23].

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner during the production of The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-67 [Published, London: Pavilion, 1995].

Note: A document of all of the images included in this lot is available upon request.