Leo Castelli's Gallery is recorded as the setting for Andy Warhol’s September 20, 1985, opening of the Reigning Queens portfolio. The diary’s account makes the gallery more than a backdrop: it is where Warhol’s reservations about the exhibition and his concern over how his relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat was being portrayed meet in the same public occasion.

An Exhibition Venue

Warhol had an opening to attend at Leo Castelli's Gallery for the Reigning Queens portfolio. He disliked George Mulder for showing the portfolio in America, since he believed it had been intended only for Europe. He also expected that American viewers would not care about royalty and feared the show would receive another bad review. The entry presents the gallery through this mismatch between the work’s royal subject and Warhol’s doubts about its local audience and critical reception.

The September 20 Opening

The opening brought Warhol’s professional obligations into contact with a recent episode of press coverage. He told Basquiat not to come to the event, then asked whether Basquiat was angry about a review that had described him as Warhol’s “mascot.” Basquiat said he was not. The brief exchange places the gallery opening within a strained public context: a newspaper’s description had given their association a dismissive label, and Warhol checked on its effect while keeping Basquiat away from the opening.

Publicity and Reception

The diary connects the gallery’s exhibition to the surrounding circulation of reviews and headlines. A Times headline had announced “Basquiat and Warhol in Pas de Deux,” while the review’s “mascot” description prompted Warhol’s question to Basquiat. The gallery thus enters the account as both an exhibition space and the occasion for managing the public visibility of Warhol’s work and association with Basquiat, against Warhol’s expectation of an unfavorable response to the portfolio.