The Ladies and Gentlemen complete portfolio by Andy Warhol consists of ten screen printed portraits of Black and Latinx drag queens and trans-women. Italian art dealer Luciano Anselmino commissioned the portfolio, suggesting that Warhol create a series of “impersonal, anonymous” portraits of drag queens and trans-women. A nod to the theatrics of drag shows, Anselmino supplied the title, “Ladies and Gentlemen.” As a result, the project became one of Warhol’s most distinctive works, even as it relied on many of his trademark methods.
Photographing the Drag Performers Behind Warhol’s Portraits
Warhol’s colleague and Interview magazine editor Bob Colacello scouted many of the models from a nearby club called The Gilded Grape. Located on 8th Avenue in Manhattan, the bar became a popular establishment with local Black and Latinx trans-women and drag queens. It was also close to Warhol’s studio, The Factory, where the photo shoots for the series took place.
Instead of using “readymades,” Warhol took hundreds of Polaroids of the fourteen drag queens and trans-women that Colacello recruited. In fact, this series is one of the earliest instances in which Warhol developed his own source images: instant photos from his trusty Polaroid camera. Later, Polaroids became integral to his artistic practice.
Out of the hundreds of photos, Warhol carefully selected which ones he would use for the ten prints that make up the Ladies and Gentlemen complete portfolio. He then enlarged the portraits, screenprinted them, and added his signature color block details.
Portraits in Performance: Who Posed for Warhol’s Drag Icons?
The Ladies and Gentlemen Complete Portfolio depicts eight of the fourteen models. For decades, many identities remained unknown. Eventually, in 2014, the Andy Warhol Foundation revealed the names of thirteen sitters. In the initial photo shoots, Warhol asked that the sitters remain anonymous. In return, he paid them $50 each for their participation in the photo shoots. Furthermore, many of the subjects never saw the finished portraits.
The sitters included Easha McCleary (FS II.128), Alphanso Panell (FS II.129), Wilhelmina Ross (FS II.130, FS II.136), Iris (surname unknown; FS II.131, FS II.135), Monique (surname unknown; FS II.132), Marsha P. Johnson (FS II.133), Vicki Peters (FS II.134), and Broadway (surname unknown; FS II.137). Of these, Marsha P. Johnson is the most well-known, largely due to her activism and advocacy for gay and trans rights. Johnson was a vanguard participant in the Stonewall Uprising, and a co-founder of the radical activist organization S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). There is little known of many of these sitters beyond the signatures on a few Polaroids and the likenesses captured in these portraits.
The Style and Cultural Meaning of Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen Portraits
Although Anselmino commissioned the project, Warhol’s realization of Ladies and Gentlemen went far beyond Anselmino’s suggestions. The title Anselmino proposed, however, stuck. It proved even more fitting as Warhol leaned into the vibrant personalities of his models and explored the way that they navigated and performed gender, which Warhol highlighted with color-block accentuations.
The series is often compared to Warhol’s later Reigning Queens series (1985). Unlike monarchs, many of the sitters lived in relative poverty. Nevertheless, Warhol portrayed them with the same grace and elegance, elevating drag queens and trans women to the status of cultural icons. His portraits obscured the hardships of daily life and instead emphasized style, glamour and individuality.
The series has prompted questions about ethics and representation. Warhol’s models were paid little, and some never had access to the finished works. Even so, there is something striking about the way that Warhol transforms these marginalized subjects into icons of Pop Art. In these images, the sitters appear larger than life, staged apart from the mundane, and captured in vibrant form.
Ladies and Gentlemen Complete Portfolio in Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
The Ladies and Gentlemen complete portfolio connects directly to Warhol’s broader practice. He used the same Polaroid Big Shot camera and silkscreen process on celebrities and other famous figures. Warhol told the models to dress and pose however they wished, allowing their identities and performances to guide the final image.
The idea for the Ladies and Gentlemen series came from a protégé of art dealer Alexander Iolas named Luciano Anselmino. Anselmino had previously commissioned Warhol to do an edition of one hundred prints of Warhol’s Man Ray portrait. When Warhol went to Torino to sign the prints, Anselmino suggested he do a series of drag queens. Warhol took his advice and used models found at The Gilded Grape on West 45th Street, frequented by Black and Hispanic members of the transgender community.
The result was a portfolio that redefined portraiture. While Warhol’s celebrities were icons of media, Ladies and Gentlemen turned overlooked members of queer nightlife into icons of art.
Photo Credit: Ronnie Cutrone (American, 1948-2013), Andy Warhol Photographing a Drag Queen (Marsha P. Johnson), 1975. Photograph. Image courtesy of Skarstedt Gallery
