Everyone knows everything about Warhol, so I'll tell you something I didn’t know myself until recently: Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, about 3 hours' drive from Columbus. His museum is there, along with the largest collection of his art works. His real last name was Warhola, his ancestors were Slovaks, and due to a typo, the "a" disappeared, leaving Warhol.
After finishing college, he moved to New York to work in advertising. He earned VERY well, but it was never enough for him; he wanted to be famous, to be a star, and he became one.
He is the author of the most expensive work by an American artist ever sold at auction: Shot Marilyns on a blue background. Warhol printed 5 portraits of the actress on different colored backgrounds and placed them on a wall in his studio. One of the party girls came in and asked if she could take them down. He thought she meant photos and said yes. The guest then took out a gun and shot the stack of paintings (the word shoot means both to shoot with a gun and to take a photo). So, 4 out of the 5 Marilyns were shot. One painting on a lilac background was left untouched.
Warhol's style... originally, he worked in various styles, including sketches and caricatures, but by that time, Roy Lichtenstein had already become popular with his comic-style works, and gallery owners suggested he come up with something of his own. He did, and started making paintings using silkscreen printing.
Mass production, repetition, the democratization of art, where art ends and mass production begins. Should art be unique, beautiful, and handcrafted? To all these questions, Warhol answered no. Anyone could print editions however they liked. By the end of his life, he managed the process over the phone and would just come in to sign. And even his signature wasn’t his. In his youth, he had a classmate with poor English but beautiful handwriting, who would draw the letters and numbers on his advertising posters. She was the one who created the "design" of his signature.
In Pittsburgh, there are 3 identical yellow bridges, the one closest to the museum bears his name. I was laughing. An excellent tribute to mass production.
Pittsburgh is really cool, artsy, with my favorite industrial architecture, great food, benches, and beautiful views. I’ll go again.
#Pittsburgh #Warhol #Питтсбург #Уорхол #springbreak
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