Andy Warhol + James Francis Gill "Contemporaries"

Meet one of the founding fathers of the Pop Art Movement on September 13, 2025. James Francis Gill will be in attendance for this important exhibition of his work alongside works by Andy Warhol.

James Francis Gill, born in 1934 in Tahoka, Texas, rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leading figure in American Pop Art, earning early acclaim when his Marilyn Triptych was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. Known for blending celebrity imagery with social and political commentary, he exhibited alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein before retreating from the art world in 1972 to work in isolation. Returning to public view in the 1980s, Gill continued to evolve his style, later embracing digital techniques to reimagine iconic figures through his distinctive “Metamage” mixed-media process.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is considered one of the greatest artists of our time. With his soup cans and numerous other iconic depictions, such as those of Marilyn Monroe and Mao, he created motifs that will last forever. In doing so, he paved the way for Pop Art as we know it today.

James Francis Gill: A Life in Pop Art

James Francis Gill, born in 1934 in Tahoka, Texas, is one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the American Pop Art movement. Raised in San Angelo, Gill’s artistic inclinations were encouraged early by his mother, an interior designer who nurtured his creativity. His youthful experiments foreshadowed the bold visual language that would later define his career. After serving in the U.S. Marines between 1953 and 1956, where he painted murals and developed his skill for graphic imagery, Gill pursued studies in architecture and design at the University of Texas at Austin, laying the foundation for his innovative approach to art.

Gill’s rise to prominence was rapid and decisive. In 1962, his Marilyn Triptych was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a remarkable recognition that immediately placed him among the leaders of the Pop Art movement. That same year, MoMA exhibited his drawings Laughing Woman in Car and Close-Up alongside works by Pablo Picasso and Odilon Redon, affirming his place in the canon of modern art. His early works often combined the glossy veneer of pop culture with incisive social commentary, particularly on issues like war and politics. By the mid-1960s, Gill’s anti-war imagery and portraits of contemporary icons made him both a chronicler and a critic of American society. In 1967, he represented the United States at the São Paulo Biennale, where he exhibited alongside Andy Warhol and Edward Hopper, cementing his international reputation.

At the height of his fame, Gill made an extraordinary decision: in 1972, he withdrew from the public art world altogether. Choosing solitude over the pressures of celebrity, he settled in Whale Gulch, California, and lived in near seclusion. For more than a decade, Gill worked privately, producing art away from the market’s demands. When he returned to public view in the 1980s, the art world was eager to revisit his vision. His revival culminated in a major retrospective in 2005 at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, reconnecting his career to his hometown roots.

In his later years, Gill re-engaged with the Pop Art idiom that first brought him acclaim. Revisiting subjects like Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and John Wayne, he blended traditional painting with digital design, creating layered compositions that he described as Metamage. These works merged realism and abstraction, echoing the tensions of a media-saturated age while reaffirming the timeless allure of cultural icons.

Gill’s legacy is underscored by the prestigious institutions that house his work. His art is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Stanford University Center for Visual Arts, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Internationally, his work is held at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna and the Neue Galerie in Kassel, Germany. The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, which hosted his retrospective, also preserves his contributions as part of its permanent collection.

James Francis Gill’s career reflects both the dynamism of American Pop Art and the personal conviction of an artist unafraid to step away from fame. From his meteoric rise in the 1960s to his retreat and eventual reemergence, Gill’s journey mirrors the complexity of the cultural icons he painted: glamorous yet conflicted, familiar yet profoundly layered. Today, his presence in major museums across the United States and Europe ensures that his vision—sharp, critical, and deeply human—remains an essential part of the story of modern art.