Andy Warhol Notes
National 4
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Introduction
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art
movement known as Pop Art.
He worked with many forms of media, including: painting, printmaking, photography,
drawing, sculpture, film and music. He also started a magazine (called Interview
Magazine) and he wrote several books
Subject Matter
In the 1960s he produced a series of paintings of iconic American images and
objects, these included: Campbell’s Soup cans, dollar bills, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis
Presley and Coca-~Cola bottles
In the 1970s Warhol produced portraits of many celebrities, including: Mick Jagger,
John Lennon and Diana Ross. He also made work depicting famous politicians and
sports people.
Biographical
Andy Warhol was born on 6th August 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He died on 22nd February 1987 following post gallbladder surgery complications.
Social Context/ Lifestyle
He was also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay
liberation movement. Homosexuality influenced his work and shaped his relationship
to the art world..
This was a risky business to actually come out as being gay at this time.
He has photographs of him cross dressing and countless Polaroid’s and self-portraits
of Warhol depicting various sides of himself and many different identities he could
be.
His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together
distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people,
Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.
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Style
Controversial artist
Flamboyant Colourful Stylized Repetitive
Popular
Recognizable
He blurred the lines between fine art and mainstream.
His early paintings show images taken from cartoons and advertisements, handpainted with paint drips such as the Marilyn Monroe painting. – like the abstract
expressionist style.
He repeated images over and over again on the canvas like a designer but in an
artistic, creative way. He was able to do this with his screen printing technique and
further abstract the image on top with paint.
Warhol’s portraits and still life works were intense in colour which are also
unrealistic like the Fauves
He experimented with adding bright, clashing colours to famous portraits or
everyday objects such as the Campbell’s Soup Tin.
Pop Art
Warhol was known as the "Pope of Pop".
Pop art was a new style of art that began in England in the mid-1950s and consisted
of artists using popular, everyday consumer items in their work.
It focused on the crossover between celebrity and advertising
Cartoons and advertisements were looked upon as important pieces of art; not just
examples of design.
Warhol started painting readily found, mass-produced objects.
This is when he experimented with the technique of silkscreen printing, a popular
technique used for mass production.
Influences
Marcel Duchamp – a French artist, who also believed everyday objects could be
seen as art.
The Factory. - his studio where he met important artists and celebrities.
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He was also influenced by Sigmar Polke, a German artist by the way he used found
objects and culture iconic imagery.
Inspiration
Stricken at an early age with a rare neurological disorder Warhol at times was
confined to bed.
He drew and listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his
bed. Warhol later described this period as very important in the development of his
personality, skill-set and preferences.
Warhol was clearly obsessed with celebrity and fame and sought out popularity
which naturally effected what he chose as subject matter.
He became a fixture at infamous New York City nightclubs like Studio 54 where he
met many of the famous celebrities he used in his work.
Subject Matter
Still life- In 1962, he exhibited the now-iconic paintings of Campbell's soup cans.
These small canvas works of everyday consumer products created a major stir in the
art world, bringing both Warhol and pop art into the national spotlight for the first
time. Warhol's other famous pop paintings depicted Coca-cola bottles, vacuum
cleaners and hamburgers.
Portraits – celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Troy
Donahue, Muhammad Ali, and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as newspaper headlines or
photographs of police dogs attacking civil rights protesters.
Techniques
After establishing himself as an acclaimed graphic artist, Warhol turned to painting
and drawing in the 1950s.
As he matured, his paintings incorporated photo-based techniques he developed as
a commercial illustrator.
1950’sWarhol gained fame for his whimsical ink drawings of
shoe advertisements. These were done in a loose, blotted-ink
style ink to paper and then blotting the ink while still wet.
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This is a very basic printing process using a special type of line drawing:

began by making a line drawing on a piece of non-absorbent paper, such as
tracing paper.

He then hinged this piece of paper to a second sheet of more absorbent paper
by taping their edges together on one side.

With an old fountain pen, Warhol inked over a small section of the drawn lines
then transferred the ink onto the second sheet by folding along the hinge and
lightly pressing or “blotting” the two papers together.

Larger drawings were made in sections.

Completing a large blotted line drawing could take quite a bit of time and multiple
pressings.

The process resulted in the dotted, broken, and delicate lines that are
characteristic of Warhol’s illustrations. Warhol often coloured his blotted line
drawings with watercolour dyes or applied gold leaf.
Silk screen printing- printmaking process as a technique for making paintings.
His earliest silk-screening in painting involved hand-drawn images though this soon
progressed to the use of photographically derived silk-screening in paintings.
He used a stencil where some areas are blocked out and other areas are printed
through.
This is created on a mesh screen using a light sensitive emulsion which hardens
when exposed to light.
First the screen is coated with the light sensitive emulsion.
Next a black and white photograph—such as the one that Warhol used of Marilyn—
is photocopied onto a transparent overlay.
The transparent overlay is placed underneath the screen, which is placed on top of
a light box. The screen is exposed to light, hardening the emulsion everywhere
except where the image overlay has been placed.
The area of the screen not exposed to light—in this case, the image of Marilyn—
does not harden and can be washed away to reveal a stencil of the original
image. Warhol uses photographic images for his screen prints. Then different colour
inks are dragged across the stencil and screen using a rubber squeegee to press the
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paint onto the surface through the screen. The same image can repeated but
changes slightly every time due to how hard the paint is applied.
Warhol produced multiples of the same image on the same surface area – changing
the colours of different parts of the stencil.
Usually with an assistant he would have to
consider registration- planning how to print the
next image accurately beside the one before.
The effect is stylized and glamorous—draws
attention to the superficial qualities of her
legendary public persona and in doing so
subverts the characteristics of traditional
portraiture. Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn reveals very little about who she was and yet
it has become ubiquitous, much like her famous film performances.
Warhol frequently used silk-screening; his later drawings were traced from slide
projections. At the height of his fame as a painter, Warhol had several assistants
who produced his silk-screen multiples, following his directions to make different
versions and variations.
Acrylic Painting Technique
Warhol rarely used traditional painting techniques without mixing them with other
techniques. Warhol sometimes used acrylic paint prior to the process of silkscreening, to apply colour to the photo negative that followed to be silk-screened.
He used industrial paint rather than art supplies and large brushes, applying the
paint on raw canvas. Warhol would also use his fingers instead of paintbrushes to
mix colours and add textures.
His later drawings were traced from slide projections. At the height of his fame as a
painter, Warhol had several assistants who produced his silk-screen multiples,
following his directions to make different versions and variations. [
Achievements
He co-founded Interview Magazine;
He painted an early computer portrait of singer Debbie Harry
He designed Grammy-winning record covers for The Rolling Stones; produced Andy
Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes and Andy Warhol’s TV, his own television programs for
MTV and cable access.
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He also developed a strong business in commissioned portraits, becoming highly
sought after for his brilliantly-coloured paintings of politicians, entertainers, sports
figures, writers, debutantes and heads of state
Warhol had so many possessions that it took Sotheby's nine days to auction his
estate after his death; the auction grossed more than US$20 million.
He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were
introduced in 1984, two years before his death.
His portrait " Eight Elvises" eventually resold for $100 million in 2008, making it one
of the most valuable paintings in world history.
There is an Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts dedicated to his work.
Why is Warhol important?
More than twenty years after his death, Andy Warhol remains one of the most
influential figures in contemporary art and culture. Warhol’s life and work inspires
creative thinkers’ worldwide thanks to his enduring imagery and his artfully cultivated
celebrity.
Andy Warhol remains not only a fascinating cultural icon, but an inspiration to new
generations of artists, curators, filmmakers, designers, and cultural innovators the
world over.
His prints are still recognizable and mass produced to this day.
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