Broad Buys a Warhol Liz Taylor; Announces Anniversary Shows

Andy Warhol, Liz [Early Colored Liz], 1963

The Broad is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its Grand Avenue museum with exhibitions and acquisitions. Among the latter is a 1963 Andy Warhol portrait of Elizabeth Taylor, Liz [Early Colored Liz]. It was auctioned at Christie's last year, as part of the Robert B. and Beatrice Mayer collection, for $19.3 million.

Liz is one of a group of 13 silkscreen paintings derived from a publicity photo and executed in different colors. Others are at San Francisco MOMA and the Chicago Art Institute.

Richard Prince, Untitled (The Velvets), 2007

Purchased in the same Christie's sale, though from the S.I. Newhouse collection, is Richard Prince's Untitled (The Velvets). A sort of homage to Warhol, it depicts four members of The Velvet Underground, based on a publicity photo from an L.A. appearance. The Velvets sold for $1.12 million.

The Broad has also announced a series of single-artist surveys drawn from the collection. Already up is Christopher Wool; to come are installations devoted to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Roy Lichtenstein, Taskashi Murakami, and Warhol. Though all have been well-represented in previous Broad installations, the rotations promise many works never shown at the Broad before. The Wool display has 16 works, of which 13 are on view for the first time.

"Desire, Knowledge, and Hope (with Smog)" (Apr. 4–Aug. 16, 2020) will add L.A. artists John Baldessari, Mike Kelley, Barbara Kruger, and Ed Ruscha. Kelley's 2005 installation Gym Interior will make its Broad debut.

A so-far untitled exhibition of new acquisitions is planned for Sep. 26, 2020–Feb. 14, 2021.