Synopses & Reviews
“IN THE FUTURE EVERYBODY will be world famous for 15 minutes.”The Campbells Soup Cans. The Marilyns. The Electric Chairs. The Flowers. The work created by Andy Warhol elevated everyday images to art, ensuring Warhol a fame that has far outlasted the 15 minutes he predicted for everyone else. His very name is synonymous with the 1960s American art movement known as Pop.
But Warhols oeuvre was the sum of many parts. He not only produced iconic art that blended high and popular culture; he also made controversial films, starring his entourage of the beautiful and outrageous; he launched Interview, a slick magazine that continues to sell today; and he reveled in leading the vanguard of New Yorks hipster lifestyle. The Factory, Warhols studio and den of social happenings, was the place to be.
Who would have predicted that this eccentric boy, the Pittsburgh-bred son of Eastern European immigrants, would catapult himself into media superstardom? Warhols rise, from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to status as a Pop icon, is an absorbing tale—one in which the American dream of fame and fortune is played out in all of its success and its excess. No artist of the late 20th century took the pulse of his time—and ours—better than Andy Warhol.
Praise for Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist:
“This outstanding, well-researched biography is fascinating reading.”—School Library Journal, Starred
“Readers will see not just the man but also the paintings anew.”—The Bulletin, Starred
“An exceptional biography that reveals the humanity behind the myth.”—Booklist, Starred
A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
and#8220;Amid the wealth of writings and musings on the enigmatic mind of Andy Warhol, this volume brings a fresh perspective on and novel insights into the life of Warhol.and#8221;
Synopsis
Jan Greenberg and
Sandra Jordan are the authors of numerous acclaimed books about art, including
Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist;
Action Jackson;
Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois; and
Chuck Close Up Close. The authors live in St. Louis, MO, and New York City respectively.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
and#160;From his life to his work, Andy Warhol is an enigma. The leading figure of the pop art movement, Warhol created paintings, films, performance art, and his famous studio, the Factory, in New York City. Fans, aficionados, enthusiasts, experts, and critics alike have tried to make sense of Warhol, creating a wealth of knowledge and#160;and speculation. Blake Stimson builds on this project in this gorgeously illustrated book, which brings new attention to the philosophical and creative influences behind Warholandrsquo;s life and work.and#160;Citizen Warhol leads us through the artistandrsquo;s youth, from his religiously infused childhood and adolescence in Pittsburgh to his university training at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he was profoundly affected by Carnegieandrsquo;s industrial-age theory of art. Stimson recounts Warholandrsquo;s brief but formative dalliance with the guilt-riddled sensibility and decadent lifestyle of Aubrey Beardsley, an English illustrator whose drawings emphasize the grotesque and the erotic. In addition, Stimson describes how the Byzantine-influenced religious rituals of Warholandrsquo;s childhood affected his relationships with the figures who starred in his films and staffed the Factory, as well as relating the lessons he learned from his triumphs as a commercial artist working in a world still beholden to the Red Decade ideals of the 1930s. More than any other artist, Stimson shows, Warhol represents the unresolved contradiction between the ideal of the citizen and that of the consumer, an incongruity people continue to struggle with today.and#160;From Lonesome Cowboy to Campbell's Soup I, this book provides readers with deeper insight into the meaning and legacy of Warholandrsquo;s life and art.
About the Author
and#160;Blake Stimson is professor of art history at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of The Pivot of the World: Photography and Its Nation.
Table of Contents
Preface: The Citizenship of Artists
Introduction: America Really is the Beautiful
Part 1: Interiors
1. Jesus Christ
2. Andrew Carnegie
3. Shirley Temple
4. Aubrey Beardsley
5. Ben Shahn
Part 2: Exteriors
6. Andy Paperbag
7. The Nothingness Himself
8. Drella
9. Citizen Warhol
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index