Warhol’s ‘10 Jews’ to be part of Union Station exhibition

The retrospective exhibit of works by the iconic pop artist Andy Warhol that opens today at Union Station will bring his “10 Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century” back to Kansas City, Mo.  (See below for details.)

But even if you saw the “10 Portraits” back when Kansas City’s fledgling Jewish Museum Without Walls presented them in a downtown commercial space two decades ago, the versions on display now are probably different. Like many of Warhol’s best-known images, he made several versions of the “10 Portraits.”

According to notes prepared for a 2008 exhibition of them at New York’s The Jewish Museum, the “10 Portraits” were originally published as a portfolio of silkscreen prints on paper, but Warhol was so pleased with their commercial success that he created additional versions as silkscreen paintings on canvas.

The “Jewish geniuses” he depicted are Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir and Gertrude Stein.

Warhol’s Jews are just one facet of the Union Station exhibit, which runs through Jan. 10. Other works on display include some of Warhol’s famous Campbell’s soup cans, his portraits of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and floral images. There are also some portraits of Warhol on which he collaborated with the late “graffiti” artist Keith Haring.

The show covers almost every phase of Warhol’s highly productive career, said Christopher Leitch, who is a visual artist himself and who also works as historic house director of the Kansas City Museum, which has collaborated with Union Station to host the exhibit.

Leitch said it’s worth going to the exhibition, despite the fact that Warhol’s imagery can be seen all over, including via the Internet.

“The computer is a great thing, but it reduces everything to the same quality,” Leitch said. “Andy’s work in person is more painterly. There is more of an object quality than you might imagine it to be.”

With Warhol’s prints, Leitch said, “You can observe the layering of inks and the addition of soil or dust to the inks while they were drying. They have really interesting, subtle surface, and each one is unique.”

In any case, the exhibition is historic from a local perspective, Leitch said.

“There have never been this many Warhols in one place in Kansas City before, and it might never happen again,” he said.

Andy in Kansas City

“Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life and Legends” will be on display at Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, from Oct. 2 through Jan. 10.

The exhibition features more than 70 pieces spanning Warhol’s career from the 1950s through 1986. Key groups include Endangered Species, Wildflowers, 10 Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century, Myths, Muhammad Ali and Campbell’s Soup.

The collection is on loan from the Bank of America Collection.

Exhibit hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (except open Friday nights until 9: p.m.), noon to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, closed Mondays

Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for children 3-12, children 2 and under are free. To buy tickets or for more information, visit www.Warhol.UnionStation.org. Tickets may also be purchased Union Station’s ticketing center.

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