Andy Warhol POP ART 1928-1987

Andrew Warhola was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to immigrant parents from Czechoslovakia. As a child he idolized celebrities and enjoyed collecting 8x10 inch autographed photos that you would receive from the usher’s after viewing a movie. He also enjoyed spending hours copying images from magazine illustrations.

Growing up Andy suffered from a disease called Chorea, that attacked his central nervous system and made him very timid in school and extremely attached to his mother.

Andy attended prestigious Carnegie Melon Institute of Technology which is now Carnegie Melon University. He struggled with most of his classes because his English was poor. He had never learned English very well because his mom insisted on speaking her native language at home. The University dropped Andy after his freshman year so that room could be made for returning veterans who would soon be coming to school on the GI Bill. However Andy saved his college education when he took a summer school art class and created some outstanding works that not only got him readmitted to college but he was rewarded a partial art scholarship.

After college Andy decided to move to New York City to increase his opportunities for a job as a commercial artist. On his second day in NY Andy found work at Glamour magazine drawing illustrations for an article they were doing on woman’s shoes. He found more work through other magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and designed book jackets and holiday greeting cards.

While living in NY Andy made two significant changes to his persona While living in NY Andy made two significant changes to his persona. When the “A” was left off of his last name accidently in an article, he liked it so much that he decided to keep it off and Warhol was now his last name. He also battled with hair loss at a very early age and started to wear wigs.

Andy began to see success and in June of 1952 he opened his first gallery show called “15 Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote”. His popularity continued to grow and he moved from creating commercial art to creating his own Pop Art. In 1961, Andy did his first serial work with Campbell's soup cans. This would become the image that he would best known for.

Andy continued to paint household items including coffee cans, coca cola bottles, dollar bills and other every day items.

Andy moved from painting single images to incorporating the popular style of repeated reproduction.

Andy liked working with repeated reproduction and found that he could copy his images even faster by silk screening them instead of painting them, contributing to the idea of mass production in his paintings.

Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto paper, a shirt or whatever is under the frame. A squegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing the ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. It is also known as silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.

Andy's wishes were to work like a machine and his studio was actually nicknamed “The factory” because of its mass production of art work. He referred to his assistants as a “human printing press”

In Warhol’s later years he moved from household items to creating portraits of household names using celebrities as his subject matter.

Marilyn Monroe was Andy’s favorite celebrity to use as a subject.

In 1964 Andy worked on some of his least popular works, his death and disaster series, featuring unsettling reproductions of an electric chair, brutal car accidents and images of death.

Warhol’s popularity rebounded after a series he did featuring Poppy Flowers proved to be commercially successful.

In 1963 Andy started to branch out into other genre’s besides visual art. He produced a number of movies and he also produced a musical group, The Velvet Underground. Later in his career as his popularity as a media icon soared he published a magazine, The Interview, wrote several books and started two cable tv shows.

In June 1968, Andy dodged death when he was shot multiple times by past assistant and Warhol groupie turned feminist radical, Valerie Solanas. He spent nearly two months in the hospital recovering.

In 1987 Andy entered the hospital for a routine gall bladder surgery In 1987 Andy entered the hospital for a routine gall bladder surgery. He was so afraid of hospitals that he waited until the pain was unbearable before seeking help. The surgery went without complications but Andy died the following day.

Andy’s vision continues on through the Andy Warhol museum located in his hometown of Pittsburgh. It showcases not only Warhol’s work but also the work of up and coming artists. Museum guides also help visitors interpret Andy’s work and workshops are held for students to learn how to silk screen art like Andy's.

Abstract Expressionism Pop Art Abstract Expressionism In the 1950’s Abstract Expressionists sought to convey moods and emotions through nonrepresentational shapes and colors painted with bold, expressive brush strokes. Pop Art rebelled against this style depicting everyday items as art.

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