Marshall Swerman
Marshall Swerman is a Los Angeles based fine-art photographer. Raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, and living in New York in the mid-60s, Swerman studied acting at the famed Neighborhood Playhouse when he was introduced to a commercial photographer friend of his sister. Swerman spent hours at the photographer’s 42nd Street studio, absorbing the techniques of shooting and darkroom skills. Swerman purchased his first camera – a 35mm Pentax Spotmatic – and began shooting, developing and printing his own photographs.
While living on the Lower East Side of New York City in the mid-60s, Swerman’s friend and neighbor, Ivy Nicholson – an Andy Warhol “Superstar “ – brought him to the famed Factory to meet the artist and his entourage. The photographer visited the Factory many times, enjoying the wild parties and hanging out, meeting the great and near-great of that era. Warhol agreed to be photographed by Swerman and allowed the young photographer to direct the shots. The result was a series of iconic pictures of Andy in his environment and included in Swerman’s historic series “Andy Warhol and Friends.” Swerman also appears in Warhol's rarely seen 24-hour film titled 4-Star, a portion of which was shot in his Lower East Side apartment. Swerman's Warhol portraits are included in the Warhol Museum collection in Pittsburgh and were highlighted in the Ric Burns PBS American Masters documentary of the artist in 2006. His portraits were also included in the Asian traveling exhibit “Andy Warhol – 15 Minutes Eternal,” organized by the Andy Warhol Museum in 2014.
Marshall Swerman’s reportage work of the culture and environment of the late 60s through the 21st century has been published worldwide. His work can be found in collections throughout the world and has been celebrated in solo and group exhibits in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Europe and Asia.
One of Swerman’s quintessential prints of Andy sold recently at auction in Germany for nearly $5,000. Besides selling his work to private collectors, Swerman’s most recent public engagement of his Warhol collection includes four photographs to be showcased in the 900-page preeminent biography of Andy to be published April 2000 and written by noted art critic Blake Gopnik and published by HarperCollins.
