Warhol's work pops up at city gallery

He coined the phrase "famous for 15 minutes" and was himself fascinated by celebrity, mixing with some of the most glamourous people of the 1960s and 70s.

Now the work of Andy Warhol, one of the 20th century's greatest artists, is to go on show in Wolverhampton later this month.

Exhibits will include posters and portraits of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and former three-time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, both icons of the heady Swinging Sixties era.

A leading figure of the Pop Art movement, he inspired many younger artists and performers including David Bowie, who wrote a song about him.

The exhibition, which also includes the celebrated six-part painting Skulls, the mural-size work Camouflage and his Self-Portrait, will be launched at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on March 28 and will run for six months.

The gallery's head of curatorial services Marguerite Nugent called it "an honour" to be staging the exhibition. She said the artist's "15 minutes of fame" phrase forecast our current fascination for celebrity and reality television.

The collection, called Andy Warhol Paintings, Posters and Screenprints, brings together for the first time a wide range of his work spanning three decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Portraits of the American painter Man Ray and British artists Gilbert and George will feature alongside film posters revealing the breadth of Warhol's career as well as his eye-catching ability as a graphic artist.

Wolverhampton's own Warhol piece, Jacqueline, based on a press photo of Jackie Kennedy at her husband's funeral, will also be part of the exhibition. The gallery has been buying Pop Art since the late 1960s and now boasts one of the finest collections in the UK outside London.

The Warhol collection will be the first solo show to be exhibited in the Pop Art gallery, which opened in March 2007. It will be supported by pop culture artefacts, including cameras similar to the ones used by the artist, clothing from the Pop Art period and music which inspired, and was inspired by, Warhol. The exhibits are taken from art collected by dealer turned philanthropist Anthony d'Offay which was acquired for the nation in 2006 and is now on display at the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland.

Mrs Nugent said: "The Warhol exhibition will be displayed in a very fun and unique way, which we think Warhol himself would have approved of. Warhol was fascinated with celebrity culture, before such a thing ever existed, which will make this exhibition very relevant to the young people of today."

The display will be on show until September 21. During the run, there will be a programme of supporting events, including a talk by Anthony d'Offay on May 30.

Other events will be announced on www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk in upcoming weeks.