This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Warhol: Liz, at Gagosian, West 21st Street, New York, which presented the portraits Andy Warhol made of Elizabeth Taylor between 1962 and 1963. A child star, Taylor became one of the world’s most famous actresses through her on-screen roles and a highly public life charged with drama, tragedy, and romance. Warhol made more than fifty portraits of Taylor, in all her incarnations—from the ethereally beautiful child actress in National Velvetto the commanding, voluptuous screen goddess of Cleopatra. The paintings isolate her features on monochrome fields, using abstraction and repetition to create contemporary icons of celebrity.

The catalogue includes more than twenty-five works in full color, along with details, pictorial sources, historic installation photographs, and quotations by the artist. It includes the essays “When Andy Met Liz” by writer and longtime Interview editor Bob Colacello, which recounts the 1973 meeting between Warhol and Taylor, and “Blue-Collar Liz” by John Waters, which discusses Taylor’s cultural power and the significance of Warhol’s portraits. The book also reproduces the cover of a 1962 issue of Lifeand a ten-page article, “Poor, Dear Little Cleopatra,” from the magazine.