Brigid Berlin
Encyclopedia
Brigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar
.
media empire for 32 years. As a child, Berlin regularly mixed with celebrities and the powerful:
Her socialite mother frequently worried about Brigid's weight and constantly attempted to get her to lose it through any means, from giving her cash for every pound she lost at age 11 to having the family doctor prescribe amphetamine
s and dexedrine. Berlin recalled, "My mother wanted me to be a slim, respectable socialite. Instead, I became an overweight troublemaker."
She was briefly married to John Parker, a window dresser. They married in 1960 and later divorced. As Andy Warhol observed in his book Popism, "When Brigid brought her window dresser fiancé home to meet the family, her mother told the doorman to tell him to wait on a bench across the street in Central Park. Then she handed Brigid her wedding present – a hundred dollar bill – and told her to go to Bergdorf's and buy herself some new underwear with it. Then she added, 'Good luck with that fairy'."
She had three siblings: sister Christina "Chrissy" Berlin, who was instrumental in engineering the defection of Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov
, her youngest sister, Ritchie, who was for a time the roommate of Warhol Films's "It Girl" and superstar Edie Sedgwick
, and a brother, Richard Berlin Jr.
in 1964 and quickly became a central member of his entourage. After moving to Hotel Chelsea
, she took on the nickname Brigid Polk because of her habit of giving out 'pokes', injections of Vitamin B and amphetamine
s. These injections were readily available through the many 'Doctor Feelgoods' in New York and perfectly legal.
Berlin appeared in many Andy Warhol films, including Chelsea Girls
, in which she is seen injecting herself while performing a monologue. After a role in the Edie Sedgwick
film Ciao! Manhattan
(1972), she appeared during the 1990s in John Waters
' films. Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (1999) is a documentary in which she tells her life story in intimate detail and breaks her diet by consuming an entire meal of key lime pie
s.
She was known for her obsessive taping and photographing of every day life. Selections from these tapes were later compiled to form the play Andy Warhol's Pork. Other tapes made by her were the basis for The Velvet Underground
's first live album
, Live at Max's Kansas City
(recorded 1970, released 1972).
Berlin was complicit in one of Warhol's most infamous pranks when, in 1969, Warhol announced that all of his paintings were the work of Berlin. Brigid enthusiastically followed this line when interviewed by Time
. The prank led to a drop in the value of Warhol's work and both parties eventually retracted their statements. The question of authorship looms large in valuing Warhol's paintings to this day.
In 1975, Brigid Berlin began work as a permanent employee for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, a position that she held until well after Warhol's death. Berlin would transcribe interviews and knit and needlepoint under the desk. Patricia Hearst (a close friend of Berlin's who began work at Interview in 1988) would observe "On my first day at work, I noticed two small pugs who seemed to have the run of the castle. They belonged to a woman who sat behind the front desk every day from 9:00 to 5:00, but who never seemed to answer the phone. Instead, she compulsively knitted, ate bags of candy and tended lovingly to the dogs."
later commented, "I think that she's the most un-self-conscious nude person... She has great self-esteem for a fat girl."
Another of Berlin's art projects was her series of themed "Trip" books. "When we were all on amphetamine in the sixties this is what we used to do – would be to draw in our trip books and I could spend my life drawing circles and filling the circle with circles and more dots and more circles around it and then coloring them all with Doctor Martin's watercolor dyes."
The most famous of Berlin's trip books was her Cock Book. The Cock Book was initially a large, blank-page book entitled Topical Bible which she purchased from a shop on Broadway. "Topical" was somewhat whimsically imagined to rhyme with "cockical", so she decided to make it her Cock Book. Brigid schlepped her Cock Book around with her when she went out at night to places like Max's Kansas City
or the Factory and got others to fill each page with their rendition of a penis. Brigid was not particularly selective about who drew in it, because she was consumed with the idea of having it filled and completed. Contributors range from artists like Basquiat
to Jane Fonda
, whose cock adorns a matchstick pearl necklace, to Leonard Cohen
, who opted out of drawing a cock, instead writing "let me be the shy one in your book". Berlin herself drew in the Cock Book, as did Andy Warhol, who refused to sign his proper name or draw a proper cock. The Cock Book was an artwork and entertainment for Brigid who "had more fun doing that than anything I've ever done in my life. I would come home, stoned from being up at Max's
[Kansas City, a now-defunct New York club] and I would sit on the floor and work on the book. [laughs]" Brigid's Cock Book recently sold for $175,000 to artist Richard Prince
.
Both Berlin and Warhol used the medium of Polaroid
photography obsessively, and are said to have been very competitive in the Polaroid film department, whether over the best equipment or the best film. In 1969–1970 German art dealer Heiner Friedrich did a small showing of Berlin's work called Polaroids and Tapes and created a catalogue for the work of the same name. The experimental nature of Berlin's double-exposed Polaroids transcend the static, emotionless "icon" polaroids of Warhol's, clearly showing the power of her personal vision and photographic style. Common subject matter of Berlin's polaroids are self-portraits, Warhol Superstars, other artists and celebrities, and Off Broadway one-woman shows.
Brigid still suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder
, a theme that she often explores in her artwork.
Warhol superstar
Warhol 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...
.
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 HearstHearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
media empire for 32 years. As a child, Berlin regularly mixed with celebrities and the powerful:
- I would pick up the phone and it would be Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. My parents entertained Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, and there were lots of Hollywood people because of San SimeonHearst CastleHearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to...
– Clark GableClark GableWilliam Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, Dorothy KilgallenDorothy KilgallenDorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
... I have a box of letters, written to my parents in the late 1940's and 1950's from the DukeDuke of WindsorThe title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
and Duchess of Windsor.
Her socialite mother frequently worried about Brigid's weight and constantly attempted to get her to lose it through any means, from giving her cash for every pound she lost at age 11 to having the family doctor prescribe amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
s and dexedrine. Berlin recalled, "My mother wanted me to be a slim, respectable socialite. Instead, I became an overweight troublemaker."
She was briefly married to John Parker, a window dresser. They married in 1960 and later divorced. As Andy Warhol observed in his book Popism, "When Brigid brought her window dresser fiancé home to meet the family, her mother told the doorman to tell him to wait on a bench across the street in Central Park. Then she handed Brigid her wedding present – a hundred dollar bill – and told her to go to Bergdorf's and buy herself some new underwear with it. Then she added, 'Good luck with that fairy'."
She had three siblings: sister Christina "Chrissy" Berlin, who was instrumental in engineering the defection of Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, her youngest sister, Ritchie, who was for a time the roommate of Warhol Films's "It Girl" and superstar Edie Sedgwick
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...
, and a brother, Richard Berlin Jr.
Association with Andy Warhol
After several years as a reluctant debutante and a failed marriage, Brigid Berlin met Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
in 1964 and quickly became a central member of his entourage. After moving to Hotel Chelsea
Hotel Chelsea
The Hotel Chelsea, also known as the Chelsea Hotel, or simply the Chelsea, is a historic New York City hotel and landmark, known primarily for its history of notable residents...
, she took on the nickname Brigid Polk because of her habit of giving out 'pokes', injections of Vitamin B and amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
s. These injections were readily available through the many 'Doctor Feelgoods' in New York and perfectly legal.
Berlin appeared in many Andy Warhol films, including Chelsea Girls
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...
, in which she is seen injecting herself while performing a monologue. After a role in the Edie Sedgwick
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...
film Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed...
(1972), she appeared during the 1990s in John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
' films. Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (1999) is a documentary in which she tells her life story in intimate detail and breaks her diet by consuming an entire meal of key lime pie
Key lime pie
Key lime pie is an American dessert made of key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk in a pie crust. The traditional Conch version uses the egg whites to make a meringue topping. The dish is named after the small key limes that are naturalized throughout the Florida Keys...
s.
She was known for her obsessive taping and photographing of every day life. Selections from these tapes were later compiled to form the play Andy Warhol's Pork. Other tapes made by her were the basis for The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The 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...
's first live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, Live at Max's Kansas City
Live at Max's Kansas City
Live at Max's Kansas City is a live album by The Velvet Underground. It was originally released on May 30, 1972, by Cotillion, a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records.-About the album:...
(recorded 1970, released 1972).
Berlin was complicit in one of Warhol's most infamous pranks when, in 1969, Warhol announced that all of his paintings were the work of Berlin. Brigid enthusiastically followed this line when interviewed by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. The prank led to a drop in the value of Warhol's work and both parties eventually retracted their statements. The question of authorship looms large in valuing Warhol's paintings to this day.
In 1975, Brigid Berlin began work as a permanent employee for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, a position that she held until well after Warhol's death. Berlin would transcribe interviews and knit and needlepoint under the desk. Patricia Hearst (a close friend of Berlin's who began work at Interview in 1988) would observe "On my first day at work, I noticed two small pugs who seemed to have the run of the castle. They belonged to a woman who sat behind the front desk every day from 9:00 to 5:00, but who never seemed to answer the phone. Instead, she compulsively knitted, ate bags of candy and tended lovingly to the dogs."
Artwork
Brigid Berlin is also famous for her prolific art, which has been argued by many to have been both influential to Andy Warhol's artwork and simultaneously overshadowed by Warhol's celebrity and own artwork. Berlin's "Tit Paintings" were artworks created using her bare breasts. Berlin would dip her breasts into multiple colored paints and then create a "print" by pressing them down onto canvas/paper. The Tit Paintings are arguably Berlin's most infamous work and were exhibited by Jane Stubbs at a gallery on Madison Avenue in 1996. On occasion Berlin would publicly create Tit Paintings, integrating visual art and performance art that "is totally not about nudity, this is about, you know, art." She performed this act live at the Gramercy International Art Fair. After experiencing the performance, filmmaker John WatersJohn Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
later commented, "I think that she's the most un-self-conscious nude person... She has great self-esteem for a fat girl."
Another of Berlin's art projects was her series of themed "Trip" books. "When we were all on amphetamine in the sixties this is what we used to do – would be to draw in our trip books and I could spend my life drawing circles and filling the circle with circles and more dots and more circles around it and then coloring them all with Doctor Martin's watercolor dyes."
The most famous of Berlin's trip books was her Cock Book. The Cock Book was initially a large, blank-page book entitled Topical Bible which she purchased from a shop on Broadway. "Topical" was somewhat whimsically imagined to rhyme with "cockical", so she decided to make it her Cock Book. Brigid schlepped her Cock Book around with her when she went out at night to places like Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max'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:...
or the Factory and got others to fill each page with their rendition of a penis. Brigid was not particularly selective about who drew in it, because she was consumed with the idea of having it filled and completed. Contributors range from artists like Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-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:...
to Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, whose cock adorns a matchstick pearl necklace, to Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, who opted out of drawing a cock, instead writing "let me be the shy one in your book". Berlin herself drew in the Cock Book, as did Andy Warhol, who refused to sign his proper name or draw a proper cock. The Cock Book was an artwork and entertainment for Brigid who "had more fun doing that than anything I've ever done in my life. I would come home, stoned from being up at Max's
Max's Kansas City
Max'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:...
[Kansas City, a now-defunct New York club] and I would sit on the floor and work on the book. [laughs]" Brigid's Cock Book recently sold for $175,000 to artist Richard Prince
Richard Prince
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer. Prince began appropriating photographs in 1975...
.
Both Berlin and Warhol used the medium of Polaroid
Instant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
photography obsessively, and are said to have been very competitive in the Polaroid film department, whether over the best equipment or the best film. In 1969–1970 German art dealer Heiner Friedrich did a small showing of Berlin's work called Polaroids and Tapes and created a catalogue for the work of the same name. The experimental nature of Berlin's double-exposed Polaroids transcend the static, emotionless "icon" polaroids of Warhol's, clearly showing the power of her personal vision and photographic style. Common subject matter of Berlin's polaroids are self-portraits, Warhol Superstars, other artists and celebrities, and Off Broadway one-woman shows.
Brigid still suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
, a theme that she often explores in her artwork.
Filmography
- Chelsea GirlsChelsea 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) - Tub Girls (1967)
- Bike Boy (1967)
- Nude Restaurant, The (1967)
- Imitation of Christ (1967)
- Four Stars (1967) aka 24 Hour Movie
- Lonesome Cowboys (1967) (originally Berlin was to play a leader of a rival gang of cowboys)
- The Loves of Ondine (1967)
- Women in RevoltWomen in RevoltWomen 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...
(1971) - Ciao! ManhattanCiao! ManhattanCiao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed...
(1972) - Phoney (1973)
- Fight (1975)
- Andy Warhol's BadAndy Warhol's BadAndy 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....
(1977) - The Critical Years (1987)
- Serial MomSerial MomSerial Mom is a 1994 American dark satire written and directed by John Waters, starring Kathleen Turner as the title character, Sam Waterston as her husband, and Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as her children. Despite statements to the contrary in the movie, the story is completely fictional...
(1994) - PeckerPecker (film)Pecker is a 1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by John Waters and starring Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci. Like all Waters' films, it was filmed and set in Baltimore; this film in the Hampden neighborhood....
(1998) - Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (1999)
- Danny Williams and the Dream Factory (2006)