Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol
Born on this day in 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Andy Warhola dropped the “a” at the end of his name and went on to become of the most famous artists of his generation.
Warhol was what is called a “pop artist.” Pop art is an art movement that began in the mid-1950s. The word pop refers to the common subject of the art: items and icons of popular culture, including advertising, comic books, and celebrities. Unlike fine art in the past, Warhol and pop art in general adopted the idea of mass production, and Warhol not only produced silkscreened prints of many of his most famous images, he even called his studio “The Factory.”
One image that is linked in people’s minds to Warhol is Campbell’s Soup Cans. This is a set of 32 canvases on which a variety of Campbell’s soup flavors are realistically depicted. Another iconic image is a series of false-color images of Marilyn Monroe.
The photo shown here shows how an art museum in Scotland called attention to an Andy Warhol exhibit (20 years after his death).
Although Warhol was criticized harshly by some, especially at the beginning of his fine art career, he became a respected artist, film director, author, and publisher and the highest-price American artist of his lifetime.
- Learn more about Andy Warhol.
Complete the interactive game/lesson called Worhol’s World, or read a biography.
- Play with color a la Warhol.
- Do art a la Warhol.
Here is a low-tech pop-art portrait idea, and here is a similar idea done high-tech, with a photo-editor.