PITTSBURGH, PA.- The Andy Warhol Museum announces that it will present a traveling exhibition entitled, Jack Mitchell: Icons & Idols, A Photographer’s Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995, on view January 22 through April 17, 2005. Icons & Idols presents the work of acclaimed photographer, Jack Mitchell, who’s legendary portraits of actors, artists, composers, performers and writers of the late 20th century, document an American art scene that thrived in New York City. The exhibition will include 137 black and white photographs featuring icons of American culture, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leonard Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Philip Glass, Martha Graham, Jasper Johns, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Andy Warhol and others. The exhibition tour is organized by independent curator Judith Page on behalf of the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida where Jack Mitchell was a Master Artist in residence in 1983.

The exhibition, on view in The Warhol’s seventh floor gallery, contains photographs that are featured in the book, Icons & Idols: A Photographer’s Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995 (Amphoto Art, 1998) and are now part of the permanent collection of the Atlantic Center. These masterfully printed selenium-toned, gelatin silver prints were completed during a 35-year period in New York City, and represent the highlights of Mitchell’s portrait work. Five photographs that were taken during this time period will be gifted to The Andy Warhol Museum’s permanent collection by Mitchell.

Arts magazine described Mitchell’s portraits as being, “the first time a contemporary photographer has photographed artists as individuals possessing character and identification not expressed exclusively through their works. They are pictured as subjects themselves and not merely artifacts or of secondary importance to their art.”

It is this aspect of Mitchell’s work that sets it apart from other photographers of cultural personalities.

During the course of his career, Jack Mitchell photographed thousands of special assignments for Dance Magazine, After Dark, Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Life, Vogue, People, Harper’s Bazaar and countless others. His photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken weeks before Lennon’s death, held the record as the best-selling cover for People for over 16 years. Mitchell had a longtime working relationship with The New York Times, and much of his innovative work appeared in the Arts & Leisure section. He retired in 1995 to New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

After closing at The Warhol, the exhibition will travel to the Marsh Gallery at the University of Richmond, Virginia in Fall 2005.