Ladies and Gentlemen 135 by Andy Warhol is one of the ten screenprints from his Ladies and Gentlemen portfolio. The portrait depicts a drag queen known as Iris, who poses with one arm raised above her head. The composition elegantly frames her face and drawing attention to her poised expression. Warhol renders her face in warm brown tones. He then overlays brilliant yellow across her eyelids and vivid crimson over her lips and fingernails. Her floral blouse catches flashes of blue and yellow, while the rest of her body dissolves into deep black against a white ground. Confetti-like fragments of orange, blue, yellow, red, and green scatter across the composition. This lends the portrait an especially celebratory energy that contrasts with Iris’ calm, self-assured gaze.
The Origins of the Portfolio
Warhol created the series in 1975 after receiving a commission from Italian art dealer Luciano Anselmino. To find his models, Warhol relied on Bob Colacello and Ronnie Cutrone, who recruited Black and Latinx drag queens and transgender women from the Gilded Grape nightclub near the Factory. The resulting portraits became one of Warhol’s most socially significant bodies of work, shifting his attention from celebrities toward an overlooked community.
Moreover, the project marked a turning point in Warhol’s working process. Rather than relying on found photographs, he produced hundreds of Polaroids himself using his Big Shot camera. Those photographs became the foundation for the screenprints and later paintings. Although only a fraction entered the published portfolio, they remain an invaluable record of the series’ development.
Ladies and Gentlemen and the Portrait of Iris
Ladies and Gentlemen 135 portrays the model Iris, whose surname remains unknown. Warhol photographed her extensively during the sessions, taking thirty-six Polaroids and eventually developing three compositions into twenty-six paintings. Unlike her appearance in Ladies and Gentlemen 131, Iris wears no wig here. Instead, her short natural hair becomes part of the composition, allowing Warhol to concentrate his bursts of color on her makeup, fingernails, and floral blouse.
At the same time, the restrained monochrome figure balances the energetic confetti-like accents that surround her. Warhol uses these floating shapes almost like fragments of stage lights, reinforcing the themes of performance and self-fashioning that define the series. Similar explorations of glamour appear in portraits such as Mick Jagger 141, Marcia Weisman 122, and the Reigning Queens portfolio.
Ladies and Gentlemen 135 in Andy Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Today, Ladies and Gentlemen 135 stands among the most compelling portraits in the portfolio because it combines quiet dignity with striking visual invention. Warhol grants Iris the same elegance and psychological presence that characterize his portraits of internationally famous figures. In doing so, he broadened the scope of portraiture and created one of the most thoughtful and culturally important series of his career.
Photo Credit: Ronnie Cutrone (American, 1948–2013), Andy Warhol Photographing a Drag Queen (Marsha P. Johnson), 1975. Photograph. Image courtesy of Skarstedt Gallery.
