Portrait of Marion Bloch

Andy Warhol is best known for his photo-silkscreened paintings of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, but he also painted portraits on commission. The beauty in this painting is Marion Bloch, for whom, with her husband Henry, this building is named. According to Mr. Bloch, the couple engaged Warhol's services and took a suite in New York's elegant Pierre Hotel. With daughter Mary Jo nearby, Marion was seated on a chair near the fireplace. The artist arrived, not with paints and brushes, but with a Polaroid instant camera. To their surprise, he photographed Marion against a blank wall in the bedroom, and departed. Back in the studio, Warhol selected one image of Marion, expanded its scale and photo-silkscreened the paintings in various colors on four canvases. Two of these works remain in the Warhol Museum collection, the Blochs gifted one painting to the Nelson-Atkins, and the fourth painting hangs in Bloch's home.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Bloch