Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola,(August 6, 1928 — February 22, 1987), or Andy Warhol as he is known to the world, was an American renaissance man. Known primarily for his innovative paintings and artistic achievements, Warhol made a name for himself in the world of avant-garde film, music, publishing, writing, and acting. He helped to found and define the cultural Pop art movement that hit America during the 1950s. Though he is best remembered for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans, he also created hundreds of other works including commerical advertisements and films. He was controversial, revered, and always daring.
Biography
Andrew Warhola was born to Andrej (Andrew) Warhola and Ulja (Julia) Justyna Zavacka on August 6, 1928. His parents were both Slovakian and the family lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a very religious home, his family was Byzantine Catholic and attended Mass often. When Warhol was in the third grade he contracted St. Vitus' disease, a disease that is thought to result from complications of scarlet fever. Warhol suffered greatly from the attacks of this disease on his nervous system that caused involuntary muscle movement. Warhol's appearance altered greatly and he became very self conscious of his looks. Warhol's father, Andrej, worked in construction to support the family, but he died in an accident when Andy was just 13 years old.
Warhol was a creative and talented child who showed artistic talent early on. After high school he went to study commercial art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He graduated in 1949 and immediately moved to New York City where he became a successful magazine illustrator. He created his own style of art called "blotted ink" and soon became one of New York's most sought after illustrators, contributing to magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. His first exhibit was at the Hugo Gallery in 1952 and was titled Andy Warhol: Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote. From 1956 to 1959 his works were featured at the Bodley Gallery along with one show at the Museum of Modern Art. By 1962 he was doing shows in California.
In the 1960s, Warhol moved into studio that he named "The Factory" (the building used to be a factory). "The Factory" was lined with tinfoil and silver paint and was located in the heart of the city. It was from here that he made his assault on the New York art scene. When he wasn't at the Factory he was hanging out at "Serendipity 3" or "Studio 54."
Warhol's works revolved around one main concept— that of Americana and American popular culture. His paintings were comprised of money, food, women's shoes, celebrities, newspaper clippings and everyday objects. His music, his writings, his films, all represented American culture and its values.
Shooting
Warhol's life would change forever on June 3, 1968, when Valerie Solanas shot Warhol in the chest. The wound forced him to wear a type of corset to support his back for the rest of his life. Warhol became much more withdrawn after the shooting and was more careful about the company he kept.
Solanas, was the founder, and only member, of a "group" called the "Society for Cutting Up Men" (S.C.U.M.). She wrote a short work called the S.C.U.M. Manifesto. Solanas was arrested the day after the shooting,(coincidentally, the day that Robert F. Kennedy was shot), and when she was asked about a motive, she said that "He had too much control over my life."
Religious beliefs
Despite the opinion most people in the world had of Warhol, few knew of the good that he tried to do in his life. Andy Warhol was not a selfish man, he gave to those in need, his friends and family were always taken care of (some taking advantage of his kindness), but he was a shrewd businessman as well, and therefore, always kept his fortune growing. Warhol was a regular volunteer at various homeless shelters in New York, spending more and more time there during holidays and busier times of the year.
Andy Warhol felt that he was a deeply religious man, though most Christians despised Warhol, his art, and his actions, Andy Warhol's continuously went to confession, and he attended Mass as often as occasion would permit. In fact, the pastor of Warhol's Byzantine Rite Catholic church, Saint Vincent's, reported that Warhol visited the church almost daily. Religion became paramount in his later works, as they illustrated hidden religious themes and subject. And after his death,, several religious-themed writings and works were found in his study. Warhol never wanted to flaunt his religion or his participation in volunteer work. His brother described Andy as "really religious, but he didn't want people to know about that because [it was] private." Despite the private nature of Warhol's faith, when John Richardson eulogized him, he depicted Warhol as devout, saying: "To my certain knowledge, he was responsible for at least one conversion. He took considerable pride in financing his nephew's studies for the priesthood."
Works
Paintings
Andy Warhol helped to define the Pop Art movement that swept the U.S. Tired of not being taken seriously for his "blotted ink" illustrations Warhol decided to devote more energy to his artistic talents and become a 'true artist'. As a result he returned to painting, something he had not done since high school.
Warhol's greatest desire was to be different from other artists at the time. He wanted to find a truly unique outlet for his paintings, and do something that wasn't being done by anybody else. He developed his own style that took popular subjects and conveyed With the help of Andy Warhol, Pop Art not only grew from its experimental form, it exploded, and truly became popular. With his innovations in the art movement, Warhol achieved what he had set out to accomplish, that of being taken seriously and of selling his paintings.
Warhol began painting various cartoons and advertisements, hand painting them, making drips of paint on purpose to mirror the abstract expression art that was concurrently hitting the art scene. But, cartoons were not a distinguished enough subject. When Warhol's friends suggested that Warhol should paint the things that he loved, they never expected the sensation that resulted as Warhol began painting several different views of cans of Campbell's Soup, which he ate for lunch practically every day. His first major exhibition was a tremendous success. And after that, Warhol only painted that which he loved, including money, shoes, and celebrities.
Now that he had found his particular niche for his subject matter, the artist changed course to concentrated more on the production process of said matter. He began eliminating the artistic hand made process, and employed silk-screening. He added to this the method of tracing drawings from slide projections. To put it simply, Warhol went from being a painter to being a designer of paintings. Thus several silk-screens of one painting could be produced and sold to a greater amount of fans.
As Andy Warhol did what no other painter had done before, both with 'comic' (e.g., soup cans) and 'serious' (e.g., electric chairs) works of art. The interpretation of these works became paramount. Did he paint soup cans to show his love for his mother who fed him the soup? Did he paint them to symbolize the destruction of mass culture? Or did he paint them because he simply wanted to make money?
As time went on, Warhol continued to break cultural boundaries with his art. Many people thought he crossed the line when he created oxidation paintings (canvases that were prepared with copper paint and showed oxidated urine stains). But he also created a series ofdo-it-yourself paintings as well as a line of wallpaper with a cow motif. Warhol'sBiographer Bob Colacello, provides some details on what came to be known as Andy's "piss paintings":
It has been suggested that Warhol would just take images of things that were hip in his time and cover them in "Warhol gravy", but for Warhol there always was a personal relation between him and his subjects. For instance the Campbell's Soup did not only function as an illustration of commercial industry and advertisement, it was an intrinsic part of Warhol's life and memories. As a child his mother had given him this soup when he was sick, and Warhol loved it very much as an adult.
Warhol's painting career stands out as one whose subjects were philosophical and metaphorical in nature. He hated the way the media trivialized the most important events in human life, like tragedies, thus Warhol drew attention to these events with his bright color paintings, including "Red Car Crash", "Purple Jumping Man", "Orange Disaster". By turning common things like accidents, soup cans, and money into paintings, Warhol was somehow able to transform them from simple objects and give them societal meaning and value.
Films
From 1964 to 1968 Andy Warhol was consumed with writing and directing avante-garde films. Many of them were acute in subject and pornographic in nature, most of them too shocking for the common movie-goer. However, even with criticisms, he was able to create a decidedly "Warholian" style and bring it to the screen. Many of Warhol's films were unpopular, scandalous, and unsuccessful, but in 1966, one broke the mold, his film Chelsea Girls was a seminal work in the world of film. When Warhol fans went to see the film, they were amazed to see not one picture playing, but a split-screen showing two different captured images in tandem. Instead of one camera, Warhol used two 16 mm cameras to capture two stories and played them simultaneously on screen. It worked because of the use of the sound, while one film was focused on with sound and narrative, the other film was silent, and vice-versa. It was a complex and new process, with incisive detail needed for the sound management of both films in the projection booth. This unique process inspired future films such as Mike Figgins Timecode/(film)|Timecode, and even later with Fox's television series 24.
Warhol's desire to direct films came to a halt after he was shot in 1968. The highly reclusive Warhol left the company he had formed, Factory to his assistant director Paul Morrissey. Once Morrissey was given full reign, he took the film productions in a different direction, creating films that still had an edge, but were much more relative to the mainstream public, and therefore more popular. Some of Morrissey's films include Flesh, Trash, and Heat. Although these films were labeled with Warhol's name, it became apparent that they were clearly Morrissey's projects. In fact, to help the success of the later films (which Morrissey believed had a greater chance of being successful) the distribution of all of Warhol's earlier, avante-garde films were put to an end by 1972. However, by 2005, many of Warhol's original films have again been made available through DVD distribution.
Filmography
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Films portraying Warhol
- Crispin Glover portray's Warhol in the 1991 film The Doors (film)|The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone.
- Julian Schnabel's film Basquiat features David Bowie representing Warhol.
- In 1996, Mary Harron's film I Shot Andy Warhol the artist was portrayed by the actor Jared Harris.
- Sean Gregory Sullivan depicted Warhol in the film 54 (1998).
- Guy Pearce portrays the artist in the 2006 film Factory Girl.
- Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film is the 2006 four-hour biographical movie by Ric Burnsabout Andy Warhol.
Music
Warhol was highly adept designing album covers and his talents remained sought after for most of his career. He designed the cover art for two albums of The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (1971) and Love you Live (1977). Mick Jagger was so impressed that he commissioned several portraits of himself in 1975.
Warhol was good friends with Bob Dylan and John Lennon, designing Lennon's album Menlove Avenue (released posthumously). While at the same time, Warhol's production company produced music videos for two hits by the Cars, Hello Again and Misfit.
Wanting to experience even more in the music industry, Warhol took the band Velvet Underground and made them one of his projects. Trying his had as a music producer for the band's first album The Velvet Underground and Nico, his "producing" simply boiled down to the fact that he paid for the studio time it took to record the album. The team fell apart after the album's release, when Lou Reed, the band leader, and Warhol disagreed about the band's future. Incidentally, Warhol designed the cover art for the album.
Warhol's influence was felt by various artists of the new wave/punk rock era, including the band Devo and David Bowie—who's song, "Andy Warhol" was composed for his 1971 album, Hunky Dory.
Books and print
To add to his collection of accomplishments, Warhol also became a writer. He self-published a number of books about his life including:
- 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy (1954)
- Gold Book
- Wild Rasberries
- Holy Cats
Warhol's first book, 25 Cats was a very unique publication, Warhol was very specific about it's printing. There was a limited first edition printing of 190 hand-colored copies on watermarked paper that used Seymour Berlin's specialized blotted line technique for lithographs. Warhol never sold these editions, keeping them instead to use for gifts to friends and clients.
Later Warhol "wrote" several books that were commercially printed.
- A, a novel (1968, ISBN 0-8021-3553-6) is a literal transcription - (including all of the spelling errors and explanation of background noises) of Warhol's interactions with several of his close friends, among them Ondine, as they went about their parties, had conversations, and relaxed at the Factory.
- The Philosophy of Andy Warhol; from A to B and back again (1975, ISBN 0-15-671720-4) Pat Hackett recorded her daily phone conversations with Warhol (with his approval) and transcribed the conversations the two had, as well as recordings Warhol made himself of various conversations he had with other people, including Brigid Berlin (also known as Brigid Polk) and former Interview magazine editor Bob Colacello.
- Popism: The Warhol Sixties (1980, ISBN 0-15-672960-1), the book was written jointly by Warhol and Pat Hackett as a unique retrospective view and interpretation of the sixties and the prominent role of Pop Art throughout the decade.
- The Andy Warhol Diaries (1989, ISBN 0-446-39138-7, edited by Pat Hackett) was also comprised of Hackett's transcriptions of conversations with Warhol, who had started a "diary" of sorts to help him keep track of his expenditures, but it branched out to include his personal thoughts and observations.
Warhol created the fashion magazine Interview and the magazine is still in publication. It's signature cover title is comprised of a loopy script that is either one of Warhol's creations, or that of his mother, Julia Warhola, who often did text work for his early commercial pieces.
Death
In 1987, Andy Warhol was admitted into New York Hospital for a routine surgery for his gallbladder. He was released from the hospital, but died in his sleep on February 22, 1987 at 6:32 a.m. The cause was attributed to a sudden hear attack. On further investigation, the coroners found that Warhol's body was flooded with several fluids. His iv had not been monitored properly at the hospital, and his body became overloaded, contributing to his sudden death. Warhol's lawyers, upon hearing the news, sued the hospital for negligence. Ironically, Warhol had put off his needed surgery because he had an acute fear of entering hospitals and being cared for by doctors.
Warhol was buried back in his home of Pennsylvania. His grave is located at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, just south of Pittsburgh. Yoko Ono, among others, spoke at his funeral.
Most of Warhol's possessions were auctioned off at Sotheby's over an extensive period of nine days and grossed over 20 million dollars. His estate was left to his remaining family, and was valued at far more.
Museums
The Andy Warhol Museum is located in th artist's hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is known as being the largest American art museum dedicated to a single artist. It houses more than 12,000 works by Andy Warhol.
Another notable museum is the Warhol Family Museum of Modern Art, founded by John Warhol, Andy's brother, and the Warhol Foundation in New York in 1992. The museum is in Medzilaborce, Slovakia, located 15 kilometers away from the village of Mikova (where Andy's parent's were born). The museum houses several original paintings that were donated by the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York, as well as personal items donated by Warhol's relatives.
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Angell, Callie (2006 ISBN 0810955393). Andy Warhol Screen Tests: The Films of Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne, Volume One (Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonnee). New York: Henry Abrams.
- Jennifer Doyle, Jonathan Flatley, and José Esteban Muñoz, eds. (1996). Pop Out: Queer Warhol. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 082231732X
- Guiles, Fred Lawrence (1989 ISBN 0593015401). Loner at the Ball: The Life of Andy Warhol. New York: Bantam.
- Koestenbaum, Wayne (2003 ISBN 0670030007). Andy Warhol. New York: Penguin.
- Meyer, Richard (2003 ISBN 0807079359). Outlaw Representation. Beacon.
- Watson, Steven (2003). ISBN 0679423729 Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. New York: Pantheon.
- Bockris, Victor (1997 ISBN 030681272X). Warhol: The Biography. New York: Da Capo Press.
- Colacello, Bob (1990 ISBN 0815410085). Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. New York: HarperCollins.
- Daggett Dillenberger, Jane (2001 ISBN 082641334X). The Religious Art of Andy Warhol. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
- Yau, John (1993 ISBN 0880012986). In the Realm of Appearances: The Art of Andy Warhol.
External links
- Clayton, Steve and Midgley, Trevor. "Warhol—The Musical". <http://www.geocities.com/trevormidgley/Warhol.html> Retreived January 24, 2007.
- Andy Warhol Art Chronology. <http://www.warholstars.org/art/artchron.html>. Retreived January 24, 2007.
- The Andy Warhol Foundation. <http://www.warholfoundation.org> New York, New York. Retreived January 24, 2007.
- The Andy Warhol Museum. <http://www.warhol.org/> Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Retreived January 24, 2007.
- Warhol Family Museum. <http://www.region.sk/warhol/> Medzilaborce, Slovakia. Retreived January 24, 2007.
Listening
- Studio 360. "Warhol, Soup Cans, Cowboys". <http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2005/12/08> December 10, 2005.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Warhol, Andy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Andrew Warhola |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American artist, avant-garde filmmaker, writer and social figure |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 6, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 22, 1987 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New York City |
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