Painter, illustrator, designer, and printmaker Andy Warhol was a central figure in the Pop Art movement and one of the most recognizable artists of the twentieth century. Warhol’s work drew upon American consumer and popular culture, including comics and advertisements; Hollywood celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor; and famous brands like Campbell’s Soup. Through these images, his work both celebrated and critiqued the consumer-driven American experience in the post-World War II era.
In a 1963 interview with ARTnews, Warhol said, “the reason I’m painting this way is that I want to be a machine.” Yet, each silkscreen or print was one-of-a-kind, resulting from his creative decisions related to composition, color, and format.
Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of immigrants from what is now Slovakia. From a young age, he attended free art classes at the Carnegie Museum and later earned a degree in pictorial design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). Before achieving international acclaim for his screenprints, Warhol worked as a commercial designer in New York City, creating illustrations for clients including Vogue, Tiffany & Co., and Columbia Records. He is credited with expanding the definition of fine art, and his legacy lives on through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Andy Warhol Museum, both in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
Website
http://www.warhol.org
