Ivan Karp

Ivan Karp is a briefly glimpsed but useful link in Andy Warhol’s professional world, appearing in the diary both in connection with Interview’s contributors and as a source of a potential portrait commission. The entries show his access to people and projects, though they offer little about his personal life or a sustained relationship with Warhol.

Work Around Interview

In December 1978, Warhol considered whether Interview might serialize a book by Jackie Curtis. He noted that Ivan Karp and Truman Capote were writing for the magazine, treating Karp as one of its contributors. The proposed serialization did not proceed through Karp: Warhol brought the idea to Bob, who directed the manuscript to an assistant. The episode places Karp within Interview’s literary activity without specifying his title or editorial responsibilities.

A Portrait Referral

In June 1979, a woman whom Ivan Karp had sent to Warhol came to consider having her portrait made. She had first contemplated a photograph by Scavullo, which would have cost $5,000, then wondered whether she should pursue a Warhol portrait instead. Warhol doubted that she would go through with it and suspected she mainly wanted an outing. Karp’s referral thus brought a possible client to the threshold of Warhol’s portrait business, but the diary does not establish that a commission resulted.

The inquiry carried a substantial financial and artistic prospect. Warhol’s established process began with around sixty Polaroid photographs, from which he selected an image to crop and retouch before translating it into a silkscreen portrait; a first canvas typically cost about $25,000, with additional canvases priced separately. The diary does not say that Karp took part in this process. His documented role here is more limited: he connected a prospective sitter with Warhol’s work.