UNSEEN INDIANA

THIS JULY, WE PRESENT KENNEDY’S ‘LOST ARCHIVE’ OF THE ARTIST BEHIND THE ICONIC ‘LOVE’ AT GALLERY46. THE SHOW ALSO FEATURES KENNEDY’S ‘WARHOL WITH SUNFLOWERS’ SERIES, EXHIBITED FOR THE FIRST TIME.

The late-William John Kennedy first met Robert Indiana at a New York art opening in 1963.They became friends and shortly afterwards the photographer began to shoo the now legendary artist in his studio. Indiana would later introduce Kennedy to Warhol at the Americans exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1963. Highlights from this archive include Kennedy’s portrait of Robert Indiana with his most famous creation, LOVE, claimed to be the world’s most reproduced artwork.This summer, those images are exhibited for the first time at Gallery 46, Whitechapel alongside Kennedy’s lesser-known images of Warhol in a field of sunflowers.

“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 legendary artist at work and repose. Kennedy had a unique skill in quietly capturing the soul in the eye of his lens, and you feel you get to know Indiana in these portraits of the artist his their personal realm, and also gain insight into the genesis of 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 in an urban garden of sunflowers. 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

“When I look back on my involvement with the Pop artists, it all came off my initial involvement with Robert Indiana. He was the lynchpin” – William John Kennedy.

UNSEEN INDIANA curated by John-Paul Pryor in association with Gallery 46.
The exhibition is co-produced by Martin Tickner and Lisa Baker. For press enquiries contact Lisa Baker PR.

PRIVATE VIEW
Thursday 17 July 2025
6 – 9.30

EXHIBITION
18 July – 3 August 2025
Daily
12 – 6 pm

TICKNER BELL YOUNG & LEBENSON
GALLERY46
46 ASHFIELD STREET
LONDON
E1 2AJ