Marsha P. Johnson (Warhol's Ladies and Gentlemen Series/1975)

Andy Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen – Queer Visibility in Pop Art

In 1975, Andy Warhol unveiled Ladies and Gentlemen, a bold and complex portrait series featuring Black and Latinx drag queens and trans women—many of whom were sex workers and part of New York’s underground queer scene. Commissioned by an Italian art dealer, the series was initially intended as a commercial project. But what emerged was something far more radical: a rare and unapologetic spotlight on marginalized queer lives, rendered in Warhol’s signature style of bright colors and sharp contrasts.

Warhol photographed his subjects over a few days at The Factory, often paying them modest sums. Some, like Marsha P. Johnson, have since become icons of queer resistance. But at the time, many of these individuals were nameless in the art world—framed by society as disposable, invisible, or scandalous. Warhol’s decision to center them, even without full context or consent in some cases, remains controversial—but also groundbreaking. He didn’t soften them for mainstream audiences. He captured them as they were: glamorous, tired, defiant, alive.

Ladies and Gentlemen is both a reflection of Warhol’s fascination with identity and a stark reminder of the ways race, gender, class, and fame intersect. It’s been re-evaluated in recent years not just as pop art, but as a landmark in the visual history of queer life—one that forces viewers to confront who gets remembered and who gets erased.

Decades later, the series remains electric. Not just for its aesthetic—but for the fact that it dared to look directly at people the art world usually turned away from.