Andy Warhol

## Overview

Andy Warhol was an American Pop artist from the 1950s to the 1980s and was one of the most significant figures of his time. His works focused on the commercialism of America post World War 2 as well as celebrity culture and the media. Early in his career Warhol had gained an international following and created a base of followers and celebrity friends. Andy Warhol was an icon in the Pop Art movement and created some of the most influential works within the time.

## Childhood and Early Years

Warhol, born Andrew Warhola,  was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to Andrej and Julia Warhola in 1928. Warhol and his two older brothers were raised as devout Catholics by attending mass every Sunday. When Warhol was a child he suffered from Sydenham chorea, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements. The disease sometimes kept him home from school and in this time he would read magazines, comics, played with paper cut-outs, and finally received a camera from his parents when he was eight.

Warhol began receiving an education in the arts alongside his high school education when he enrolled in free classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art. His father, Andrej, supported Warhol and his talent and saved up his money to send Warhol to Carnegie Mellon University for a college education. Soon Warhol moved to New York City to continue his career and within a year he had become a successful commercial artist for top brands such as Glamour Magazine, Vogue, and Columbia Records.

## Warhol’s Style

Warhol was well known for his blotted-line ink drawings. He perfected his technique in college and used it frequently as it allowed him to repeat an image and create multiple works all with similar themes.  Later on, Warhol began basing his paintings on American commercialism. His work was criticized and praised for its similarities to commercial advertisement and he found most of his inspiration for this style in the media. They came from newspapers, celebrity headshots, comics and other forms of American media.
[1] His works became known as larger than life pop-culture paintings that began to push the effects of repetition and generalization of the world after the war. As early as the 1950s Warhol began to express the idea that we are surrounded by media. He was amongst the first to paint and publish to the world how much commercialism has consumed our lives and this was the basis for his paintings. His works aimed to connect the mass media that surrounded the world to art.

## Famous Works

Warhol’s art was ultimately defined as pop art in 1961. At this time he showcased a collection of paintings that focused on mass-produced commercial goods. Following this, Warhol produced the famous Campbell’s soup can painting and followed with works depicting items such as coca cola bottles and hamburgers. The Campbell’s Soup Cans painting was undoubtedly one of Warhol’s most iconic works, as well as his favorite. Warhol was inspired to create this set of paintings at a suggestion from a friend who said he should “paint something that everybody recognized, like Campbell’s soup”. He created all thirty-two of the brand's soup cans, labeling each with the appropriate flavor.
[2] From this project, Warhol developed several ideas about the production of his art. As he stenciled multiple soup cans and continued to work on the idea, he perfected the amplifying effect of cans stacked on top of each other, like in a grocery store. He also realized that the serial repetition of the paintings drained it of meaning. Lastly, and most importantly, Warhol perfected the printing method and was able to achieve the mechanical look that he strove for in his works.

Warhol had hundreds of famous pieces that are still being studied today. Everything from a soup can to Marilyn Monroe has been painted by Warhol in a time when popular culture began to consume America. Warhol became equally famous to his paintings through his eccentric style of platinum wigs and blowout parties and found generous wealth in his commercial business and other works.