An incredible lost photographic archive of images of a young Robert Indiana goes on display at the Gallery 46 in London for the first time. Unseen Indiana features forgotten photographs, previously unseen images, one-off works and test prints and is a fascinating insight into the early years of one of the cultural icons of 1960s New York.
Shot by the late William John Kennedy (b.1930 – d.2021) in the early 60s, these previously unpublished photographs, which were lost to the world for nearly 40 years, capture Robert Indiana in the nascent stage of his career, on the cusp of the creation of the reclusive artist’s most famed work, LOVE.
The collaboration began in 1963 when William John Kennedy met Robert Indiana at a New York art opening and Kennedy shortly began taking photographs of him in his Coenties Slip studio. Amongst the photographs are intimate portraits are candid glimpses of Indiana at work, off-guard images of the artist in his greenhouse, but most notable are the early photographs of what would become Indiana’s most famous creation, Love, claimed to be the world’s most reproduced contemporary artwork.
“When I look back on my involvement with the Pop artists, it all came off my initial involvement with Robert Indiana. He was the linchpin” – William John Kennedy
Kennedy recalled Indiana phoned him out of the blue “He said, ‘Bill, come on down I want to show you something. So, I went down to the studio and there he was, holding his LOVE painting.”
Kennedy is perhaps best known for his images of Andy Warhol, taken around the same time he photographed Indiana in bohemian 60s New York. His historic archive includes photographs of Warhol and Indiana together at the seminal ‘Americans 63’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), which featured both artists and touched upon themes of American identity, mass production and pop culture.
“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.” – Marie Kennedy, The Guardian
Il a obtenu d’Andy qu’il porte ses peintures comme des panneaux sandwichs ou qu’il pose derrière l’acétate pour ses sérigraphies de Marilyn Monroe – et Andy a toujours été d’accord avec lui.
William John Kennedy’s archive has been the subject of a coffee table book William John Kennedy: The Lost Archive (ACC, 2022) and an acclaimed documentary Full Circle (2010) which includes moving footage of Kennedy reunited with Robert Indiana and surviving Warhol superstars.
Robert Indiana’s work is the focus of a recently opened exhibition at Pace Gallery, New York and was recently on display at Pace Gallery, Hong Kong. This followed a major Venice Biennale exhibition organized by Yorkshire Sculpture Park, developed with The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, reinforcing this at one of the most significant periods of retrospection of Indiana’s art since his death in 2018.
Robert Indiana’s legacy continues to enthral, and these rare photographs from Kennedy’s treasured archive, available for sale for the first time, offer a fascinating glimpse into the notoriously reclusive pop artist’s early life and career. The exhibition presents a unique opportunity to acquire an historic image of one of Pop art’s true greats.
“The studio is a sacred space for any artist, and William John Kennedy’s intimate in-studio portraits of Robert Indiana from 1963 offer a glimpse of a truly legendary artist at work and repose. Kennedy had a unique skill in quietly capturing the soul in the eye of his lens, and you really feel you get to know Indiana in these portraits, and also gain insight into the genesis of some of his most iconic works, including LOVE, which would come to be reproduced countless times all over the world. Alongside these wonderful images, I also wanted to use the opportunity of a summer show to exhibit Kennedy’s ‘Warhol With Flowers’ series, a little known collection of Kennedy’s portraits of Indiana’s contemporary Andy Warhol shot amongst sunflowers in an urban wasteland. These too transmit the energy of the isolated nature of human creativity in the 60s, and should be unmissable for acolytes of the icon. Both offer a window into a simpler time, when time itself could be ‘wasted’ in thought, and creative endeavour was uninterrupted by the constant buzz and connectivity of social media – a period in modern history when the profound creativity of two giants of contemporary art was evolving entirely unseen, quietly taking shape in the shadows of New York City.” – John-Paul Pryor, Curator Unseen Indiana.
Unseen Indiana – Photographs by William John Kennedy
Featuring The Warhol Sunflower Series
July 18 – August 3, 2025
Gallery 46
46 Ashfield St.
London, E1 2AJ
Tuesday – Sunday 12 – 6pm
Tube: Whitechapel – Elizabeth Line / District Line
Overground – Whitechapel (East London line)
Bus routes: 8, 25, 26, 35, 42, 47, 48, 55, 67, 78, 149, 242, 243, 344, 388
https://gallery46.co.uk/exhibitions/
