By Rebekah Mikale, May 1, 2014
From Jackie Kennedy’s innocent smile before hearing the gunshots that assassinated her husband, to her heavyhearted expression at his funeral, artist Andy Warhol found himself moved with emotion.
His famed portraits of the former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy are now on exhibit together for the first time at the Blain|Di Donna gallery in NYC.
Notably using his silkscreen technique, more than fifty paintings are brought together to mark Warhol's important body of work that was created fifty years ago.
One of the most moving portraits on display is a collection of nine white, black and blue images juxtaposing Jackie’s facial expressions before and after the death of her husband.
The exhibition traces the transformation of the beautiful and glamorous first lady into a grieving widow, beginning with proud portraits of Jackie arriving at Dallas Love Field and ending with tragic images at Kennedy’s funeral.
Warhol’s cloned images serve as a metaphor representing today’s 24-hour news cycle -- one that repeats an infinite loop of dark, identical stories.
On view now through May 17 at the Blain|Di Donna gallery at 981 Madison Avenue in NYC.