By: Peter Howell Movie Critic
Andy Warhol's ultimate movie star had the hairline of Greta Garbo, the eyes of Joan Crawford, the nose and cheeks of Marlene Dietrich and the lips of Sophia Loren.
How do we know this? He showed us, in a composite celebrity visage he worked and reworked through sketches, photo montages, prints and paintings he made about 1962. That's the same year this shy movie fan from Pittsburgh, born Andrew Warhola, rose to international fame as an artist.
His celebrity composite series is viewable at TIFF Bell Lightbox, along with nearly 1,000 other artifacts, art pieces, films and videos, as part of the Andy Warhol: Stars of the Silver Screen exhibition running Oct. 30 - Jan. 24.
The show provides a revealing glimpse into the Hollywood obsessions of the man whose Pop Art of the 1960s and beyond "kick-started our current age of global consumerism, of celebrity and of social media," says Geralyn Huxley, the film and video curator of Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum, who helped curate the exhibit and who attended a Wednesday press preview.
"Andy Warhol loved the stars throughout his life … an important part of his Pop style had its genesis in images of the stars."
More details on the Warhol exhibit, and the accompanying TIFF film series Liz & Marilyn: Black and White in Colour and Nothing Special: Andy Warhol's Star System, are available at tiff.net.