Jed Johnson with Dachshund is a painting by American artist Andy Warhol. Created , the work depicts Warhol's longtime partner, filmmaker and interior designer Jed Johnson holding their dachshund Archie. The intimate portrait of Warhol's domestic life is based on a Polaroid photograph of Johnson and Archie. Warhol produced several versions of the composition, along with related portraits of Johnson alone from the same photoshoot, titled Jed Johnson.
Background Pop artist Andy Warhol met Jed Johnson shortly after Johnson, a 19-year-old college student from Sacramento, California, arrived in New York City in February with his twin brother, Jay Johnson. Within days of their arrival, the brothers were mugged and lost their wallets. When they went to Western Union to wire home for money, a clerk offered them work as telegraph messengers. Johnson subsequently delivered a telegram to Warhol's studio, the Factory, where he met Warhol's associate Paul Morrissey. Morrissey, who was looking for help stripping and repainting the studio's wooden surfaces, hired Johnson to assist with the work.
Warhol took an interest in Johnson and his brother, commenting: "They're like the prince and the pauper: The more masculine one, Jed, has long hair. The prettier one has a crew cut and is more feminine. They're so pretty. They're from Sacramento."
Following Valerie Solanas' shooting of Warhol at the Factory in June 1968, Johnson visited him frequently during his hospitalization. He also began visiting Warhol's townhouse at 1342 Lexington Avenue, initially bringing his mail and later helping with groceries, meals, household chores, and taking his mother Julia Warhola to her weekly doctor appointment. Johnson became involved in the editing of Warhol's films beginning with Lonesome Cowboys (1968), a role that suited his reserved personality because he was "painfully shy."
Johnson's twin brother Jay later recalled that Warhol was Johnson's first boyfriend, and that his growing affection for Warhol, and the fact that it was reciprocated, marked an important moment of self-discovery for Johnson. By early autumn, Johnson had moved into Warhol's townhouse, and he came to "fill the traditional role of a devoted young spouse."
Johnson accompanied Warhol on trips, social engagements, and art exhibition openings, becoming a familiar presence at his side. The press variously described him as "Andy's shadow" and "Warhol's new standard of male beauty." The couple acquired a male dachshund puppy in November 1972 and named him Archie, after the television character Archie Bunker from All in the Family.
Johnson and Warhol doted on Archie, who quickly became a prominent part of Warhol's public life and a social presence in his own right. Warhol frequently took the dog to the Factory, restaurants, parties, and on trips to Europe. Archie appeared in photographs and drawings by Warhol. Several Polaroids by Warhol, depicting Johnson with Archie in 1973, are part of the artist's extensive body of photographs of people in his circle. Technique and production Warhol's portraits of Johnson and Archie are based on a Polaroid photograph, consistent with his practice of using photographic images as the basis for his silkscreen paintings. After returning painting in 1972 following several years focused primarily on filmmaking. With an exception of his Mao series, Warhol began to primarily used his own Polaroid photographs as preparatory material for portraits as he developed a growing portrait practice.
The paintings are executed in synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas. Rather than producing a single unique image, Warhol made multiple versions of the composition, with variations in color and the application of silkscreen ink distinguishing the individual paintings.
Former Interview editor Bob Colacello described watching Warhol paint a portrait in his diary entry of December 31, 1973. He recalled that Warhol first traced the outline of a face from an enlarged photographic negative onto tissue paper. The tissue was then placed over carbon paper on the raw canvas, and the outline was retraced to transfer it to the canvas. Warhol applied paint with a large brush resembling a house-painting brush, rarely cleaning it as he moved between areas and colors. He also used his hands, particularly his fingers, to create texture, gesture, and blended areas of color. After the painted canvas dried, the photographic image was silkscreened onto it by Alex Heinrici at his studio.
Description Jed Johnson with Dachshund depicts Johnson in a close-up portrait holding Archie, who appears in the lower portion of the composition. The vertically oriented painting is executed on a small canvas measuring 14 x 11 inches (35.5 x 28 cm), considerably smaller than Warhol's standard 40 x 40-inch (102 × 102 cm) commissioned portraits. Like other paintings from this period, including works from his Mao series, Jed Johnson with Dachshund exhibits a loose, finger-painted quality, with areas of color merging and visible brush and finger marks on the canvas.
Interpretation
The paintings form part of Warhol's sustained portraiture of Johnson, whom he frequently depicted during their twelve-year relationship. Warhol made both formal portraits and informal photographic images of Johnson, reflecting Johnson's prominent position within his personal and professional life. Gerard Malanga, Warhol's former assistant, recalled: I never knew Andy to be satisfied in a love relationship until he met Jed Johnson. Somehow I felt that Andy might have actually got somebody that he could love in Jed. Whatever boyfriends Andy had prior to Jed were distractions to his art, they didn't really contribute anything to enhancing or helping him, but Jed was very helpful. He would set up the projectors, put the film in the projectors, sweep the floor. I got along famously with him. Jed was a real sweetheart.Colacello similarly described Johnson's reserved demeanor and appearance: There was something so appealing about Jed's shyness and calm. He spoke so softly you had to lean in close to hear what he was saying; he often said nothing at all while the rest of us babbled on, competing to be the wittiest for Andy and his tape recorder. Jed didn't try to be smart or funny or anything at all; he was incapable of showing off; he just was what he was: a slim, silent beauty in perfectly pressed jeans and neatly checked shirts, as handsome and intriguing as the young Gary Cooper, a sweet, innocent fawn among the tigresses and hyenas. The inclusion of Johnson and Archie makes the paintings more intimate than Warhol's commissioned celebrity portraits, as Warhol was depicting members of his own household and domestic life. Archie was also recurring subject in Warhol's work. He drew portraits of Archie and painted his second dachshund, Amos, for his Cats and Dogs series in 1976.
Exhibitions Two Jed Johnson with Dachshund paintings along with two similar Jed Johnson paintings were included in the retrospective Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again, held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City from November 12, 2018, to March 31, 2019. The exhibition subsequently traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from May 18 to September 2, 2019, and the Art Institute of Chicago from October 20, 2019, to January 26, 2020.
Three Jed Johnson with Dachshund paintings, alongside two Jed Johnson paintings, were included in the exhibition Andy Warhol: Velvet Rage and Beauty at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin from June 9 to October 6, 2024.
Collections Two Jed Johnson with Dachshund paintings are held in the Andrew Hall and Christine Hall collection of the Hall Art Foundation. The Hall Collection also includes two related portraits titled Jed Johnson. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh also has two versions of Jed Johnson with Dachshund.
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