Isabelle Collin Dufresne, better known as Ultra Violet—a name suggested to her by Andy Warhol in 1964—has died at the age of 78. The French-born, New York-based artist was introduced to Warhol in the 1960s by another artist: Salvador Dalí. From the Miami Herald:
"In 1963, Dalí introduced her to 'this little woman, I thought,' Ultra Violet recalls. 'Anyway, he said, 'This is Andy Warhol.' He was totally unknown then. Warhol said to me, 'You are so beautiful, let's do a movie together.' I said when? He said tomorrow. Tomorrow, the next day, I went to The Factory, and this was the beginning of a very interesting era."
From that point on she was firmly planted in the Factory scene, appearing in a bunch of Warhol's films between 1965 and 1974, and in the 1980s began focusing on her own work as an artist. Below, clips of Ultra Violet from over the years:
According to the NYT, Ultra Violet "died early Saturday morning at a Manhattan hospital. She was 78. The death was confirmed by William Butler, a family friend. A cousin, Carole Thouvard Revol, said the cause was cancer."
