Andrew Warhola known as
Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the
visual art movementAn art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years...
known as
pop artPop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter,
avant-gardeAvant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
filmmaker, record producer, author, and member of highly diverse social circles that included
BohemianBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective
exhibitionsArt exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
, books, and
feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "
15 minutes of fame15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
." In his hometown of Pittsburgh,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
,
The Andy Warhol MuseumThe Andy Warhol Museum, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist...
exists in memory of his life and artwork.
The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled
Eight ElvisesEight Elvises is a 1963 silkscreen painting by American pop artist Andy Warhol of Elvis Presley.On November 26, 2009, The Economist reported that the painting was sold by Italian collector Annibale Berlingieri to a private collector brokered by Philippe Ségalot, a French art consultant for $100...
. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "
bellwetherA bellwether is any entity in a given arena that serves to create or influence trends or to presage future happenings.The term is derived from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram leading his flock of sheep.The movements of...
of the art market." $100 million is a benchmark price that only
Jackson PollockPaul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
,
Pablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
,
Vincent van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Pierre-August Renoir,
Gustav KlimtGustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
and
Willem de KooningWillem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
have achieved.
Childhood (1928–48)
Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, on August 6, 1928. He was the fourth child of Ondrej Varchola (americanized as Andrej Warhola), who died in 1942, and
JúliaJúlia Varcholová, born Júlia Justína Zavacká, was the mother of the American artist Andy Warhol.-Life:...
(née Zavacká, 1892–1972), whose first child was born in their homeland and died before their move to the U.S.
His parents were working-class
RusynCarpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...
emigrants from
MikóMiková or Mikó in Hungarian, is a village and municipality in the former Eperjes County of the Kingdom of Hungary. The area was transferred to the newly formed Czechoslovakia in 1920 following the Treaty of Trianon...
(now called Miková), located in today’s northeastern
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Warhol's father immigrated to the US in 1914, and his mother joined him in 1921, after the death of Warhol's grandparents. Warhol's father worked in a coal mine. The family lived at 55 Beelen Street and later at 3252 Dawson Street in the
OaklandOakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The family was
Byzantine CatholicThe Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
and attended
St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic ChurchSt. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church is a historic Eastern Catholic church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the neighborhood of Four Mile Run, which is an isolated section of Greenfield at the bottom of Junction Hollow. Its address is 506 Saline Street.Today it...
. Andy Warhol had two older brothers – Pavol (Paul), the oldest, was born in Slovakia;
JánJohn Warhola played a pivotal role in maintaining the legacy of his younger brother, pop artist Andy Warhol, assigned responsibility by their father on his deathbed to ensure that Andy attended college and serving as a trustee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts after his brother's...
was born in Pittsburgh. Pavol's son,
James WarholaJames Warhola is an American artist who has illustrated more than two dozen children's books since 1987.A native of Smock, a coal-mining region in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and of Rusyn origin, he is the son of Paul Warhola, Andy Warhol's oldest brother. James received a BFA...
, became a successful children's book illustrator.
In
third gradeIn the United States, third grade is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 – 9 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
, Warhol had
choreaChoreia is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term choreia is derived from the Greek word χορεία , see choreia , as the quick movements of the feet or hands are vaguely comparable to dancing or piano playing.The term...
, the nervous system disease that causes involuntary movements of the extremities, which is believed to be a complication of
scarlet feverRheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
and causes skin pigmentation blotchiness. He became a hypochondriac, developing a fear of hospitals and doctors. Often bed-ridden as a child, he became an outcast at school and bonded with his mother. At times when he was confined to bed, he drew, 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. When Warhol was 13, his father died in an accident.
Commercial art (1949–61)
Warhol showed early artistic talent and studied
commercial artCommercial art is historically a subsector of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. The term has become increasingly anachronistic in favor of more contemporary terms such as graphic design and advertising art.Commercial art traditionally...
at the
School of Fine ArtsThe College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA oversees the Schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music; along with its associated centers, studios, and galleries....
at
Carnegie Institute of TechnologyThe Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (now
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
). In 1949, he moved to New York City and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising. During the 1950s, he gained fame for his whimsical ink drawings of shoe advertisements. These were done in a loose, blotted-ink style, and figured in some of his earliest showings at the
Bodley GalleryThe Bodley Gallery was a prominent art gallery in New York City, USA, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in contemporary and modern art. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art...
in New York. With the concurrent rapid expansion of the record industry and the introduction of the vinyl record, Hi-Fi, and stereophonic recordings,
RCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
hired Warhol, along with another freelance artist, Sid Maurer, to design album covers and promotional materials.
Warhol was an early adopter of the silk screen printmaking process as a technique for making paintings. His earliest silkscreening in painting involved hand-drawn images though this soon progressed to the use of photographically derived silkscreening in paintings. Prior to entering the field of fine art, Warhol's commercial art background also involved innovative techniques for image making that were somewhat related to printmaking techniques. When rendering commercial objects for advertising Warhol devised a technique that resulted in a characteristic image. His imagery used in advertising was often executed by means of applying ink to paper and then blotting the ink while still wet. This was a process akin to a
printmakingPrintmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
process on the most rudimentary scale. Warhol's work both as a commercial artist and later a fine artist displays a casual approach to image making, in which chance plays a role and mistakes and unintentional marks are tolerated. The resulting imagery in both Warhol's commercial art and later in his fine art endeavors is often replete with imperfection—smudges and smears can often be found. In his book "POPism" Warhol says, "…when you do something exactly wrong, you always turn up something."
Fine art (1952–67)
He began exhibiting his work during the 1950s. He held exhibitions at the
Hugo GalleryThe Hugo Gallery was a New York gallery, founded by Robert Rothschild, Elizabeth Arden and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo operated between 1945 and 1955.The Hugo gallery was initially on East 55th Street and Madison Avenue....
, and the
Bodley GalleryThe Bodley Gallery was a prominent art gallery in New York City, USA, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in contemporary and modern art. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art...
in New York City and in California his first one-man art-gallery exhibition was on July 9, 1962, in the
Ferus GalleryThe Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery operating from 1957-1966. In 1957 it was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California...
of Los Angeles. The exhibition marked his
West CoastWest Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
debut of pop art.
Andy Warhol's first New York solo
pop artPop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
exhibition was hosted at Eleanor Ward's
Stable GalleryThe Stable Gallery, originally located on West 58th Street in New York, was founded in 1953 by Eleanor Ward. The Stable Gallery hosted early solo New York exhibitions for artists including Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol.-History:...
November 6–24, 1962. The exhibit included the works
Marilyn DiptychThe Marilyn Diptych is a silkscreen painting by American pop artist Andy Warhol.-History and analysis:The work was completed during the weeks after Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962...
, 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke Bottles and 100 Dollar Bills. At the
Stable GalleryThe Stable Gallery, originally located on West 58th Street in New York, was founded in 1953 by Eleanor Ward. The Stable Gallery hosted early solo New York exhibitions for artists including Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol.-History:...
exhibit, the artist met for the first time poet
John GiornoJohn Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
who would star in Warhol's first film,
SleepSleep is a film by Andy Warhol which consists of long take footage of John Giorno, his close friend at the time, sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes. The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with filmmaking, and was created as an "anti-film". Warhol would later extend this technique to...
, in 1963.
It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American products such as
Campbell's Soup CansCampbell's Soup Cans, which is sometimes referred to as 32 Campbell's Soup Cans, is a work of art produced in 1962 by Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuring in height × in width and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each of the canned soup...
and
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
bottles, as well as paintings of celebrities such as
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
,
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
,
Troy DonahueTroy Donahue was an American actor, who was active between the late 1950s and late 1990s.-Life and career:...
,
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and
Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
. He founded "
The FactoryThe Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
," his studio during these years, and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He began producing prints using the silkscreen method His work became popular and controversial.
Among the imagery tackled by Warhol were dollar bills, celebrities and brand name products, as well as newspaper headlines or photographs of
mushroom cloudA mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
s,
electric chairExecution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
s, and police dogs attacking
civil rightsThe civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
protesters. Warhol also used Coca Cola bottles as subject matter for paintings. He had this to say about Coca Cola:
New York's
Museum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
hosted a Symposium on pop art in December 1962 during which artists like Warhol were attacked for "capitulating" to consumerism. Critics were scandalized by Warhol's open embrace of market culture. This symposium set the tone for Warhol's reception. Throughout the decade it became more and more clear that there had been a profound change in the culture of the art world, and that Warhol was at the center of that shift.
A pivotal event was the 1964 exhibit The American Supermarket, a show held in Paul Bianchini's Upper East Side gallery. The show was presented as a typical U.S. small supermarket environment, except that everything in it – from the produce, canned goods, meat, posters on the wall, etc. – was created by six prominent pop artists of the time, among them the controversial (and like-minded)
Billy AppleBilly Apple, ONZM is an artist whose work is associated with the New York and British schools of Pop Art in the 1960s and with the Conceptual Art movement in the 1970s. He collaborated with the likes of Andy Warhol and other pop artists...
, Mary Inman, and
Robert WattsRobert Watts was an American artist best known for his work as a member of the international Avant-garde art movement Fluxus. Born in Burlington, Iowa June 14, 1923, he became Professor of Art at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Jersey in 1953, a post he kept until 1984...
. Warhol's painting of a can of Campbell's soup cost $1,500 while each autographed can sold for $6. The exhibit was one of the first mass events that directly confronted the general public with both pop art and the perennial question of what art is (or of what is art and what is not).
As an
advertisement illustratorCommercial art is historically a subsector of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. The term has become increasingly anachronistic in favor of more contemporary terms such as graphic design and advertising art.Commercial art traditionally...
in the 1950s, Warhol used assistants to increase his productivity. Collaboration would remain a defining (and controversial) aspect of his working methods throughout his career; in the 1960s, however, this was particularly true. One of the most important collaborators during this period was
Gerard MalangaGerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
. Malanga assisted the artist with producing silkscreens, films, sculpture, and other works at "
The FactoryThe Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
," Warhol's aluminum foil-and-silver-paint-lined studio on 47th Street (later moved to Broadway). Other members of Warhol's Factory crowd included
Freddie HerkoFrederick Charles "Freddie" Herko was an artist, musician, actor, dancer, choreographer and teacher.-Biography:...
,
OndineRobert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
,
Ronald TavelRonald Tavel was an American screenwriter, director and actor, best known for his work with Andy Warhol and The Factory.-Early life and career:...
,
Mary WoronovMary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
,
Billy NameBilly Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
, and
Brigid BerlinBrigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar.-Early years:Berlin was the eldest of three daughters born to socialite parents, Muriel Johnson "Honey" Berlin and Richard E. Berlin, into a world of Manhattan privilege. Her father was chairman of the Hearst media empire for 32 years...
(from whom he apparently got the idea to tape-record his phone conversations).
During the '60s, Warhol also groomed a retinue of
bohemianBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
eccentrics upon whom he bestowed the designation "
SuperstarsWarhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
", including
NicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
,
Joe DallesandroJoseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
,
Edie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
,
VivaViva is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.-Career:She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name . She appeared in several of Warhol's films...
, Ultra Violet,
Holly WoodlawnHolly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
,
Jackie CurtisJohn Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...
and
Candy DarlingCandy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
. These people all participated in the Factory films, and some – like Berlin – remained friends with Warhol until his death. Important figures in the New York underground art/cinema world, such as writer
John GiornoJohn Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
and film-maker
Jack SmithJack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema...
, also appear in Warhol films of the 1960s, revealing Warhol's connections to a diverse range of artistic scenes during this time.
Attempted murder (1968)
On June 3, 1968,
Valerie SolanasValerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer, best known for her attempted murder of Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which called for male gendercide and the creation of an all-female society.-Early life:Solanas was born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, to Louis...
shot Warhol as well as art critic and curator
Mario AmayaMario Amaya was an American art critic, museum director, magazine editor and former director of the New York Cultural Center and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia . He was also the chief curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the founding editor of London’s Art and Artists...
at Warhol's studio. Before the shooting, Solanas had been a marginal figure in the Factory scene. She authored the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, a
separatist feministSeparatist feminism is a form of radical feminism that holds that opposition to patriarchy is best done through focusing exclusively on women and girls...
attack on males. Solanas appears in the 1968 Warhol film
I, a ManI, a Man is an Andy Warhol film featuring Warhol Superstars Tom Baker, Ivy Nicholson, Ingrid Superstar, Cynthia May, Bettina Coffin, Ultra Violet, Nico, and Valerie Solanas. The latter appeared in the film as compensation for a script she had given to Warhol called Up Your Ass, which he had lost...
. Earlier on the day of the attack, Solanas had been turned away from the Factory after asking for the return of a script she had given to Warhol. The script, apparently, had been misplaced.
Amaya received only minor injuries and was released from the hospital later the same day. Warhol however, was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived (surgeons opened his chest and
massaged his heartDefibrillation is a common treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Defibrillation consists of delivering a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the affected heart with a device called a defibrillator...
to help stimulate its movement again). He suffered physical effects for the rest of his life. The shooting had a profound effect on Warhol's life and art.
Solanas was arrested the day after the assault. By way of explanation, she said that Warhol "had too much control over my life." She was eventually sentenced to three years under the control of the
Department of CorrectionsThe New York City Department of Correction is responsible for New York City's inmates, housing the majority of them on Rikers Island. It employs 9,500 uniformed officers and 1,400 civilian staff, has 543 vehicles, and processes over 100,000 new inmates every year, retaining a population of inmates...
. After the shooting, the Factory scene became much more tightly controlled, and for many the "Factory 60s" ended. The shooting was mostly overshadowed in the media due to the assassination of
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
two days later.
Warhol had this to say about the attack: "Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there – I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel anything. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television. The channels switch, but it's all television."
1970s
Compared to the success and scandal of Warhol's work in the 1960s, the 1970s were a much quieter decade, as Warhol became more entrepreneurial. According to
Bob ColacelloBob Colacello is an American writer. Raised in Bensonhurst, New York, Colacello graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1969, and also has an MFA degree in film criticism from Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts.- Early endeavors and...
, Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new, rich patrons for portrait commissions– including Shah of Iran
Mohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
, his wife Empress
Farah PahlaviFarah Pahlavi is the former Queen and Empress of Iran. She is the widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and only Empress of modern Iran...
, his sister Princess Ashraf Pahlavi,
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
,
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
,
John LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
,
Diana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, and
Brigitte BardotBrigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
. Warhol's famous portrait of Chinese Communist leader
Mao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
was created in 1973. He also founded, with
Gerard MalangaGerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
,
InterviewInterview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
magazine, and published The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975). An idea expressed in the book: "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."
Warhol used to socialize at various nightspots in New York City, including
Max's Kansas CityMax's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
; and, later in the '70s,
Studio 54Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
. He was generally regarded as quiet, shy, and a meticulous observer. Art critic
Robert HughesRobert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...
called him "the white mole of
Union SquareUnion Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
."
Andy Warhol with his longtime friend
Stuart PivarStuart Pivar is a chemist, art collector and author from Brooklyn, New York.-New York art world:Pivar earned a B.Sc in chemistry at Hofstra University. An inventor, he made a large fortune in plastics, founding Chem-Tainer industries in 1959. The business specialised in bulk-storage plastic...
, founded the
New York Academy of ArtThe New York Academy of Art or the Graduate School of Figurative Art is an American private, not-for-profit art university, located at 111 Franklin Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City.-Foundation:...
in 1979.
1980s
Warhol had a re-emergence of critical and financial success in the 1980s, partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists, who were dominating the "bull market" of '80s New York art:
Jean-Michel BasquiatJean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
,
Julian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
,
David SalleDavid Salle is an American painter who helped define postmodern sensibility by combining figuration with a varied pictorial language of multi-imagery...
and other so-called
Neo-ExpressionistsNeo-expressionism is a style of modern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s and dominated the art market until the mid-1980s...
, as well as members of the
TransavantgardeTransavantgarde is the Italian version of Neo-expressionism, an art movement that swept through Italy, and the rest of Western Europe, in the late 1970s and 1980s. The term transavantgarde was coined by the Italian art critic, Achille Bonito Oliva, and literally means beyond the avant-garde...
movement in Europe, including
Francesco ClementeFrancesco Clemente is an Italian and American contemporary artist. Influenced by thinkers as diverse as Gregory Bateson, William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, and J Krishnamurti, the art of Francesco Clemente is inclusive and nomadic, crossing many borders, intellectual and geographical.Dividing his time...
and
Enzo CucchiEnzo Cucchi is an Italian painter. A native of Morro d'Alba, province of Ancona, he was a key member of the Italian Transavanguardia movement, along with fellow countrymen Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria, and Sandro Chia...
.
During this time Warhol created the Michael Jackson painting signifying his success attributed to his best-selling album
ThrillerThriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...
.
By this period, Warhol was being criticized for becoming merely a "business artist". In 1979, reviewers disliked his exhibits of portraits of 1970s personalities and celebrities, calling them superficial, facile and commercial, with no depth or indication of the significance of the subjects. They also criticized his 1980 exhibit of 10 portraits at the
Jewish MuseumThe Jewish Museum of New York, an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, is the leading Jewish museum in the United States. With over 26,000 objects, it contains the largest collection of art and Jewish culture outside of museums in Israel. The museum is housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in...
in New York, entitled Jewish Geniuses, which Warhol – who was uninterested in Judaism and Jews – had described in his diary as "They're going to sell." In hindsight, however, some critics have come to view Warhol's superficiality and commerciality as "the most brilliant mirror of our times," contending that "Warhol had captured something irresistible about the
zeitgeistZeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
of American culture in the 1970s."
Warhol also had an appreciation for intense Hollywood glamour. He once said: "I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic."
Death
Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine
gallbladderIn vertebrates the gallbladder is a small organ that aids mainly in fat digestion and concentrates bile produced by the liver. In humans the loss of the gallbladder is usually easily tolerated....
surgery at
New York HospitalNew York Hospital or “Old New York Hospital” or “City Hospital” was the oldest hospital in New York City and the second oldest hospital in the United States.-Early History:...
before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors. His family sued the hospital for inadequate care, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and
water intoxicationWater intoxication, also known as water poisoning, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water....
.
Warhol's body was taken back to Pittsburgh by his brothers for burial. The wake was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home and was an open-coffin ceremony. The coffin was a solid bronze casket with gold plated rails and white upholstery. Warhol was dressed in a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, a platinum wig, and sunglasses. He was posed holding a small prayer book and a red rose. The funeral liturgy was held at the
Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic ChurchHoly Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the city's North Side neighborhood at 1437 Superior Avenue...
on Pittsburgh's
North SideThe North Shore is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's North Side. It has a zip code of 15212, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both the council members for District 1 and 6...
. The eulogy was given by
MonsignorMonsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
Peter Tay.
Yoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
,
John Richardson- Politics :*John Richardson , Deputy Governor of Anguilla* John G. Richardson , former Speaker of the Maine House and current candidate for Governor.* John S...
, and
Nicholas LoveNicholas Love was an English lawyer and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England.Love was educated at Wadham College, Oxford; M.A., 1636; barrister, Lincoln's Inn, 1636. He was elected M.P. for Winchester in 1645. Love was one of the judges at the trial of Charles I, but did not sign the...
were speakers. The coffin was covered with white roses and
asparagus fernsAsparagus densiflorus, Sprenger's Asparagus, is a plant native to South Africa. Often used as an ornamental plant, it is considered an invasive weed in many locations. Asparagus fern is a common name; however, it is unrelated to true ferns. Some authorities also use the name A...
. After the liturgy, the coffin was driven to
St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic CemeterySt. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery is an Eastern Catholic cemetery in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb approximately south of downtown Pittsburgh. It is situated on a hillside in the southwest corner of the intersection of Connor Road and Pennsylvania State Route...
in Bethel Park, a south suburb of Pittsburgh.
At the grave, the priest said a brief prayer and sprinkled holy water on the casket. Before the coffin was lowered, Paige Powell dropped a copy of Interview magazine, an Interview t-shirt, and a bottle of the
Estee LauderEstée Lauder Companies, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...
perfume "Beautiful" into the grave. Warhol was buried next to his mother and father. A memorial service was held in Manhattan for Warhol on April 1, 1987, at
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New YorkThe Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
.
Warhol's will dictated that his entire estate – with the exception of a few modest legacies to family members – would go to create a foundation dedicated to the "advancement of the visual arts". Warhol had so many possessions that it took
Sotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
nine days to auction his estate after his death; the auction grossed more than US$20 million.
In 1987, in accordance with Warhol's will, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts began. The Foundation serves as the official Estate of Andy Warhol, but also has a mission "to foster innovative artistic expression and the creative process" and is "focused primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature."
The
Artists Rights SocietyArtists Rights Society is a copyright, licensing, and monitoring organization for visual artists in the United States. Founded in 1987, ARS represents the intellectual property rights interests of over 50,000 visual artists and estates of visual artists from around the world .- Member Artists &...
is the U.S. copyright representative for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for all Warhol works with the exception of Warhol film stills. The U.S. copyright representative for Warhol film stills is the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Additionally, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has agreements in place for its image archive. All digital images of Warhol are exclusively managed by
CorbisCorbis Corporation is an American company, based in Seattle, Washington, that licenses the rights to photographs, footage and other visual media...
, while all transparency images of Warhol are managed by Art Resource.
The Andy Warhol Foundation released its 20th Anniversary Annual Report as a three-volume set in 2007: Vol. I, 1987–2007; Vol. II, Grants & Exhibitions; and Vol. III, Legacy Program. The Foundation remains one of the largest grant-giving organizations for the visual arts in the U.S.
Works
Paintings
By the beginning of the 1960s, Warhol had become a very successful commercial illustrator. His detailed and elegant drawings for I. Miller shoes were particularly popular. They consisted mainly of "blotted ink" drawings (or monoprints), a technique which he applied in much of his early art. Although many artists of this period worked in commercial art, most did so discreetly. Warhol was so successful, however, that his profile as an illustrator seemed to undermine his efforts to be taken seriously as an artist.
Pop artPop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
was an experimental form that several artists were independently adopting; some of these pioneers, such as
Roy LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, would later become synonymous with the movement. Warhol, who would become famous as the "Pope of Pop", turned to this new style, where popular subjects could be part of the artist's palette. His early paintings show images taken from cartoons and advertisements, hand-painted with paint drips. Those drips emulated the style of successful abstract expressionists (such as
Willem de KooningWillem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
). Warhol's first pop art paintings were displayed in April 1961, serving as the backdrop for New York Department Store Bronwit Teller's window display. This was the same stage his Pop Art contemporaries
Jasper JohnsJasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
,
James RosenquistJames Rosenquist is an American artist and one of the protagonists in the pop-art movement.-Background and education:...
and
Robert RauschenbergRobert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
had also once graced. Eventually, Warhol pared his image vocabulary down to the icon itself – to brand names, celebrities, dollar signs – and removed all traces of the artist's "hand" in the production of his paintings.
To him, part of defining a niche was defining his subject matter. Cartoons were already being used by Lichtenstein, typography by
Jasper JohnsJasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, and so on; Warhol wanted a distinguishing subject. His friends suggested he should paint the things he loved the most. It was the gallerist Muriel Latow who came up with the ideas for both the soup cans and Warhol's dollar paintings. On 23 November 1961 Warhol wrote Latow a check for $50 which, according to the 2009 Warhol biography, Pop, The Genius of Warhol, was payment for coming up with the idea of the soup cans as subject matter.
For his first major exhibition Warhol painted his famous cans of Campbell's Soup, which he claimed to have had for lunch for most of his life. The work sold for $10,000 at an auction on November 17, 1971, at Sotheby's New York – a minimal amount for the artist whose paintings sell for over $6 million more recently.
He loved
celebritiesA celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
, so he painted them as well. From these beginnings he developed his later style and subjects. Instead of working on a signature subject matter, as he started out to do, he worked more and more on a signature style, slowly eliminating the hand-made from the artistic process. 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.
In 1979, Warhol was commissioned by BMW to paint a Group 4 race version of the then elite supercar
BMW M1The BMW M1 is a sports car that was produced by German automaker BMW from 1978 to 1981.In the late 1970s, Italian manufacturer Lamborghini entered into an agreement with BMW to build a production racing car in sufficient quantity for homologation. The result was sold to the public, from 1978 to...
for the fourth installment in the BMW Art Car Project. Unlike the three artists before him, Warhol declined the use of a small scale practice model, instead opting to immediately paint directly onto the full scale automobile. It was indicated that Warhol spent only a total of 23 minutes to paint the entire car.
Warhol produced both comic and serious works; his subject could be a soup can or an electric chair. Warhol used the same techniques– silkscreens, reproduced serially, and often painted with bright colors – whether he painted celebrities, everyday objects, or images of suicide, car crashes, and disasters, as in the 1962–63 Death and Disaster series. The Death and Disaster paintings included Red Car Crash, Purple Jumping Man, and Orange Disaster.
The unifying element in Warhol's work is his deadpan
KeatonesqueJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
style – artistically and personally affectless. This was mirrored by Warhol's own demeanor, as he often played "dumb" to the media, and refused to explain his work. The artist was famous for having said that all you need to know about him and his works is already there, "Just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it."
His
Rorschach inkblotsThe Rorschach test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning...
are intended as pop comments on art and what art could be. His cow wallpaper (literally, wallpaper with a cow motif) and his
oxidationRedox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....
paintings (canvases prepared with copper paint that was then oxidized with urine) are also noteworthy in this context. Equally noteworthy is the way these works – and their
means of productionMeans of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
– mirrored the atmosphere at Andy's New York "Factory". Biographer Bob Colacello provides some details on Andy's "piss paintings":
Warhol's first portrait of Basquiat (1982) is a black photosilkscreen over an oxidized copper "piss painting".
After many years of silkscreen, oxidation, photography, etc., Warhol returned to painting with a brush in hand in a series of over 50 large collaborative works done with
Jean-Michel BasquiatJean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
between 1984 and 1986. Despite negative criticism when these were first shown, Warhol called some of them "masterpieces," and they were influential for his later work.
The influence of the large collaborations with Basquiat can be seen in Warhol's The Last Supper cycle, his last and possibly his largest series, seen by some as "arguably his greatest," but by others as “wishy-washy, religiose” and “spiritless." It is also the largest series of religious-themed works by any U.S. artist.
At the time of his death, Warhol was working on
CarsCars is a series of artworks by the American artist Andy Warhol, commissioned by Mercedes-Benz in 1986.A German art dealer, Hans Meyer, commissioned the first painting, of a 300SL coupe, to celebrate the 1986 centenary of the invention of the motor car...
, a series of paintings for
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
.
A self-portrait by Andy Warhol (1963–64), which sold in New York at the May Post-War and Contemporary evening sale in Christie's, fetched $38.4 million.
Films
Warhol worked across a wide range of media – painting, photography, drawing, and sculpture. In addition, he was a highly prolific filmmaker. Between 1963 and 1968, he made more than 60 films, plus some 500 short black-and-white "screen test" portraits of Factory visitors. One of his most famous films,
SleepSleep is a film by Andy Warhol which consists of long take footage of John Giorno, his close friend at the time, sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes. The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with filmmaking, and was created as an "anti-film". Warhol would later extend this technique to...
, monitors poet
John GiornoJohn Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
sleeping for six hours. The 35-minute film Blow Job is one continuous shot of the face of
DeVeren BookwalterDeVeren Bookwalter was a theatre actor and director who became the first person to win three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for his production, direction and performance in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Globe Playhouse in 1975.Bookwalter served as a member of the board of trustees of the...
supposedly receiving
oral sexOral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
from filmmaker
Willard MaasWillard Maas was an American experimental filmmaker and poet.-Personal life and career:He was the husband of filmmaker Marie Menken...
, although the camera never tilts down to see this. Another,
Empire (1964)Empire is a silent, black-and-white film made by Andy Warhol. It consists of eight hours and five minutes of continuous slow motion footage of the Empire State Building in New York City. Abridged showings of the film were never allowed, and supposedly the very unwatchability of the film was an...
, consists of eight hours of footage of the
Empire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
in New York City at dusk. The film
EatEat is a 45-minute American film created by Andy Warhol.Eat is filmed in black-and-white, has no soundtrack, and depicts fellow pop artist Robert Indiana engaged in the process of eating for the entire length of the film. The comestible being consumed is apparently a mushroom. Finally, notice is...
consists of a man eating a mushroom for 45 minutes. Warhol attended the 1962 premiere of the static composition by LaMonte Young called Trio for Strings and subsequently created his famous series of static films including Kiss, Eat, and Sleep (for which Young initially was commissioned to provide music). Uwe Husslein cites filmmaker
Jonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
, who accompanied Warhol to the Trio premiere, and who claims Warhol's static films were directly inspired by the performance.
Batman DraculaBatman Dracula is a American film that was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, without the permission of DC Comics.-Production background:The film was screened only at his art exhibits...
is a 1964 film that was produced and directed by Warhol, without the permission of
DC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. It was screened only at his art exhibits. A fan of the Batman series, Warhol's movie was an "homage" to the series, and is considered the first appearance of a blatantly
campyCamp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
Batman. The film was until recently thought to have been lost, until scenes from the picture were shown at some length in the 2006 documentary
Jack Smith and the Destruction of AtlantisJack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis is a documentary film that premiered in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. It is a collection of interviews and clips by and about the revolutionary artist Jack Smith...
.
Warhol's 1965 film
VinylVinyl is a black-and-white experimental film directed by Andy Warhol at The Factory. It is an early adaptation of the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, starring Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Ondine, and Tosh Carillo, and featuring such songs as "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the...
is an adaptation of
Anthony BurgessJohn Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
' popular
dystopiaA dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n novel
A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
. Others record improvised encounters between Factory regulars such as
Brigid BerlinBrigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar.-Early years:Berlin was the eldest of three daughters born to socialite parents, Muriel Johnson "Honey" Berlin and Richard E. Berlin, into a world of Manhattan privilege. Her father was chairman of the Hearst media empire for 32 years...
,
VivaViva is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.-Career:She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name . She appeared in several of Warhol's films...
,
Edie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
,
Candy DarlingCandy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
,
Holly WoodlawnHolly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
,
OndineRobert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
,
NicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, and
Jackie CurtisJohn Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...
. Legendary underground artist
Jack SmithJack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema...
appears in the film Camp.
His most popular and critically successful film was
Chelsea GirlsChelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films...
(1966). The film was highly innovative in that it consisted of two
16 mm16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
-films being projected simultaneously, with two different stories being shown in tandem. From the projection booth, the sound would be raised for one film to elucidate that "story" while it was lowered for the other. The multiplication of images evoked Warhol's seminal silk-screen works of the early 1960s.
Other important films include Bike Boy, My Hustler, and
Lonesome CowboysLonesome Cowboys is a film by American filmmaker Andy Warhol. Written by Paul Morrissey, the film is a satire of Hollywood westerns. The film features Warhol superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Eric Emerson and Joe Dallesandro...
, a raunchy pseudo-
westernThe Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
. These and other titles document gay underground and camp culture, and continue to feature prominently in scholarship about sexuality and art.
Blue MovieBlue Movie , a.k.a. Fuck, is a film by Andy Warhol starring Viva and Louis Waldon.Warhol describes the film, "in October '68 I shot a movie of Viva having sex with Louis Waldon...
– a film in which Warhol superstar Viva makes love and fools around in bed with a man for 33 minutes of the film's playing-time – was Warhol's last film as director. The film was at the time scandalous for its frank approach to a sexual encounter. For many years Viva refused to allow it to be screened. It was publicly screened in New York in 2005 for the first time in over thirty years.
After his June 3, 1968, shooting, a reclusive Warhol relinquished his personal involvement in filmmaking. His acolyte and assistant director,
Paul MorrisseyPaul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
, took over the film-making chores for the
FactoryThe Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
collective, steering Warhol-branded cinema towards more mainstream, narrative-based, B-movie
exploitationExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
fare with
FleshFlesh is a 1968 film directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.Flesh is the first film of the "Paul Morrissey Trilogy" produced by Andy Warhol. The other films in the trilogy include Trash and Heat. All three have gained a cult following and are noted examples of the ideals and ideology of the...
,
TrashTrash is a 1970 American film directed and written by filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The movie stars Joe Dallesandro, transsexual Holly Woodlawn and Jane Forth. Dallesandro had previously starred in several other Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey films such as The Loves of Ondine, Lonesome Cowboys, and Flesh...
, and
HeatHeat also known as Andy Warhol's Heat, is an American film written and directed by Paul Morrissey, produced by Andy Warhol, and starring Joe Dallesandro, Sylvia Miles, and Andrea Feldman....
. All of these films, including the later
Andy Warhol's DraculaBlood for Dracula is a 1974 film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsberg. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, and Arno Juerging...
and
Andy Warhol's FrankensteinAndy Warhol's Frankenstein or Flesh for Frankenstein is a 1973 horror film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, Louis Peraino, and Carlo Ponti and starring Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren and Arno Juerging...
, were far more mainstream than anything Warhol as a director had attempted. These latter "Warhol" films starred
Joe DallesandroJoseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
– more of a Morrissey star than a true
Warhol superstarWarhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
.
In the early '70s, most of the films directed by Warhol were pulled out of circulation by Warhol and the people around him who ran his business. After Warhol's death, the films were slowly restored by the Whitney Museum and are occasionally projected at museums and film festivals. Few of the Warhol-directed films are available on video or DVD.
Factory in New York
- Factory: 1342 Lexington Avenue (the first Factory)
- The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
: 231 East 47th street 1963–1967 (the building no longer exists)
- Factory: 33 Union Square 1967–1973 (Decker Building
The Decker Building, periodically also named the Union Building, located at 33 Union Square West in Manhattan, New York City was built in 1892 for the Decker Brothers piano company, to designs by the radical anarchist architect John H. Edelmann, working in the office of Alfred Zucker...
)
- Factory: 860 Broadway (near 33 Union Square) 1973–1984 (the building has now been completely remodeled and was for a time (2000–2001) the headquarters of the dot-com
A dot-com company, or simply a dot-com , is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a website that uses the popular top-level domain, ".com" .While the term can refer to present-day companies, it is also used specifically to refer to companies with...
consultancy ScientScient was a San Francisco-based Internet consulting company, founded in 1997, that was one of the large American consulting firms during the dot-com bubble. The company was founded by Eric Greenberg, who had previously founded its competitor, Viant. Its CEO was Robert Howe, the former head of IBM...
)
- Factory: 22 East 33rd Street 1984–1987 (the building no longer exists)
- Home: 1342 Lexington Avenue
- Home: 57 East 66th street (Warhol's last home)
- Last personal studio: 158 Madison Avenue
Filmography
The following are the films directed or produced by
Andy Warhol.
| Year | Film | Cast | Notes |
| 1963 |
Sleep Sleep is a film by Andy Warhol which consists of long take footage of John Giorno, his close friend at the time, sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes. The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with filmmaking, and was created as an "anti-film". Warhol would later extend this technique to...
|
John Giorno John Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
|
Runtime of 320+ minutes |
| 1963 |
Andy Warhol Films Jack Smith Filming Normal Love |
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| 1963 |
Sarah-Soap |
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| 1963 |
Denis Deegan |
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| 1963 |
Kiss Kiss is an experimental film directed by Andy Warhol, which runs 50 minutes and features various couples -- man and woman, woman and woman, man and man -- kissing for 3½ minutes each...
|
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|
| 1963 |
Rollerskate/Dance Movie |
|
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| 1963 |
Jill and Freddy Dancing |
|
|
| 1963 |
Elvis at Ferus |
|
|
| 1963 |
Taylor and Me |
|
|
| 1963 |
Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of |
|
|
| 1963 |
Duchamp Opening |
|
|
| 1963 |
Salome and Delilah |
|
|
| 1963 |
Haircut No. 1 |
|
|
| 1963 |
Haircut No. 2 |
|
|
| 1963 |
Haircut No. 3 |
|
|
| 1963 |
Henry in Bathroom |
|
|
| 1963 |
Taylor and John |
|
|
| 1963 |
Bob Indiana, Etc. |
|
|
| 1963 |
Billy Klüver |
|
|
| 1963 |
John Washing |
|
|
| 1963 |
Naomi and John |
|
|
| 1964 |
Screen Tests Andy Warhol's Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".-Production background:...
|
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|
| 1964 |
Naomi and Rufus Kiss |
|
|
| 1964 |
Blow Job Blow Job is a silent film, directed by Andy Warhol, that was filmed in January 1964. The 35-minute film is an innovative film, considering the time period. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he receives fellatio from an unseen homosexual partner...
|
DeVeren BookwalterDeVeren Bookwalter was a theatre actor and director who became the first person to win three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for his production, direction and performance in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Globe Playhouse in 1975.Bookwalter served as a member of the board of trustees of the...
|
Shot at 24 frame/s, projected at 16 frame/s |
| 1964 |
Jill Johnston Dancing |
|
|
| 1964 |
Shoulder |
|
|
| 1964 |
Eat Eat is a 45-minute American film created by Andy Warhol.Eat is filmed in black-and-white, has no soundtrack, and depicts fellow pop artist Robert Indiana engaged in the process of eating for the entire length of the film. The comestible being consumed is apparently a mushroom. Finally, notice is...
|
Robert IndianaRobert Indiana is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement.-Life and work:Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana. His family relocated to Indianapolis, where he graduated from Arsenal Technical High School...
|
|
| 1964 |
Dinner At Daley's |
|
|
| 1964 |
Soap Opera |
|
|
| 1964 |
Batman Dracula Batman Dracula is a American film that was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, without the permission of DC Comics.-Production background:The film was screened only at his art exhibits...
|
|
|
| 1964 |
Three |
|
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| 1964 |
Jane and Darius |
|
|
| 1964 |
Couch |
|
|
| 1964 |
Empire Empire is a silent, black-and-white film made by Andy Warhol. It consists of eight hours and five minutes of continuous slow motion footage of the Empire State Building in New York City. Abridged showings of the film were never allowed, and supposedly the very unwatchability of the film was an...
|
|
Runtime of 8 hours 5 minutes |
| 1964 |
Henry Geldzahler |
|
|
| 1964 |
Taylor Mead's Ass Taylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory....
|
Taylor MeadTaylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
|
|
| 1964 |
Six Months |
|
|
| 1964 |
Mario Banana |
|
|
| 1964 |
Harlot Harlot is a 1971 pornographic movie starring Fran Spector, produced by Bill Osco and directed by Michael Benveniste and Howard Ziehm.It is one of the early adult movies of the 1970s, and follows Mona , the first mainstream adult film, also produced by Osco and directed by the team of Benveniste and...
|
|
|
| 1964 |
Mario Montez Dances |
|
|
| 1964 |
Isabel Wrist |
|
|
| 1964 |
Imu and Son |
|
|
| 1964 |
Allen |
|
|
| 1964 |
Philip and Gerard |
|
|
| 1964 |
13 Most Beautiful Women |
|
|
| 1964 |
13 Most Beautiful Boys |
|
|
| 1964 |
50 Fantastics and 50 Personalities |
|
|
| 1964 |
Pause |
|
|
| 1964 |
Messy Lives |
|
|
| 1964 |
Lips |
|
|
| 1964 |
Apple |
|
|
| 1964 |
The End of Dawn |
|
|
| 1965 |
John and Ivy |
|
|
| 1965 |
Screen Test #1 |
|
|
| 1965 |
Screen Test #2 |
|
|
| 1965 |
The Life of Juanita Castro |
|
|
| 1965 |
Drink |
|
|
| 1965 |
Suicide |
|
|
| 1965 |
Horse |
|
|
| 1965 |
Vinyl Vinyl is a black-and-white experimental film directed by Andy Warhol at The Factory. It is an early adaptation of the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, starring Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Ondine, and Tosh Carillo, and featuring such songs as "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the...
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|
| 1965 |
Bitch |
|
|
| 1965 |
Poor Little Rich Girl |
Edie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
|
|
| 1965 |
Face |
|
|
| 1965 |
Restaurant |
|
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| 1965 |
Kitchen |
|
|
| 1965 |
Afternoon |
|
|
| 1965 |
Beauty No. 1 Beauty No. 1 is a 1965 film by Andy Warhol starring Edie Sedgwick, Kip Stagg aka Bima Stagg, and Chuck Wein.-Synopsis and background:Beauty No. 1 is a precursor to Andy Warhol's better known follow up, Beauty No...
|
Edie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
|
|
| 1965 |
Beauty No. 2 Beauty No. 2 is a 1965 film by Andy Warhol starring Edie Sedgwick, Gino Piserchio, and Chuck Wein.-Synopsis:The movie has a fixed point of view showing a bed with two characters on it, Sedgwick and Piserchio. Chuck Wein is heard speaking but is just out of view...
|
Edie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
|
|
| 1965 |
Space |
|
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| 1965 |
Factory Diaries |
|
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| 1965 |
Outer and Inner Space |
|
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| 1965 |
Prison |
|
|
| 1965 |
The Fugs and The Holy Modal Rounders |
|
|
| 1965 |
Paul Swan |
|
|
| 1965 |
My Hustler |
|
|
| 1965 |
My Hustler II |
|
|
| 1965 |
Camp |
|
|
| 1965 |
More Milk, Yvette More Milk, Yvette is Andy Warhol's tribute to Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato, and features Warhol superstar Mario Montez in the role of Turner, and also features Paul Caruso and Richard Schmidt....
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|
|
| 1965 |
Lupe |
|
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| 1965 |
The Closet |
|
|
| 1966 |
Ari and Mario |
|
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| 1966 |
3 Min. Mary Might |
|
|
| 1966 |
Eating Too Fast Eating Too Fast is an Andy Warhol film made at the Factory. It was originally titled Blow Job #2 and features art critic and writer Gregory Battcock . The film is 67 minutes long and is, in effect, a sound film remake of Warhol's Blow Job...
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| 1966 |
The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound is an Andy Warhol film made at The Factory. It is 67 minutes long and was filmed in 16mm black and white....
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|
| 1966 |
Hedy |
|
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| 1966 |
Rick |
|
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| 1966 |
Withering Heights |
|
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| 1966 |
Paraphernalia |
|
|
| 1966 |
Whips |
|
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| 1966 |
Salvador Dalí Salvador Dalí is a 35-minute film directed by Andy Warhol. The film features surrealist artist Salvador Dalí visiting the Factory and meeting the rock band The Velvet Underground.-External links:*...
|
|
|
| 1966 |
The Beard |
|
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| 1966 |
Superboy |
|
|
| 1966 |
Patrick |
|
|
| 1966 |
Chelsea Girls Chelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films...
|
|
|
| 1966 |
Bufferin |
|
|
| 1966 |
Bufferin Commercial |
|
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| 1966 |
Susan-Space |
|
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| 1966 |
The Velvet Underground Tarot Cards |
|
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| 1966 |
Nico/Antoine |
|
|
| 1966 |
Marcel Duchamp |
|
|
| 1966 |
Dentist: Nico |
|
|
| 1966 |
Ivy |
|
|
| 1966 |
Denis |
|
|
| 1966 |
Ivy and Denis I |
|
|
| 1966 |
Ivy and Denis II |
|
|
| 1966 |
Tiger Hop |
|
|
| 1966 |
The Andy Warhol Story |
|
|
| 1966 |
Since |
|
|
| 1966 |
The Bob Dylan Story |
|
|
| 1966 |
Mrs. Warhol |
|
|
| 1966 |
Kiss the Boot |
|
|
| 1966 |
Nancy Fish and Rodney |
|
|
| 1966 |
Courtroom |
|
|
| 1966 |
Jail |
|
|
| 1966 |
Alien in Jail |
|
|
| 1966 |
A Christmas Carol |
|
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| 1966 |
Four Stars aka **** Four Stars is a 1967 avant-garde film by Andy Warhol, actually consisting of 25 hours of film . In typical Warhol fashion of the period, each reel of the film is 35 minutes long, or 1200 ft...
|
|
runtime of 25 hours |
| 1967 |
Imitation of Christ - Production :Andy Warhol shot sixteen 32-minute reels of film for all the interior shots during January 1967 in a Hollywood Hills home called the Castle...
|
|
|
| 1967 |
Ed Hood |
|
|
| 1967 |
Donyale Luna |
|
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| 1967 |
I, a Man I, a Man is an Andy Warhol film featuring Warhol Superstars Tom Baker, Ivy Nicholson, Ingrid Superstar, Cynthia May, Bettina Coffin, Ultra Violet, Nico, and Valerie Solanas. The latter appeared in the film as compensation for a script she had given to Warhol called Up Your Ass, which he had lost...
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| 1967 |
The Loves of Ondine |
|
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| 1967 |
Bike Boy |
|
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| 1967 |
Tub Girls Tub Girls is an Andy Warhol film.The film stars Viva, one of the Warhol Superstars, who sat naked in a bathtub talking with some of the other regulars found inside The Factory, like Brigid Berlin who was also known by the name Brigid Polk....
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| 1967 |
The Nude Restaurant |
|
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| 1967 |
Construction-Destruction-Construction |
|
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| 1967 |
Sunset |
|
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| 1967 |
Withering Sighs |
|
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| 1967 |
Vibrations |
|
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| 1968 |
Lonesome Cowboys Lonesome Cowboys is a film by American filmmaker Andy Warhol. Written by Paul Morrissey, the film is a satire of Hollywood westerns. The film features Warhol superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Eric Emerson and Joe Dallesandro...
|
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| 1968 |
San Diego Surf |
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| 1968 |
FleshFlesh is a 1968 film directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.Flesh is the first film of the "Paul Morrissey Trilogy" produced by Andy Warhol. The other films in the trilogy include Trash and Heat. All three have gained a cult following and are noted examples of the ideals and ideology of the...
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| 1969 |
Blue Movie Blue Movie , a.k.a. Fuck, is a film by Andy Warhol starring Viva and Louis Waldon.Warhol describes the film, "in October '68 I shot a movie of Viva having sex with Louis Waldon...
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| 1969 |
Trash Trash is a 1970 American film directed and written by filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The movie stars Joe Dallesandro, transsexual Holly Woodlawn and Jane Forth. Dallesandro had previously starred in several other Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey films such as The Loves of Ondine, Lonesome Cowboys, and Flesh...
|
Joe Dallessandro, Holly Woodlawn Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
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| 1970 |
Women in Revolt Women In Revolt is a 1971 satire film produced by Andy Warhol and directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The stars of the film are Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn, three transgendered superstars of Andy Warhol's Factory scene. Jackie and Candy had previously appeared in Flesh...
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| 1971 |
Water |
|
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| 1971 |
Factory Diaries |
|
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| 1972 |
Heat Heat also known as Andy Warhol's Heat, is an American film written and directed by Paul Morrissey, produced by Andy Warhol, and starring Joe Dallesandro, Sylvia Miles, and Andrea Feldman....
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| 1973 |
L'Amour L'Amour , also known as Andy Warhol's L'Amour, is an underground film written by Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol and directed by Morrissey and Warhol...
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| 1973 |
Flesh for Frankenstein Andy Warhol's Frankenstein or Flesh for Frankenstein is a 1973 horror film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, Louis Peraino, and Carlo Ponti and starring Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren and Arno Juerging...
|
|
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| 1974 |
Blood for DraculaBlood for Dracula is a 1974 film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsberg. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, and Arno Juerging...
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| 1973 |
Vivian's Girls |
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Phoney |
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| 1975 |
Nothing Special footage |
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| 1975 |
Fight |
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| 1977 |
Andy Warhol's Bad Andy Warhol's Bad is a 1977 comedy film, directed by Jed Johnson, starring Carroll Baker, Perry King and Susan Tyrrell. It was written by Pat Hackett and George Abagnalo, and produced by Andy Warhol....
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| 1985 |
Listen for Traffic |
|
produced for Sesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
|
Music
In the mid 1960s, Warhol adopted the band
the Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, making them a crucial element of the
Exploding Plastic InevitableThe Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
multimedia performance art show. Warhol, with
Paul MorrisseyPaul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
, acted as the band's manager, introducing them to
NicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
(who would perform with the band at Warhol's request). In 1966 he "produced" their first album The Velvet Underground & Nico, as well as providing its album art. His actual participation in the album's production amounted to simply paying for the studio time. After the band's first album, Warhol and band leader
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
started to disagree more about the direction the band should take, and their artistic friendship ended. In 1989, after Warhol's death, Reed and
John CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
re-united for the first time since 1972 to write, perform, record and release the concept album
Songs for DrellaSongs for Drella is a concept album by Lou Reed and John Cale, both formerly of The Velvet Underground.On January 9, 1989 Cale and Reed performed a selection of Songs for Drella at The Church of St. Anne's in Brooklyn. The first full version was played on November 29–30, and December 2–3 at the...
, a tribute to Warhol.
Warhol designed many album covers for various artists starting with the photographic cover of
John WallowitchJohn Wallowitch was an American songwriter and cabaret performer. He wrote over 2,000 songs; his works include "Bruce", "I See the World Through Your Eyes", "Back on the Town" and "Mary's Bar". For over 50 years he played and sang a catalogue of original songs at nightspots around New York City...
's debut album, This Is John Wallowitch!!! (1964). He designed the cover art for
the Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
albums
Sticky Fingers-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead vocals, acoustic guitar on "Dead Flowers", electric guitar on "Sway", percussion*Keith Richards – electric guitar, six & twelve string acoustic guitar, backing vocals...
(1971) and
Love You LiveLove You Live is a double live album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1977. It is drawn from Tour of the Americas shows in the US in the summer of 1975, Tour of Europe shows in 1976 and performances from the infamous El Mocambo nightclub concert venue in Toronto in 1977...
(1977), and the
John CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
albums
The Academy in PerilThe Academy in Peril is a 1972 album by John Cale. Like his previous release, the Terry Riley collaboration Church of Anthrax, it is mostly instrumental...
(1972) and
Honi SoitHoni Soit is a 1981 album by John Cale. All songs were written by Cale, except "Streets Of Laredo", a traditional song arranged by Cale....
in 1981. In 1975, Warhol was commissioned to do several portraits of
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, and in 1982 he designed the album cover for the
Diana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
album
Silk ElectricSilk Electric is a 1982 album released by American singer Diana Ross on the RCA label. The album is most notable for its iconic Andy Warhol-designed album cover of Ross and for the Top 10, Grammy-nominated single, "Muscles" . It was the second album self-produced by the singer except for the...
. One of his last works was a portrait of
Aretha FranklinAretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
for the cover of her 1986
gold albumMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
ArethaAretha is an Aretha Franklin album, originally released in 1986. This is the third album with this title to be released by the artist. Other Franklin albums titled Aretha were also released in 1980 and 1961....
, which was done in the style of the Reigning Queens series he had completed the year before.
Warhol strongly influenced the
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
/
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band
DevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, as well as
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. Bowie recorded a song called "Andy Warhol" for his 1971 album
Hunky DoryHunky Dory is the fourth album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1971. It was Bowie's first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade...
. Lou Reed wrote the song "Andy's Chest", about
Valerie SolanasValerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer, best known for her attempted murder of Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which called for male gendercide and the creation of an all-female society.-Early life:Solanas was born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, to Louis...
, the woman who shot Warhol, in 1968. He recorded it with the Velvet Underground, and this version was released on the
VUVU is an outtakes compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in February 1985 by Verve Records.-Composition and collection:...
album in 1985.
Books and print
Beginning in the early 1950s, Warhol produced several unbound portfolios of his work.
The first of several bound self-published books by Warhol was
25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy is a privately printed, limited edition artist's book by the American artist Andy Warhol.It was printed in 1954 by Seymour Berlin with Charles Lisanby credited as the author, as he suggested the title, yet there is no text in the book...
, printed in 1954 by Seymour Berlin on Arches brand watermarked paper using his blotted line technique for the lithographs. The original edition was limited to 190 numbered, hand colored copies, using Dr. Martin's ink washes. Most of these were given by Warhol as gifts to clients and friends. Copy #4, inscribed "Jerry" on the front cover and given to
Geraldine StutzGeraldine Stutz was an American retail groundbreaker. She was appointed president of Henri Bendel in 1957, serving for 29 years until stepping down in 1986.She was born in Chicago, Illinois....
, was used for a facsimile printing in 1987 and the original was auctioned in May 2006 for US $35,000 by
Doyle New YorkDoyle New York is one of the world's largest auctioneers and appraisers of fine art, jewelry, furniture, decorations and other specialty categories. Located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Doyle offers approximately forty auctions each year...
.
Other self-published books by Warhol include:
- A Gold Book
- Wild Raspberries
- Holy Cats
After gaining fame, Warhol "wrote" several books that were commercially published:
- a, A Novel
a, A Novel is a 1968 book by the American artist Andy Warhol published by Grove Press. It is a nearly word-for-word transcription of tapes recorded by Warhol and Ondine over a two-year period in 1966-1968.-The Novel:...
(1968, ISBN 0-8021-3553-6) is a literal transcription– containing spelling errors and phonetically written background noise and mumbling– of audio recordings of OndineRobert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
and several of Andy Warhol's friends hanging out at the Factory, talking, going out.
- The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again)
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol is a 1975 book by the American artist Andy Warhol . It was first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich....
(1975, ISBN 0-15-671720-4)– according to Pat Hackett's introduction to The Andy Warhol Diaries, Pat Hackett did the transcriptions and text for the book based on daily phone conversations, sometimes (when Warhol was traveling) using audio cassettes that Andy Warhol gave her. Said cassettes contained conversations with Brigid BerlinBrigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar.-Early years:Berlin was the eldest of three daughters born to socialite parents, Muriel Johnson "Honey" Berlin and Richard E. Berlin, into a world of Manhattan privilege. Her father was chairman of the Hearst media empire for 32 years...
(also known as Brigid Polk) and former Interview magazine editor Bob ColacelloBob Colacello is an American writer. Raised in Bensonhurst, New York, Colacello graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1969, and also has an MFA degree in film criticism from Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts.- Early endeavors and...
.
- Popism: The Warhol Sixties
Popism: The Warhol Sixties is a 1980 memoir by the American artist Andy Warhol . It was first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich....
(1980, ISBN 0-15-672960-1), authored by Warhol and Pat Hackett is a retrospective view of the sixties and the role of pop art.
- The Andy Warhol Diaries
The Andy Warhol Diaries is a posthumous work by the American artist Andy Warhol and was edited by his secretary Pat Hackett. Warner Books first published it in 1989 with an introduction by Hackett....
(1989, ISBN 0-446-39138-7), edited by Pat Hackett, is a diary dictated by Warhol to Hackett in daily phone conversations. Warhol started the diary to keep track of his expenses after being audited, although it soon evolved to include his personal and cultural observations.
Warhol created the fashion magazine
InterviewInterview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
that is still published today. The loopy title script on the cover is thought to be either his own handwriting or that of his mother, Julia Warhola, who would often do text work for his early commercial pieces.
Other media
Although Andy Warhol is most known for his paintings and films, he authored works in many different media.
- Drawing: Warhol started his career as a commercial illustrator, producing drawings in "blotted-ink" style for advertisements and magazine articles. Best known of these early works are his drawings of shoes. Some of his personal drawings were self-published in small booklets, such as Yum, Yum, Yum (about food), Ho, Ho, Ho (about Christmas) and (of course) Shoes, Shoes, Shoes. His most artistically acclaimed book of drawings is probably A Gold Book, compiled of sensitive drawings of young men. A Gold Book is so named because of the gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
that decorates its pages.
- Sculpture: Warhol's most famous sculpture is probably his Brillo Boxes, silkscreened ink on wood replicas of Brillo soap pad boxes (designed by James Harvey
James Harvey was an American commercial and fine artist who was best known as the designer of the Brillo Pad box made famous by pop artist Andy Warhol in 1964 at his "Stable Gallery Show". During a his successful career as a commercial artist, Harvey did work for major clients such as Pepsodent,...
), part of a series of "grocery carton" sculptures that also included Heinz ketchup and Campbell's tomato juice cases. Other famous works include the Silver Clouds– helium filled, silver mylar, pillow-shaped balloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...
s. A Silver Cloud was included in the traveling exhibition Air Art (1968–69) curated by Willoughby SharpWilloughby Sharp was an internationally known artist, independent curator, independent publisher, gallerist, teacher, author, and telecom activist. In 1968, Sharp co-founded Avalanche magazine with writer/filmmaker Liza Béar...
. Clouds was also adapted by Warhol for avant-gardeAvant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
choreographer Merce Cunningham's dance piece RainForest (1968).
- Audio: At one point Warhol carried a portable recorder with him wherever he went, taping everything everybody said and did. He referred to this device as his "wife". Some of these tapes were the basis for his literary work. Another audio-work of Warhol's was his "Invisible Sculpture", a presentation in which burglar alarms would go off when entering the room. Warhol's cooperation with the musicians of The Velvet Underground was driven by an expressed desire to become a music producer.
- Time Capsules: In 1973, Warhol began saving ephemera from his daily life– correspondence, newspapers, souvenirs, childhood objects, even used plane tickets and food– which was sealed in plain cardboard boxes dubbed Time Capsules. By the time of his death, the collection grew to include 600, individually dated "capsules". The boxes are now housed at the Andy Warhol Museum.
- Television: Andy Warhol dreamed of a television show that he wanted to call The Nothing Special, a special about his favorite subject: Nothing. Later in his career he did create two cable television shows, Andy Warhol's TV in 1982 and Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes
Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes is an American talk show hosted by artist Andy Warhol, that aired on MTV from 1985 to 1987. One of the network's earliest series, it was made up of interviews of up and coming musicians such as Courtney Love....
(based on his famous "fifteen minutes of fame" quotation) for MTV in 1986. Besides his own shows he regularly made guest appearances on other programs, including The Love BoatThe Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
wherein a Midwestern wife (Marion RossMarion Ross is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Cunningham on the television series Happy Days from 1974 to 1984.-Early life:...
) fears Andy Warhol will reveal to her husband (Tom BosleyThomas Edward "Tom" Bosley was an American actor. Bosley is best known for portraying Howard Cunningham on the long-running ABC sitcom Happy Days. He also was featured in recurring roles on Murder, She Wrote, and Father Dowling Mysteries...
, who starred alongside Ross in sitcom Happy DaysHappy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
) her secret past as a Warhol superstar named Marina del Rey. Warhol also produced a TV commercial for Schrafft's Restaurants in New York City, for an ice cream dessert appropriately titled the "Underground Sundae".
- Fashion: Warhol is quoted for having said: "I'd rather buy a dress and put it up on the wall, than put a painting, wouldn't you?" One of his most well-known Superstars, Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, aspired to be a fashion designer, and his good friend HalstonRoy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...
was a famous one. Warhol's work in fashion includes silkscreened dresses, a short sub-career as a catwalk-model and books on fashion as well as paintings with fashion (shoes) as a subject.
- Performance Art: Warhol and his friends staged theatrical multimedia happenings at parties and public venues, combining music, film, slide projections and even Gerard Malanga in an S&M outfit cracking a whip. The Exploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
in 1966 was the culmination of this area of his work.
- Theater: Andy Warhol's PORK opened on May 5, 1971 at LaMama theater in New York for a two week run and was brought to the Roundhouse in London for a longer run in August, 1971. Pork was based on tape-recorded conversations between Brigin Berlin and Andy during which Brigid would play for Andy tapes she had made of phone conversations between herself and her mother, socialite Honey Berlin. The play featured Jayne County
Jayne County , formerly known as Wayne County, is an American male-to-female transsexual performer, musician and actress whose career has spanned several decades. County would go on to be known as rock's first transsexual singer...
as "Vulva" and Cherry VanillaCherry Vanilla is an American singer-songwriter, publicist, and actress. After working as an actress in Andy Warhol's Pork, she worked as a publicist for David Bowie, before finding fame as a rock singer. She subsequently became a publicist for Vangelis.-Career:Kathleen Dorritie was born in...
as "Amanda Pork". In 1974, Andy Warhol also produced the stage musical Man On The MoonMan On The Moon is a 1975 musical written by John Phillips of the Mamas & The Papas, produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey. The story concerns an American astronaut who leads a mission of interplanetary dignitaries to prevent the destruction of the universe by a bomb that has been...
, which was written by John PhillipsJohn Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...
of the Mamas and the Papas.
- Photography: To produce his silkscreens, Warhol made photographs or had them made by his friends and assistants. These pictures were mostly taken with a specific model of Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
camera that Polaroid kept in production especially for Warhol. This photographic approach to painting and his snapshot method of taking pictures has had a great effect on artistic photography. Warhol was an accomplished photographer, and took an enormous amount of photographs of Factory visitors, friends.
- Computer: Warhol used Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computers to generate digital art, which he helped design and build with Amiga, Inc. He also displayed the difference between slow fill and fast fill on live TV with Debbie HarryDeborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
as a model. (video)
Producer and product
Warhol had assistance in producing his paintings. This is also true of his film-making and commercial enterprises.
He founded the gossip magazine
InterviewInterview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
, a stage for celebrities he "endorsed" and a business staffed by his friends. He collaborated with others on all of his books (some of which were written with Pat Hackett.) He adopted the young painter
Jean-Michel BasquiatJean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
, and the band
The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, presenting them to the public as his latest interest, and collaborating with them. One might even say that he produced people (as in the Warholian "Superstar" and the Warholian portrait). He endorsed products, appeared in commercials, and made frequent celebrity guest appearances on television shows and in films (he appeared in everything from
Love BoatThe Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan, informally known as the Love Boat, is currently a four-week summer program for about 400–600 college-aged Overseas Chinese. In Chinese, it is also colloquially referred to as mei-jia-ying - America and Canada Camp, a reference to where...
to
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and the
Richard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
movie, Dynamite Chicken).
In this respect Warhol was a fan of "Art Business" and "Business Art"– he, in fact, wrote about his interest in thinking about art as business in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol from A to B and Back Again.
Sexuality
It is generally accepted that Warhol was homosexual. When interviewed in 1980, he indicated that he was still a virgin - biographer
Bob ColacelloBob Colacello is an American writer. Raised in Bensonhurst, New York, Colacello graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1969, and also has an MFA degree in film criticism from Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts.- Early endeavors and...
who was present at the interview felt it was probably true and that what little sex he had was probably "a mixture of voyeurism and masturbation - to use his [Andy's] word abstract". Warhol's assertion of virginity would seem to be contradicted by an incident recounted by one biographer, his hospital treatment in 1960 for condylomota, a sexually transmitted disease. The question of how Warhol's sexuality influenced his work and shaped his relationship to the art world is a major subject of scholarship on the artist and is an issue that Warhol himself addressed in interviews, in conversation with his contemporaries, and in his publications (e.g. Popism: The Warhol Sixties). Throughout his career, Warhol produced erotic photography and drawings of male nudes. Many of his most famous works (portraits of
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
,
Judy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, and
Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, and films like
Blow JobBlow Job is a silent film, directed by Andy Warhol, that was filmed in January 1964. The 35-minute film is an innovative film, considering the time period. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he receives fellatio from an unseen homosexual partner...
, My Hustler and
Lonesome CowboysLonesome Cowboys is a film by American filmmaker Andy Warhol. Written by Paul Morrissey, the film is a satire of Hollywood westerns. The film features Warhol superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Eric Emerson and Joe Dallesandro...
) draw from gay underground culture and/or openly explore the complexity of sexuality and desire. Many of his films premiered in gay porn theaters. The first works that he submitted to a fine art gallery, homoerotic drawings of male nudes, were rejected for being too openly gay. In Popism, furthermore, the artist recalls a conversation with the film maker
Emile de AntonioEmile de Antonio was a director and producer of documentary films, usually detailing political or social events circa 1960s–1980s...
about the difficulty Warhol had being accepted socially by the then more famous (but
closetedCloseted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
) gay artists
Jasper JohnsJasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
and
Robert RauschenbergRobert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
. De Antonio explained that Warhol was "too swish and that upsets them." In response to this, Warhol writes, "There was nothing I could say to that. It was all too true. So I decided I just wasn't going to care, because those were all the things that I didn't want to change anyway, that I didn't think I 'should' want to change... Other people could change their attitudes but not me". In exploring Warhol's biography, many turn to this period – the late 1950s and early 1960s – as a key moment in the development of his persona. Some have suggested that his frequent refusal to comment on his work, to speak about himself (confining himself in interviews to responses like "Um, no" and "Um, yes", and often allowing others to speak for him) – and even the evolution of his pop style – can be traced to the years when Warhol was first dismissed by the inner circles of the New York art world.
Religious beliefs
During his life, Warhol was very private about his moral and religious views, as he was about almost all aspects of his personal life. After his death, it became gradually known and accepted that Warhol was a practicing
Ruthenian Rite CatholicThe Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
. Even close friends did not know he regularly attended services at
Saint Vincent FerrerThe Church of St. Vincent Ferrer is a Roman Catholic parish in Manhattan, New York City. The 1918 church building, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street on the Upper East Side, has been called "one of New York's greatest architectural adornments"...
. His religious views and the way they inform his work have since become a subject of study, and a body of religious-themed works was found posthumously in his estate.
During the last part of his life, Warhol made a large number of paintings that deal with religious subjects and the Eastern Christian iconographic and painterly tradition, most note-worthy his The Last Supper-series (1986).
Dedicated museums
Two museums are dedicated to Warhol.
The Andy Warhol MuseumThe Andy Warhol Museum, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist...
, one of the
Carnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, is located at 117 Sandusky Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the largest American art museum dedicated to a single artist, holding more than 12,000 works by the artist.
The other museum is the
Andy Warhol Museum of Modern ArtThe Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce, Slovakia was established in 1991 by the American family of the artist Andy Warhol and the Slovak Ministry of Culture...
, established in 1991 by Warhol's brother
John WarholaJohn Warhola played a pivotal role in maintaining the legacy of his younger brother, pop artist Andy Warhol, assigned responsibility by their father on his deathbed to ensure that Andy attended college and serving as a trustee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts after his brother's...
, the Slovak Ministry of Culture, and the Warhol Foundation in New York. It is located in the small town of
MedzilaborceMedzilaborce is a town in northeastern Slovakia close to the border with Poland, located near the towns of Sanok and Bukowsko . Its population is approximately 6,600.-Characteristics:...
, Slovakia. Warhol's parents and his two eldest brothers were born 15 kilometres away in the village of
MikováMiková or Mikó in Hungarian, is a village and municipality in the former Eperjes County of the Kingdom of Hungary. The area was transferred to the newly formed Czechoslovakia in 1920 following the Treaty of Trianon...
. The museum houses several originals donated mainly by the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York and also personal items donated by Warhol's relatives.
Movies about Warhol
Dramatic portrayals
In 1979, Warhol appeared as himself in the film Cocaine Cowboys.
After his passing, Warhol was portrayed by
Crispin GloverCrispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...
in
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's film
The DoorsThe Doors is a 1991 biopic about the 1960s-1970s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson , Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger,...
(1991), by David Bowie in Basquiat, a film by
Julian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
, and by
Jared HarrisJared Francis Harris is a British character actor, well known for playing the obnoxious Mac McGrath in the Adam Sandler film Mr. Deeds, and for his portrayal of Lane Pryce on the AMC series Mad Men.- Personal life :...
in the film
I Shot Andy Warhol directed by
Mary HarronMary Harron is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter best known for her films I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page.-Overview:...
(1996). Warhol appears as a character in
Michael DaughertyMichael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...
's 1997 opera Jackie O. Actor Mark Bringleson makes a brief cameo as Warhol in
Austin Powers: International Man of MysteryAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...
(1997). Many films by avant-garde cineast
Jonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
have caught the moments of Andy's life. Sean Gregory Sullivan depicted Warhol in the 1998 film
5454 is a 1998 drama film written and directed by Mark Christopher, starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, and Neve Campbell...
.
Guy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
portrayed Warhol in the 2007 film,
Factory GirlFactory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film based on the life of 1960s underground film star, socialite, and Warhol Superstar Edie Sedgwick. The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 29, 2006.-Plot:...
, about Edie Sedgwick's life. Actor
Greg TravisGreg Travis is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 feature films and internationally recognised stand-up comedian. Based in the U.S. he created the comedy character David Sleaze, The Punk Magician, in which he puts on a punk rock-style wig and does a variety of bad magic tricks using...
portrays Warhol in a brief scene from the 2009 film
WatchmenWatchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
.
Gus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
was planning a version of Warhol's life with
River PhoenixRiver Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...
in the lead role just before Phoenix's death in 1993.
Documentaries
- The 2001 documentary, Absolut Warhola
Absolut Warhola is a 2001 film directed by Stanislaw Mucha about Andy Warhol's extended family, whom he never met, from rural Slovakia.The film follows the filmmakers as they travel through eastern Slovakia to interview Warhol's surviving relatives, ethnic-Ruthenians living near the Polish border...
was produced by Polish director Stanislaw Mucha, featuring Warhol's parents' family and hometown in Slovakia.
- Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film is a four-hour 2006 documentary by Ric Burns about pop artist Andy Warhol.The film is Burns' cinematic argument that Warhol was the greatest artist of the second half of the 20th Century...
is a reverential four-hour 2006 movie by Ric BurnsRic Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries for nearly 20 years, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War , which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey C...
.
- Andy Warhol: Double Denied is a 52 minute movie by lan Yentob about the difficulties in authenticating Warhol's work.
- Andy Warhol's People Factory, a three-part 2008 television documentary directed by Catherine Shorr, features interviews with several of Warhol's associates.
See also
- Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board
The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. is a private corporation which certifies the authenticity of works by artist Andy Warhol. The organization was created in association with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts....
- Painting the Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000
- Andy Warhol Bridge
Andy Warhol Bridge, also known as the Seventh Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the only bridge in the United States named for a visual artist....
in Pittsburgh.
- Bodley Gallery
The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art gallery in New York City, USA, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in contemporary and modern art. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun The Bodley Gallery was a prominent art...
- 15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
- Moon Museum
The Moon Museum is a small ceramic wafer three-quarters of an inch by half an inch in size, containing artworks by six prominent artists from the late 1960s...
Further reading
- "A symposium on Pop Art". Arts Magazine, April 1963, pp. 36–45. The symposium was held in 1962, at The Museum of Modern Art, and published in this issue the following year.
- Doyle, Jennifer, Jonathan Flatley, and José Esteban Muñoz
José Esteban Muñoz is an American academic in the fields of Performance Studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. His book Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics examines queer and racial minority issues from a performance studies...
eds. (1996). Pop Out: Queer Warhol. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Foster, Hal, The Return of the Real (ch.5), MIT Press / October Book, 1996.
- James, James, "Andy Warhol: The Producer as Author", in Allegories of Cinema: American Film in the Sixties (1989), pp. 58–84. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Krauss, Rosalind E. "Warhol's Abstract Spectacle". In Abstraction, Gesture, Ecriture: Paintings from the Daros Collection. New York: Scalo, 1999, pp. 123–33.
- Lippard, Lucy R., Pop Art, Thames and Hudson, 1970 (1985 reprint), ISBN 0-500-20052-1
- Scherman, Tony & Dalton, David, POP: The Genius of Andy Warhol, HarperCollins, New York, N.Y. 2009
- Suarez, Juan Antonio (1996). Bike Boys, Drag Queens, & Superstars: Avant-Garde, Mass Culture, and Gay Identities in the 1960s Underground Cinema. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
External links
- Warhol Foundation in New York City
- Andy Warhol Collection in Pittsburgh
- Time Capsules: the Andy Warhol Collection
- Documentation of recent exhibitions of work by Andy Warhol
- Andy Warhol at Brooke Alexander Gallery
- Andy Warhol's Empire group on Facebook
- http://www.ubu.com/sound/warhol.htmlDavid Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
speaking about the work of Andy Warhol] on UbuWebUbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.-Philosophy:...
- Warholstars: Andy Warhol Films, Art and Superstars
- Pop Art Masters – Andy Warhol
- Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
- The Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art – city of origin
- Warhol in Paris – slideshow by The First Post
The First Post is a British daily online news magazine based in London. It was launched in August 2005. It publishes news, current affairs, lifestyle, opinion, arts and sports pages, and it features an online games arcade and a cinema featuring short films, virals, trailers and eyewitness news...
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oqUd8utr14Andy Warhol makes a digital painting
Digital painting is an emerging art form in which traditional painting techniques such as watercolor, oils, impasto, etc. are applied using digital tools by means of a computer, a digitizing tablet and stylus, and software. Traditional painting is painting with a physical medium as opposed to a...
of Debbie HarryDeborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
at the Commodore AmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
product launch press conference in 1985]
- Andy Warhol: A Documentary film by Ric Burns
Ric Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries for nearly 20 years, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War , which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey C...
for PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
- Footage and interview with Andy Warhol at the Anthony D'Offay Gallery in london 1986