Wright Auction

The present lot is one of several Polaroid tests taken by Gene Swenson, a notable curator and critic (and later, art world pariah), for an announcement accompanying Andy Warhol's exhibition The Personality of the Artist at Stable Gallery, April 21 - May 9, 1964. Swenson did an early and now infamous interview with Warhol in November 1963 for ARTnews for the series "What is Pop Art?" in which they talked about homosexuality, S&M, drugs and the direction of contemporary art. Warhol also first mentioned in this interview what would become a defining sentiment of his work: "I think everybody should be a machine." A newly revised version of the interview, which courted contention for possibly being manipulated by ARTnews' editor Tom Hess, can be read here. Gerard Malanga, the original owner of the present lot, was also part of the interview.