Andy Warhol
(1928 – 1987)
Painter, Printmaker, Filmmaker
Andrew Warhola (Andy Warhol)
Andy Warhol was born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on
August 6, 1928 to working
class parents who had
emigrated from Slovakia. His
father workedin a coal mine. In
3rd grade, Andy became ill
with complications from
Scarlet Fever. While sick in
bed, he drew, listened to the
radio, and collected pictures of
movie stars.
Warhol studied commercial art
at the school of fine arts at
Carnegie Institue of Technology
in Pittsburgh. In 1949, he moved
to New York City and worked as
an illustrator for magazines &
advertising. He was hired by
RCA records to design album
covers and promotional
materials.
Sprite Heads Playing Violins (1948)
Female Fashion Figure (1950s)
He had his first
exhibition at a gallery
in 1962. His art was
dubbed “Pop Art”. He
made art out of every
day objects, like
Campbell’s soup
cans, dollar bills, and
Coke bottles, as well
as doing portraits of
celebrities.
100 Dollar Bills (1962)
He called his art studio
“the factory”, and
surrounded himself with
lots of other artists,
poets, musicians and
writers. He began
making silk screens of
his work – a process of
print making where many
copies of an image can
be reproduced. His work
was popular and
controversial. Critics said
it was too commercial.
This prompted a big
question:
What is Art?
Marilyn Diptych (1962)
“What’s great
about this country
is that the richest
consumers buy the
same things as the
poorest. The
president drinks
Coke, Liz Taylor
drinks Coke, and
you can drink
Coke, too. A Coke
is a Coke, and no
amount of money
can get you a
better coke. All the
cokes are the
same and all the
cokes are good.”
– Andy Warhol
100 Coke Bottles (1962)
Daisy Waterfall (Rain Machine) (1971)
In 1968, a disgruntled
fringe member of “The
Factory” shot Andy
Warhol. He was
wounded seriously and
barely survived. He
would suffer physical and
emotional side effects of
the ordeal for the rest of
his life. It changed his
art, and the way he lived
his life. Moving forward,
he sought out rich
patrons and made
portraits.
Michael Jackson (1984)
Mick Jagger (1975-76)
Critics at the time called
his work superficial and
commercial. Much later,
it seemed that his work
was a mirror of the 70s
and 80s, when American
culture could be criticized
for the same things.
Liza Minelli (1964)
Empire (1964)
Warhol was also a very prolific
film maker. In a 5 year period,
he made more than 60 films
and over 500 short black &
white “screen tests” of people
who visited the factory. His film
“Sleep” consisted of a man
sleeping for 6 hours. “Empire”
was eight hours of film of the
Empire State Building. “Eat”
was a 45-minute film of a man
eating a mushroom.
100 soup cans (1962)
Some question how
much of the art was
created by Warhol
himself, and how
much he had others at
the factory do. In
1961, Warhol wrote a
check to a gallery
owner for $50 as
payment for coming
up with the idea
painting soup cans.
The painting sold for
$10,000 at auction in
1971. Similar
paintings sell for over
$6 million dollars
today.
Warhol’s entire estate was left to a
foundation dedicated to the
“advancement of visual arts”. He had
so many possessions, it took 9 days to
auction it off after his death. The
auction raised more than $20 million.
Andy Warhol died in New York City
on February 22, 1987 of
complications from gall bladder
surgery.
Andy Warhol also left behind 612 “time capsules” – cardboard boxes filled with
photos, newspapers, letters, magazines, phone messages and ads for
concerts and poetry readings.