For the second time in two decades The Hayward is home to an Andy Warhol exhibition.
The first was Andy Warhol: A Retrospective held in 1987 just two years after his death. This new show comes direct from Stockholm where Warhol held his first European exhibition forty years ago.
Visitors who remember the 1989 exhibition will not be disappointed. The very first room has the same pictures of Campbell's soup tins from Cream of Mushroom to Black Bean. There are also two Brillo boxes. Marilyn Monroe's print looks across at Queen Beatrix.
The Dutch Queen's portrait was one of Warhol's Reigning Queens series which includes Elizabeth II. Was this inspired by the Annigoni portrait postcard which he kept and is now displayed here? It is among a jumble of fascinating cards and envelopes with interesting stamps sent to his Factory at New York's Union Square and the Lexington Avenue home.
Warhol's cow, Mao and fish wallpaper brighten walls and Hayward stairwells. Indeed, the design of this exhibition is more exciting than the slightly minimalist one in the Eighties. This time there are crowded cabinets and at least nineteen films being shown simultaneously in a very dark hall. (Early visitors bumped into the strangely shaped sofas.)
Another lighter room is showing simultaneously all 42 episodes from Warhol's television series created during his last years. For those who want even more there is a wall of listening booths playing interviews.
Souvenirs in the shop include a Campbell's Beef Noodle soup can dress (£132.50), a tomato soup tin T-shirt (£67.50) and soup tin print (£30). The 2009 Warhol Pop Art Diary has some charming seasonal pictures including Raphael I, Madonna and Child, shown at the South Bank in 1989.
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