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Marie Kennedy, wife of William John Kennedy
The story of these photographs begins when my husband, William John Kennedy, attended the opening of Robert Indiana’s first solo show in New York in 1962. Bill had just set up his photography studio in the city and was going to lots of exhibitions, meeting artists. He was a fantastic person, very likable; he got along with all different kinds of folk – and he was very attractive too. When he and Robert met, they hit it off right away. Robert thought Bill was the handsomest guy in town.
Robert invited Bill for a shoot at his own studio in downtown Manhattan. He was a very cooperative subject. It was during their sessions that Bill began experimenting with the approach of photographing artists with their work.
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Andy Warhol and fellow pop artist Robert Indiana talk in front of a canvas by Ad Reinhardt at the opening of the exhibition Americans 1963 at MoMA
Eventually Robert introduced us to Andy Warhol, who asked Bill to the Factory. Andy, of course, was this strange bird. When I was in his company, he was very shy, you had to draw him out. But he was much more relaxed with Bill. Bill came up with all these ideas for pictures – getting Andy to wear paintings like sandwich boards, or pose behind the acetate for his Marilyn Monroe screen prints – and Andy always went along with him.
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Warhol wearing a sandwich board featuring his prints of the race riots in Birmingham, Alabama, from the series Death and Disaster, which was his focus throughout 1963. All photographs William John Kennedy, courtesy of Kiwi Arts Group
One day Bill had the idea of shooting Andy with his Flower paintings in this beautiful field of black-eyed Susans in a vacant lot in Queens. We drove our little Volkswagen Beetle to the Factory and picked up Andy and his collaborator Taylor Mead. Andy threw the rolled-up Flower canvases in the back seat, then we drove out and started shooting. It was such a fun day. I’m just so sorry I didn’t ask for one of the paintings, because they now sell for $1m.
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‘I used to drive in from Long Island through...