Donald Warhola in 2013 with his prized artwork. Cataloguers found the source photo and letter tucked away in one of his uncle’s Time Capsules. Photo: Joshua Franzos
In 1981, Donald Warhola was mailing copies of his senior yearbook photo to relatives when he asked his famous uncle Andy if he’d consider using it to paint his portrait. In a handwritten letter, Warhola wrote that “you can do a regular portrait or a silkscreen,” adding: “It’ll be a remembrance of you that I can have the rest of my life.” Andy Warhol agreed, taking a year to complete the pair of silkscreens. During regular Sunday phone calls with Donald’s family, Warhol would update his nephew on his progress, always reporting that the portrait was almost done. Even though Warhol didn’t like how it turned out and offered a redo, Warhola proudly displayed the artwork in his parents’ home, where he was living at the time he received it, until the day of his uncle’s funeral. That’s when, with family gathered after the service, they heard a loud thump upstairs. The portrait, but not the hook it was hanging on, had fallen to the ground. “I took it as a message from my uncle,” Warhola says. Today, the gift is in safe hands at The Warhol, where Warhola works as a family historian, and where it’s currently on view. “I’m the only family member besides my grandmother, Julia, whose portrait my uncle painted. It’s an honor.”
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