PITTSBURGH, PA.- The Andy Warhol Museum opens a new exhibition, 1958. The exhibition, 1958, opens on October 4, 2008 and will be on view through January 11, 2009. The exhibition features two sections, Detroit, Carbro Prints, 1958 and Isn’t That Amazing!, The Appeal and Spiel of Ronco and Popeil as well as a selection of never before shown Warhol drawings from the 1950s, and more.

The first section of the exhibition, Detroit, is a new series of photographs by renowned collaborative artists McDermott and McGough. These 20 images, printed in the tri-color carbro process refined and perfected by Paul Outerbridge in the 1930s, reflect a vibrancy of both color and the optimism of 1958. This body of work was shot on location at The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan in 2007. A publication accompanies the exhibition, with essay by Stephen C. Pinson, The Robert B. Menschel Curator of Photography at the New York Public Library, and foreword by John Ashbery.
The duo of Peter Thomas McGough and David Walter McDermott has been creating art together since 1984. Their exhibitions have been on view at Museum of Modern Art, Belgium; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris; Akureyri Art Museum,, Iceland among other. McGough, born in Syracuse, New York 1958, lives in New York City while McDermott, born in Hollywood, California in 1952, presently resides in Dublin.

The second section of the exhibition features the largest collection of original Popeil and Ronco TV-advertised gadgets. This collection, Isn’t That Amazing!, The Appeal and Spiel of Ronco and Popeil, includes over 150 gadgets, related ephemera and television commercials produced by the Chicago based Popeil Brothers and Ronco companies, both founded by members of the Popeil family. This exhibition is from the collection of Tim Samuelson, author of the book But Wait! There’s More: The Irresistible Appeal and Spiel of Ronco and Popeil.
The Popeil family began as street peddlers in the 1930s and ‘40s and through the magic of television and their innovative and unusual products became celebrities of popular culture. Popeil Brothers was established in 1945 by the late Samuel J. and Raymond Popeil. Ronco was co-founded in 1964 by Samuel J.’s son Ron Popeil and a family friend. Ronco is currently based in California.

Also included in the exhibition are never-before-shown works by Warhol as well as Lamar Advertising billboard designs and WTAE TV video and archival materials from their beginnings in 1958.