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Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola, the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants,
in 1928. He grew up poor (during the Depression) outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
with his parents and two brothers. As a child, Warhol (he later dropped the
final "a") recalled having a few friends but also feeling "left
out." He
suffered briefly from a nervous disorder that caused muscle spasms and kept
him isolated. He liked spending time on his own, coloring, taking snapshots
with a small camera, and even making films with a movie camera given to him
by his mother.
Warhol and his mother Julia were very close. She once assured him, "Andy,
just believe in destiny . . . in a dream [and ] you will do something,
great, crazy, terrific." His mother was right. After graduating in art
from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1949, he moved to New York City, where
he would have quick success as a commercial artist. He designed window displays,
illustrated magazine articles, and drew record album jackets. His mother arrived
in New York during his early years there, moved in with him and stayed for
almost thirty years.
In the 1960s, Warhol decided to abandon commercial art to focus on making
serious visual art. While he hand-painted his first works, he soon developed
a silk-screen process that allowed his staff of assistants to mass-produce
the startling images of consumer products and brilliant movie star portraits.
These works took the art world and the public by storm. Warhol exhibited in
galleries around the U.S.—and the world.
In the 1970s, he went on to become what he called a "business artist." At
his studio, The Factory, he and his assistants made silk-screen photo portraits
of anyone who could afford to commission one. Warhol made a fortune: he shopped,
collected jewelry and art, and surrounded himself continually with friends
and celebrities.
Andy Warhol died in 1987 at age 59. Unconventional, smart, edgy, innovative—Warhol's
legacy is everywhere: on posters, book covers, greeting cards, and gallery
walls. He even has an entire museum, called The Warhol, devoted to his life
and work. (You can check it out at http://www.warhol.org/).
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