Andy Warhol - Biography, Life and Work

Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928.

Do you have to learn this by heart? There are not so many memory anchors for August 6, 1928, on this day there was probably not much exciting lot in the world.

But the year 1928 may be better off if you read who was born this year:

• Actress Jeanne Moreau
• Rock 'n' Roll legend Fats Domino
• Jazz pianist Paul Kuhn
• Composer and singer Serge Gainsbourg
• Revolutionary leader Che Guevara
• Artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser

If you read other birth dates from Andy Warhol somewhere, you do not need to be surprised or suspect us of sloppy research - Andy Warhol liked to go a little with his date of birth, like some aging diva he rejuvenated by two or five years.

Andy Warhol's real name

Andy was actually Andrej (Andrijko), and the original family name was Varhola. The family name has already been Americanized by his parents to Warhola , and little Andrej quickly became Andrew in the new environment, with short form Andy.

Andy Warhol with loss of "A" was "officially born" when a magazine published drawings by him in early 1950, he signed with "Andy Warhol" and then stayed with it.

Andy Warhol's nickname

Andy Warhol was "Drella" , a name that is made up of "Dracula" and "Cinderella". It is controversial whether this name creation of Andy Warhol himself or by one of his “superstars” (Robert Xavier Francis Peter Michael Olivo, with nicknames ondine).

Warhol's supporter, who populated factory "mole people" (which only active, daylight shy "mole people") took it quickly.

Important life stages at a glance

• 1928 birth
• 1945 studies of the use of use at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh
• 1949 completion of the studies
• 1950 first publications of some drawings, in between work z. B. as an advertising dealer
• 1952 First solo exhibition (Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote)
• 1956 large exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, but as a graphic artist
• 1962 first exhibition as a pop art artist in Los Angeles and foundation of the "Factory"
• 1964 exhibition "The American Supermarket" in the New York Upper East Side Gallery
• 1968 attack on Warhol with life -threatening injuries
• 1971 premiere of his first play “Pork”
• 1972 Death of his mother, whom he had loved about everything
• In 1987 Warhol died after gallbladder surgery in New York on February 22, 1987

The birthplace of Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh , which is located in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pennsylvania is called William Penn after his founder, Silva is the forest, in German so "Penns Waldland".

This state in the east of the United States is one of the thirteen founding states and is located under New York. According to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh is the largest city in Pennsylvania, an important location in the US steel industry at the time of its birth.

Parents and childhood of Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol's parents Ondrej and Julia Justyna Varhola were immigrated to America from a village in the Carpathians, which is now located in Slovakia. Andy was the fourth child of the fairly poor family at the time, and his first six years of life grew up in the Power district of Soho.

In his childhood he had to deal with various diseases, including a pigment disorder that made him appear like an albino. Although he had difficulty finding friends of his age, it promoted his artistic talent. During his numerous hospital stays, he developed a deep interest in various art forms.

In his eighth year of life, Warhol suffered hard to the disease known as a chorea minor, which captivated him with the bed. Its long bedding probably laid the foundations for later artistic success, the little Andy couldn't do much more than reading, drawing or cutting off paper figures.

Vocational training

Andy Warhol was trained as a commercial graphic artist from 1945 to 1949 at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and achieved his degree in painting and design at the age of 21. After that, the young visionary was no longer possible.

Professional activity

In 1950 Andy Warhol moved to New York with his fellow student Philip Pearlstein, the center of the advertising that was becoming a mass phenomenon at the time. He now lived around a decade of casual work, advertising graphics, window decorations or from the sales job as a street dealer (fruit and vegetables).

Advertising brought the most money, but the production also cost the most time, so Warhol invented a kind of "mass production" : he drew his motifs with ink or ink, copied it with loosely paper and transferred it to a new sheet. This created graphic templates for magazines and magazines, greeting cards and giveaways and cookbooks with humorous illustrations, which he then painted colored “Colouring Parties”

This technique of “Drop and Dripping” was the beginning of Warhol's later factory -like production of the series, in which its employees completed works and films.

Although he had little time for art, Andy Warhol still managed to develop his first screen prints. He used ink and ink to draw various motifs such as angels, butterflies and cats. He copied these designs to a new sheet with lion paper and published them in various magazines and magazines. Although the technology was not new, Warhol made it popular and his trademark .

Andy Warhol's training as an artist

An actual training as an artist never went through Andy Warhol, he develops his artistic activity out of his employment. Around 1960 Warhol was one of the best paid graphic designers in Manhattan, New York was not only the center of the advertising center, but also the stronghold of contemporary art, and he wanted to be part of these celebrated artists.

As a graphic artist, he had already issued his own works, now he wanted to attract attention as a painter with pictures on canvas. He initially chose familiar motifs, comic and cartoon sujets and Hollywood stars for his artistic activity, but quickly noticed that well-known colleagues such as Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein had already taken public with very similar motives.

So Warhol changed the direction, familiarized himself with the screen printing technique "Drop and Dripping" and collected other everyone who was familiar with familiar motifs, advertising and photos, from magazines and leaflets and cinema stages to turn them out of them.

Also again as mass -produced goods, Warhol produced screen templates from the new motifs, of which he then published the color -modified series, and he raised this mass production to the artistic loan:

"I love to do the same things over and over again" = "I love to do the same over and over again"

Is a much-quoted Warhol commitment,

"30 are Better than one" = "30 are better than one"

is a typical work title from this time, used for a postcard with a image of the Mona Lisa , which has been reproduced 30 times on canvas.

In 1952 he had collected enough works to put his art on a larger stage. With the help of the Greek director of the Hugo Gallery , Alexander Iolas, he invited to his first exhibition. Just a few years later, in 1956, Warhol even made it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York .

Andy Warhol's artistic breakthrough

This “mass production” of art brought the success, the initial works were 32 almost equally looking pictures of soup cans (32 because the soup monitor was sold in 32 different flavors). With the "Campbell's Soup" soup cans, Warhol stole his first solo exhibition as an artist, in 1962 in the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles .

Most of the exhibition visitors looked at the cans with complete incomprehension, nobody wanted them, not even the Hollywood stars that Ferus participants Blum Warhol had promised as a visitor-actually only the art critics debated over the soups.

Only five trendsetters were interested in the work, including actors Dennis Hopper and Max Factor heritage Donald Factor, each paid the $ 100 for their picture from the soup parade. If they had kept their can pictures, that would have been a good investment, the Museum of Modern Art in New York paid $ 15 million for all $ 32 pictures in 1996.

However, none of the buyers kept his picture at the time, they were persuaded to buy back by the far-sighted Ferus participant Irving Blum , and Warhol was persuaded to sell Blum the whole series with $ 32 pictures (payable in 10 installments).

When the soups sold 15 million to the MoMA for the soups, it was partially considered a donation, so much the value had increased ... ..

Famous art and sought -after works of art by Andy Warhol

Marilyn Monroe followed the soup cans , with a statue from the film of Niagara (1953) as a template that Warhol was supposed to process in many color variations for a long time.

In 1962 the screen printing template "The Marilyn Diptych" , in the weeks after Marilyn Monroes death (August 1962, one day after the Ferus Gallery Los Angeles) was closed), was completed, with 50 variations of the statue.

Over the years, his art has become more and more bizarre, although he claimed that she produced herself because all the templates have already been present. From 1962 he started his "Death and Disaster" series, in which he showed press photos of shocking accidents, which he distorted by subtle retouching. His goal was to address the technical manipulability of perception of reality through art.

In 2004, the English "Guardian" organized a survey of 500 artists, critics and artists, from which this picture emerged as the most third -influencing contemporary work of art in the world.

Many other Marilyns followed, e.g. B. the "ten Marilyns" from 1967, also "James Deans" , "Elvise" and "Liz Taylors" were available in countless variations. Later many experimental works such as films, happings and music productions, and in his most business time, Andy Warhol even made a portrait of everyone who paid $ 25,000 for it.

A selection of his works of art on Pinterest

Andy Warhol as a filmmaker

In 1962 he created something unique: the "factory" in New York. This consisted of factory halls, which were converted into studios, in which he and other artists could live out their creative energy. The "factory" became a place of creating and life for various artists and intellectuals.

Fambantities such as Jim Morrison , Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger went and out, because the "factory" was also used as a party location . He used these special rooms not only for his pop art art, for which he used to use 100 centimeters in size, especially 100 centimeters, but also for his films.

Some of his works met with rejection because he produced material with bare people, among other things. In addition, he founded the Velvet Underground , with which he worked on shows for night clubs.

Although many of his art films and productions are still almost unknown, he still created a total work of almost 200 films. The following 3 productions are particularly noteworthy:

"The Chelsea Girls", 1966

In 1966, Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey directioned "The Chelsea Girls". The film gives an insight into the life of the residents: inside of the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, where Warhol founded "The Factory" as a place of residence for artists, musicians, dancers, actors and other creative people in 1964.

Warhol's "superstars" lived in this house from the creative scene, which shape the film with all its extravagances. The film commissioned by Jonas Mekas was designed on twelve film roles without a cut and with just one setting. "The Chelsea Girls" moves from room to room and shows the extraordinary life of the "Factory" resident.

"Blue Movie", 1969

The film "Blue Movie" was produced by Paul Morrisseys and shot under the direction of Andy Warhol. He shows the life of the lovers Viva and Louis Waldon, who live together in an apartment in Manhattan. The film shows accidental conversations between the two, which contain serious topics such as society and the Vietnam War as well as relaxed conversations in the shower and real sex scenes.

The actors underline the film with real erotic scenes that reflect the everyday life of the couple. The tonality of the film is convincing and shows the life of a couple in Manhattan in an impressive way.

In October 1968, the groundbreaking film "Blue Movie" was shot in the apartment of art critic David Bourdon in the picturesque Greenwich Village. It is considered the first film of its kind to be performed publicly. The camera work is masterful and captures the gradual awareness of the characters.

Sexes are staged here as the ultimate political protest against the Vietnam War. A game with the camera and a subtle staging make this film a masterpiece in film history.

"Trash", 1970

The protagonists live under poverty and drug addiction while trying to make a living through the sale of garbage. The film shows the hard reality of life in a big city and the despair that goes hand in hand. The actors provide impressive performance and give the viewer the feeling of being part of this world.

Morrissey's directorial work is masterful and gives the film a unique atmosphere. With “Trash”, the team around Morrissey and Warhol created a timeless classic that is still relevant today and stimulates thought.

Life's work

All these series of pictures of actors and singers became the epitome of the "Pop Art" , and Andy Warhol became the figurehead of this art movement.

Pop Art became the hottest artistic trend in the United States and Europe in the 1960s, this art, which is inclined to trivial, is understood and presented by the influential critics of time as an overdue reaction to the sovereign intellectual abstract art. In any case, a pop art artist for abstraction has little sense, he competes in depicting reality, folk and common objects that are made even easier to capture by emphasizing black lines comic representations

At the beginning, the motifs of pop art typically come from everyday culture, the mass media or advertising or the world of consumer, in realistic or oversized representation. In its late phase, the Pop Art takes more critical look at the wealthy society Vietnam War and Racial Starius , increasing drug use and murder of John F. Kennedy .

So Warhol initially used everything from popular culture that could somehow be presented glamorous, celebrities or soup doses, and then used more uncomfortable images such as press photos of car accidents and suicide as templates.

The survivors of tragedies, which were precisely the concentrated public interest, were also used in the sign of art, such as the mourning Jackie Kennedy after the murder of her husband.

Shortly after John F. Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963, Andy Warhol began his "16 Jackies" , based on photos that came from international media reporting on John F. Kennedy's death.

The Pop.Art art works attracted a lot of attention and, with their clear language in public, quickly became a cult, influential art critics soon spoke to the well-marketed images aesthetic charm.

The pictures had an immediate optical appeal to everyone, as a deeper sense, the unveiling of the manipulative character of popular culture was discovered - in the opinion of the prevailing art criticism, these images show us how we consumers are directed by the mass media.

The life of Andy Warhol (documentation - Part 1)

Part 1 of the documentary Andy Warhol begins deeply in his impoverished education in 1930s-'40s Pittsburgh, a rare look behind the facade one of the most famous pop art personalities in history.

These often rivets and deeply moving representation then examines his early career as an advertising graphic artist from the 1950s in the 1960s when he produces his prestigious screen printing pop pictures.

The life of Andy Warhol (documentation - Part 2)

Part 2 by Andy Warhol examines his most productive expansion into the world of art.

Filmmaking, sculpture, performance art, scenic writing and publishing are only a few Warhol's artistic work. In addition to his famous paintings and sculptures , Warhol was the creator of many classics in avant-garde cinema and the manufacturer of a multimedia show with Velvet Underground (one of the most influential rock bands in history) and co-founder of the iconic Pop Kultur Magazin Interview.

With rare film recordings and interviews, part 2 of this extraordinarily provocative story examines an unconventional artist, apparently drunk with fame, the life's work of which was a continuous current of cultural symbolism.

Important exhibitions by Andy Warhol - an overview

At the latest since 1965, Andy Warhol's pictures have been unanimously celebrated as sensations of the art market, for many years (if not) more in Europe than in his home country: Andy Warhol was at the 34th Biennale Venice and the 4th Documenta, 1972 at the 36th Biennale Venice and 1977 on the 6th Documenta. In 1981 he was exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts in London and on the 7th Documenta in 1982, 1984 on 41st and 1986 at the 42nd Biennale Venice.

In 1995 he was Venice at the 46th Biennale , for the first time in New York in 1996, and since then his works have been seen at over 2,500 exhibitions in all important art centers across the world.

In his new home, one seemed to be much less enthusiastic about Andy Warhol than in the rest of the world (contemporary art), in the United States he only came up with around 400 exhibitions, which is almost 15 % of all exhibitions (which could also be due to the fact that the public performance of art in the USA is much of importance than in Europe, more about this you can read more about this in the article "Art-O-Gramm: The Estate of Art").

In 2013, a good quarter of his death, over 40 well-known art events all over the world led Andy Warhol in her exhibition catalog.

Lifestyle and love life of the artist

As early as 1962, Warhol had founded its factory, various studios in New York factory halls, in which he worked on a wide variety of projects. In these factors, much more happened than the preparation of screen prints, the Ateliers served Warhol from the start as an experiment field and film studio.

The film studio also offered overnight accommodation for the film protagonists, from there the way to the party location with cult status was not even far. In the factory, the creative scene of New York met , Garnigt with stars, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison were just as often seen as Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp.

When the stars of the underground films produced by Warhol himself, such as pop art artists Robert Indiana (actor of the film "Eat", showed at mushroom meals), and the musicians of the rock group The Velvet Underground he produced, the events in the factory became as notorious and notorious.

These multimedia haapping were soon a colorful sequence of deafening skirt and sensitive light and stroboscope effects, the audience was shocked by sexual provocations of the dancing actors, and drugs are said to have been in unimaginable amounts.

Due to the assassination attempt Valerie Solanas (see below), the artist in the factory in the factory was sustainable, from 1968 the "Factory" was considered an office building, Warhol turned to the New York party and glamor and party scene. In the 1970s he was a constant visitors to the trendy clubs in New York, e.g. B. in studio 54. As a further pleasure, the almost pornographic films with junkies were added as performers, but the Warhol did not maintain long, he switched to western-persistlations and horror films, with gay cowboys and compassionate Graf Draculas, all increasingly realized by Paul Morrissey.

Andy Warhol's love life also developed in the area of ​​the factory. Which did not find the shy and in relation to his appearance not very self -confident artists to be unproblematic, as some statements published in his 1975 book "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol from A to B and Back" reveals. Warhol was of the opinion that love affairs would completely use people, but that was actually not worth it. He revealed the realization that there must be problems in love if you are always looking for the soufflé that never coincides.

Warhol called for a basic course for love, but on the other hand said that it might work just as well if you were left in the dark, otherwise you would have nothing more for the rest of life about what you could think about and what you could dream of.

Warhol saw the reason for the departure of his time from the old values ​​in the longer lifespan of his contemporaries, together with the resulting problems. He recommended parents who really love their children to penetrate the other gender on the most late possible approach so that the children have something to look forward to for a long time.

After the attack, Warhol's life became calmer, which was also due to the influence of the ever more present Paul Morrissey, who openly despised rock music and drug use and increasingly ensured that the factory remained free of junkies and party guests.

Andy Warhol in the media

There was actually a stir in the media around Andy Warhol, every happening in the factory gave the press enough material for a detailed report with numerous prominent names.

At least 8 years, the tabloid was very well cared for by him, until on June 3, 1968, Warhol gave the media a very special gift as uncomfortable and passive:

The attack on Andy Warhol - and his consequences

That day the radical feminist Valerie Solanas tried to shoot Andy Warhol. In the elevator of the factory, she pulled a revolver out of a paper bag and pressed, although Warhol shouted: "No! No! Valerie! Do not!", Even a second time and a third time, the third shot hit Warhol. Solanas saw herself as the founder and the only member of the group SCUM ("Society for Cutting Up Men" = "Society for the Battles of Men")) to destroy as many disruptive men as possible, and Warhol disturbed them.

Solanas had a police officer arrested on the Times Square, Warhol was initially clinically dead after arriving in the hospital, but was saved by a five and a half hour operation. After almost two months he was released from the hospital and immediately plunged back to work, but the attack changed him instead of going through the nights, Warhol now went home early. There were also traces physically, Warhol had to constantly wear a medical corset from now on.

The "New York Post" had titled the late edition of this day: "Andy Warhol Fights for Life.", Many in the past did not see sufficiently courted journalists saw the welcome opportunity to settle "the person who has been celebrating any form of debauchery for years only benefited from this report. In its very own way, the art market reacted

His pictures had achieved an average price of about $ 200 before the media storm, after which they were sold in one fell swoop for no less than $ 15,000. Due to the extensive reporting, the artist Andy Warhol had become as omnipresent as his art - ironically, the attack for Andy Warhol opened a way of life, which he always wanted to take: the way to fame.

What does an Andy Warhol artwork cost?

Much, since June/July 1968 - as described, the price of his works of art has exploded after the attack on Warhol, and in the sphere in which this explosion had carried it, the prices have remained at least since then.

Some examples from later times: "Green Car Crash - Green Burning Car I" achieved $ 71.7 million at auction at Sotheby's in 2007. "Death and Disaster" series from 1963 comes the "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)", which brought November 2013 more than $ 105 million (then 78 million euros) and was therefore the most sixth painting in the world for a long time.

Sometimes a few Warhol works are sold at the estimation price, such as "Liz #1" , a portrait of Elizabeth Taylors, a few minutes after the " Silver Car Crash" , for $ 20.3 million. That was probably a bad timing from the providers, since Liz Taylor died in Los Angeles almost three years earlier ... No reason to be cynical-sometimes even a few "Warhols" remain with the auctioneer, and if it stays that way for a while, you have a real chance of buying a Warhol picture for less than $ 20 million.

The artist in our world

Since these prices are far outside the range of most "normal people", and a "normal person" with such sums would certainly do much more meaningful, most of us will be content to look at Andy Warhol (and even do without it).

You definitely have enough chances, there are always current exhibitions with Warhol plants, and there are several plastics in the world in which you can watch works by Andy Warhol every day. For example, the Andy Warhol Museum in his birthplace Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Art, also in Pittsburgh, the Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles and the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce, Slovakia.

Are you a real fan? Isn't that enough for you? Please very much: Since 06.08.2013 (Warhol's 85th birthday), the Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh has installed a live video stream to the artist's grave. This webcam is continuously on the air because, according to the museum director, "it is a fantastic path to bring Andy on the air 24 hours a week and in connection with our global audience."

Here is the link directly to Warhol: https://earthcam.com/usa/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/warhol/ .

The end

Andy Warhol died on February 22, 1987 in New York City, at the age of 58. It died surprisingly from the complications of gallbladder surgery in New York Hospital, the exact circumstances are still unclear.

The estate

Warhol bequeathed the main part of his assets alongside legates to his family of Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts , the foundation of which he had determined.

His friend and business manager Frederick W. Hughes became the estate administrator, the fortune was estimated by New York Magazine to over $ 100 million, later estimates speak of $ 600 million (Warhol's private collection of works by his artists' colleagues has since brought several million dollars, also the auction of the devotionals).

The intangible legacy is almost even more impressive:

The art critics are still arguing, whether Warhol

• With its variant of Pop Art, only a kind of cultural industry created, considering the greatest possible profit,
• Or actually the American culture of consumer in his works, combined with a cancellation of the boundaries between autonomous and trivial art,
• Or he rather criticized the American consumer -oriented society, including the ironic dealing with stars and VIPs.

Anyway, Andy Warhol managed to impressively market his art, and with the motto "Good business is the best art", inspired a whole series of subsequent artists to take advantage of as capitalist entrepreneurs on his own behalf: Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and Damien Hirst z. B. could bring their works to the art lover (or speculators) at truly impressive prices to artists such as Keith Haring and Takashi Murakami , entire industries were created with art-breathing merchandising articles.

There are a lot of artistic homages to Andy Warhol, such as B. the survival "The Andy Monument" by Rob Pruitt, a chrome-plated statue by Andy Warhol, the homage album "Songs for Drella" by the former Velvet-UNERGROUND members John Cale and Lou Reed or the song "Andy Warhol" on David Bowie's Studio album Hunky Dory (whose refrain "Andy Warhol a scream "=" Andy Warhol looks like a scream "that Warhol, which was loaded with large complexes because of its appearance, could not really delight, Warhol is said to have described the song as horrible). If you want to judge yourself:

Book tip for Andy Warhol and his time

Book lovers who want to delve into the time of Andy Warhol is Andy Warhol's book "Popism - The Warhol Sixties" , recommended in the German version "Popism - My 1960s" .

In any case, this book is one of the most authentic artists' autobiographies of the last century , but is also celebrated by literati. The report on the wonderful 1960s, which was dictated by Andy Warhol in 1980 and laid down by his assistant Pat Hackett, and the uninhibited creative experimentation is said to have joined an almost fairytale book.