Learn About Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol is a famous American visual artist, producer, and film director. He's one of the most important figures in the Pop Art movement. Learn about his childhood, early paintings, and career. Read about his relationship with Brigid Berlin. If you love art, you'll love Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol's childhood
Andy Warhol's childhood was not idyllic. His parents immigrated from Eastern Europe and settled in a working-class neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents suffered from poor health and often missed school, but they supported their son's creative streak with their love for art. Andy was fascinated with movies and celebrities, and his mother encouraged his artistic talents. At nine, he received his first camera and began collecting pictures of movie stars around his room.

Andy Warhol's parents tended to be close to each other, and he spent time with his mother Julia. His mother was a folk artist who stenciled family furniture and drew religious and animal scenes for her sons. During Andy's childhood, she encouraged his artistic abilities by signing his commercial illustrations.

His early paintings
Andy Warhol's early paintings are an important part of the Pop Art movement. This style explores the life of the detached image, a key theme in modern culture. Warhol's paintings show the pathos of the movement, and show how the packaging and essence of the image can tell a story.

The statue depicts a young Andy Warhol, and is becoming one of the best-known attractions downtown. Warholians love to decorate the statue, and some have even gotten as far as adding Brillo pads and Campbell's tomato soup to the statue.

His career
In the 1950s, Andy Warhol started creating his own hand-colored books, which he published in small editions of one hundred. His witty and erotic figures were inspired by famous illustrated books, such as Les fleurs d'enfant (1847) by J.J. Grandville and the figures of Cicely Mary Barker and Jacques Stella in Les jeux et plaisirs de l'enfance (1657). Warhol preferred variations in composition.

After graduation from high school, Andy Warhol attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied pictorial design. From there, he moved to New York City and began working as a commercial illustrator. His first project was for the magazine Glamour, illustrating the article "Success is a Job in New York." He continued to work for several magazines and began producing advertisements for local New York retailers.

His relationship with Brigid Berlin
Brigid Berlin, known as the "poverty queen," was a friend of Andy Warhol. They had met in the mid-sixties when she was a self-described troublemaker. She was on the run from her wealthy Republican parents, who socialized with President Nixon regularly. She was also a dedicated amphetamine user.

Warhol and Berlin became friends in the late '60s and remained close in the following decades. While they were friends and admired each other's art, they were distinctly different people. Brigid's father had a successful publishing empire.

His films
The production of Andy Warhol's films from 1964 to 1967 was prodigious. Scores of films were shot, but not all of them were ever shown publicly. The only films that were shown publicly were those that were successful. Because of this, the films in the Warhol library are not complete. There are miscellaneous cans of prints, but the original films are in storage.

In some of his films, Warhol uses actors or models to explore the marginalization of people. In "Blow Job", DeVeren Bookwalter is offered the titular sexual act by an unidentified person. The giver of the blow job is never seen on screen, and it is likely that he or she gave multiple blow jobs. Other films from Warhol's production include "Sleep" (1974), which shows John Giorno sleeping on a bed. Some critics estimate that "Sleep" is approximately six and a half hours long. While it may seem like a long film, Warhol used many repetitions of shots to achieve the same effect.

His collection
Warhol's collection of objects is a unique collection that includes items from many different mediums. For example, there is a device at an amusement park that tests the strength of a punch (a thousand-pound punch will ring a bell), a large wooden cigar-store sculpture, and an item that reflects the American idealization of Indians. Warhol himself declares one object in particular as his favorite: a blue late-Georgian recessed doorway.

Warhol was an art collector who had a broad taste and enjoyed collecting various kinds of antiques and artwork. One of his passions was collecting Native American objects. Among the items in his collection were 57 Navajo blankets. He also collected photographs by Edward S. Curtis, who documented the last days of American Indian tribes.