James Montford is director of Rhode Island College’s Bannister Gallery, which will display 159 photos taken by pop artist Andy Warhol.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

PROVIDENCE — A collection of photographs by the late Andy Warhol, he of the Campbell’s Tomato Soup can painting fame, has been donated to Rhode Island College’s Bannister Gallery in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The photos are silver-gelatin and black-and-white shots of celebrities such as Bianca Jagger, Pia Zadora, Liza Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, John Travolta, Debbie Harry of the new wave band Blondie, soccer player Pelé, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, novelist Victor Hugo and painter James Wyeth.

Victor Hugo? Hugo died in 1883.

Jane Fusco, RIC’s spokeswoman, said last night she believes that Warhol photographed a sculpture of the famed French novelist, or took “a picture of a picture or a photo of his work, or a print of a photo.”

The collection will be put on public view next year. Its worth is estimated at more than $182,000.

Jenny Moore, curator of the Warhol legacy program, who selected the photos and prints for the Bannister Gallery, said they show “a wealth of information about Warhol’s process and his interactions with his sitters….” She added, “Through his rigorous — though almost unconscious — consistency in shooting, the true idiosyncrasies of his subjects were revealed.”

Moore said that Warhol frequently shot portraits using two cameras, one of Polaroid color, the other in black and white.

Fusco said Warhol used his Polaroid as “an Instamatic,” less candid than portraits of subjects posing formally. “The two pictures would be taken at the same time, but maybe at different moments,” she said.

Moore said, “By presenting both kinds of images side by side, the Photographic Legacy Program allows viewers to move back and forth between moments of Warhol’s art, work and life — inseparable parts of a fascinating whole.”

Before the Warhol Foundation announced, in February 2007, that it would make the artist’s work available to college and university art museums as part of the anniversary celebration, potential recipients had to meet criteria involving current collections, presentation facilities and care and preservation practices. The Bannister Gallery was one of 183 educational institutions to receive the gift.

James Bannister, curator of the Bannister Gallery, said, “We are delighted to be among the selected art museums and collecting institutions around the country to be honored by the Warhol Foundation through their legacy collection program.”

He said the Bannister Gallery would make the collection available for aesthetic, research and scholarship purposes.

The foundation in all has donated 28,543 Warhol original photos worth $28 million to selected institutions.

tmorgan@projo.com