In July 1986, London became a temporary base for Andy Warhol’s exhibition, social engagements, and work with Chris Makos. The visit brought a crowded gallery opening, sales of paintings, and new opportunities for Chris, but it also revealed disagreements over the exhibition and growing friction with Billy Boy. London appears not simply as a destination, but as a place where artistic choices, professional favors, and social access converged—and where the rewards of the trip came with complications.

Arrival and Social Round

Warhol arrived in London on July 6 aboard the Concorde, with Chris Makos accompanying him. Anthony d’Offay met them and took them to a hotel, where Warhol was given a large double room. The first evening quickly turned into a social gathering: Tina Chow had arranged dinner at Mr. Chow’s despite Warhol’s request that she not organize a party. Among those present were Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Nick Rhodes, Billy Boy, and several other guests. The welcome was warm, and the dinner established the visit’s recurring rhythm: professional business unfolding alongside a dense network of introductions and invitations.

Billy Boy remained a constant presence during the stay. On July 7, Warhol went to the gallery, looked at the pictures, and described the visit as exciting; later he and his companions went to dinner at Mark Birley’s club, Mark’s. The next day, with the opening approaching, Warhol had lunch at the gallery, returned to the hotel, and borrowed jewelry from Billy Boy to wear that evening. London’s social scene and exhibition schedule were closely interwoven: the gallery was at once a workplace, the center of the opening, and a point of connection to the people moving through the visit.

The Opening and the Pictures

The gallery was crowded for the July 8 opening. Warhol spent two hours autographing material while photographers documented the event. Two young people interested in having him take part in their music video were also there; Chris followed up with them by making repeated calls. Afterward, Anthony d’Offay held a large dinner at Café Royal, attended by about a hundred people. Warhol noted the expense and the venue’s association with artists’ opening dinners, placing this gathering within a recognizable London tradition of cultural hospitality.

The success of the opening did not mean Warhol was satisfied with the exhibition. On the return journey, he recalled walking into a room full of what he considered very bad pictures of himself. He emphasized that he had not chosen those pictures. D’Offay had directed the selection, asking for particular images; Warhol sometimes substituted pictures he preferred, assuming D’Offay would not remember the original request. When D’Offay later visited New York, however, he pointed out the substitutions. Their disagreement extended to the camouflage works: D’Offay wanted the smaller ones rather than the large example. The exhibition therefore carried two accounts of authorship at once: d’Offay’s curatorial direction and Warhol’s efforts to exert his own preferences within it.

Work and Opportunity

The London trip proved productive beyond the opening. By July 13, Warhol recorded that many paintings had sold, including one to Carnegie-Mellon. D’Offay offered to cover Chris’s hotel bill, which Warhol estimated would come to about $10,000. Chris, meanwhile, had made as many as eighteen calls a day to New York and secured five jobs in London, one from Polaroid. He thanked Warhol for the trip. Warhol, while wishing he could have directed the opportunities to someone more deserving, also recognized that Chris took care of him in his own way. The account presents professional success as shared and practical: introductions and travel created openings, while Chris’s persistent calls helped turn them into work.

The week also included a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Gloucestershire to visit Catherine Guinness, now Lady Neidpath. Her household offered a contrast to the formal scale of the gallery dinner: she gave the visitors a tour and did much of the work herself, while children, dogs, and domestic staff filled the busy kitchen and lunch setting. This excursion belonged to the London stay without being part of the city’s gallery circuit; it shows how the visit expanded through private hospitality as well as public events.

Social Friction and Departure

By the end of the trip, Warhol’s account of Billy Boy had turned sharply. Although Billy Boy had been with the group constantly and had brought Warhol flowers one morning, Warhol described him as a social climber who quickly collected the phone numbers of people he was introduced to, invited them to lunch, and gave away his earrings. Billy Boy also appeared in photographs so persistently that one photographer told him to leave a picture; Warhol reported that Billy Boy hit the photographer with the photographer’s own camera. The episode complicates the earlier image of London as a warm social welcome: access to people could become intrusive, and a guest’s constant presence could turn into a source of conflict. Chris, Warhol added, now disliked Billy Boy as well, and the two had had a serious fight.

On July 13, Warhol and Chris left London for New York. D’Offay came to the hotel early with his wife to say goodbye, a gesture Warhol appreciated, even though he had thought they might accompany the travelers to the airport. In his final accounting, he held together the trip’s mixed results: paintings sold, Chris gained work, and d’Offay had been kind, while the pictures in the show remained a disappointment and Billy Boy’s behavior had strained the social circle. London’s significance in this diary episode lies in that combination of artistic exposure, tangible opportunity, and personal friction.