Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. Warhol has been described as the " bellwether of the art market". The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city of Pittsburgh, which holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. After gallbladder surgery, Warhol died of cardiac arrhythmia in February 1987 at the age of 58 in New York. In June 1968, he was almost killed by radical feminist Valerie Solanas, who shot him inside his studio. He lived openly as a gay man before the gay liberation movement. He authored numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. In the late 1960s he managed and produced the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founded Interview magazine. He promoted a collection of personalities known as Warhol superstars, and is credited with inspiring the widely used expression " 15 minutes of fame". His New York studio, The Factory, became a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. After exhibiting his work in several galleries in the late 1950s, he began to receive recognition as an influential and controversial artist. Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental films Empire (1964) and Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).īorn and raised in Pittsburgh, Warhol initially pursued a successful career as a commercial illustrator. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Aug– February 22, 1987) was an American artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. Torso, Mandate, InTouch - they would grow to attract the work of major artists like Mel Odom, Richard Rosenfeld and more, many of whom contributed to mainstream publications like Vogue and Playboy.Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966 event)Īndy Warhol ( / ˈ w ɔːr h ɒ l/ born Andrew Warhola Jr. Titled Stroke: From Under the Mattress to the Museum Wall, the journey through erotic history outlines the evolution of the (naked) male in art, spotlighting the impact of the “sexual revolution” and the Stonewall Inn riots on the demand for the magazines playing home to Mizer and company’s works. Showcasing everything from tame images of the male body as muse to explicitly sexualized scenes, the exhibit surveys decades worth of design created by gay artists in the late 20th century, exploring a space - magazines - where art flourished in the past. Published in Torso, 1984.Ī new exhibit at Leslie-Lohman, organized by Richards, is bringing together over 80 original illustrations plucked form the pages of retro magazines spanning the 1950s to the 1990s. RICHARDS, Toby ( Detail), 1984, Graphite, pastel and watercolor on vellum, 13 x 16 in.