Ladies and Gentlemen 137 by Andy Warhol is one of the ten screenprints from his Ladies and Gentlemen portfolio. The portrait depicts the drag performer Broadway in a poised three-quarter view, her head lowered while her eyes glance knowingly toward the viewer. One hand rises to her chin in an ambiguous gesture that feels flirtatious, guarded, and theatrical all at once. Warhol intensifies this sense of performance with translucent fields of violet, cobalt blue, emerald green, and brilliant yellow that drift beyond the contours of the photograph. Rather than simply colouring the portrait, these floating planes seem to project Broadway’s charisma into the surrounding space, giving the image an electric psychological presence.
The Origins of the Portfolio
Warhol produced the series in 1975 after Italian art dealer Luciano Anselmino proposed a portfolio devoted to New York’s drag community. Although Anselmino initially imagined portraits of more established performers, Warhol found greater inspiration in the city’s local nightlife. Together with Ronnie Cutrone and Bob Colacello, he recruited models from the Gilded Grape nightclub. This was the place where members of New York’s predominantly Black and Latinx queer community gathered. The sitters received only simple instructions: dress as they wished and pose naturally before Warhol’s Polaroid camera.
The Portrait of Broadway
Ladies and Gentlemen 137 portrays a performer known as Broadway, whose life remains largely undocumented despite ongoing research by the Andy Warhol Foundation. Her sidelong glance and graceful hand gesture project both confidence and mystery. Meanwhile, Warhol allows the color fields to extend beyond the photographic image, so the portrait seems to shimmer between realism and abstraction. Rather than disguising Broadway’s individuality, these interventions amplify her stage presence.
Warhol commented on the lives of transgender women in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again): “I know that the people who think they’re working the hardest are the men who are trying to be women… They do all the double things…” In typical Warhol fashion, it was these small, everyday negotiations of identity that fascinated him as much as the glamour itself. And, of course, so did their extraordinary sense of style and capacity for reinvention.
Ladies and Gentlemen 137 in Andy Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Alongside portraits of Wilhelmina Ross and Marsha P. Johnson, Ladies and Gentlemen 137 offers an authentic glimpse into the queer culture of 1970s Manhattan. Although Broadway never achieved the celebrity status of Warhol’s more familiar subjects, he portrayed her with the same dignity and visual sophistication he afforded figures such as Mick Jagger, Reigning Queens, and Muhammad Ali. Today, the print stands as both a remarkable portrait and an important historical record of a community that remained largely unseen in mainstream art.
Photo Credit: Ronnie Cutrone (American, 1948–2013), Andy Warhol Photographing a Drag Queen (Marsha P. Johnson), 1975. Photograph. Image courtesy of Skarstedt Gallery.
