Book excerpt: Andy Warhol’s iconic portraits of Elizabeth Taylor are images that have lost none of their explosive power in the decades that separate the present from the moment of their making. Frequently hailed as the greatest movie star of all time, Elizabeth Taylor was a friend of Andy Warhol in the 1970s and 1980s. The personification of charisma, whose highly public life was charged with drama, tragedy, and romance, this iconic muse was a perfect vehicle for Warhol’s vivid silk-screen portraiture derived from press clippings, publicity shots, and film stills. Warhol made over fifty portraits of Taylor in all her incarnations—from the ethereally beautiful child actress in National Velvet to the commanding, voluptuous screen goddess of Cleopatra. Andy Warhol: Liz sheds light on the relationship between Warhol and one of his most notorious muses.