Matrix: Contemporary Printmaking - Museum of Fine Arts - Florida ...

Fall 2009
Artists’ Biographies
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, Self-portrait, 1966,
screen-printing
Andrew Warhol was born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania in 1928. He was the third child of
working class parents, who were immigrants from
Slovakia. He was raised as a strict Catholic. In
third grade he suffered from the disease called St.
Vitus dance, a complication of scarlet fever. This
resulted in long-term effects to his skin coloration
and he became a hypochondriac. He was bedridden
for a lot of his childhood. To occupy time in
bed he collected old pictures of movie stars and put
them up around his bed. He also drew and listened
to the radio. He says that this period of his life was
important to the development of his personality.
From a young age he showed talent in art.
When he was old enough he studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at
Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. In 1949 he moved to New York
City and began a successful career in magazine illustration and advertising. In
1950 he gained fame, something he
always craved, from his shoe ads that
were created by using a loose inkblotting
style. RCA hired him to make
record covers and promotional
material. In 1962 he held his first
exhibit, which included the Marilyn
Diptych, 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke
Bottles, and 100 Dollar Bills.
During the 60s Andy founded
“the factory,” a studio that became a
hang-out for artists of all kinds. Once
Andy started working in the factory he
began to use silk-screening. With his
process he was able to produce his
artwork “en masse.” Warhol liked the
idea of silk-screening because he
was making art work using images of
mass produced products and he was
then mass-producing his art work. He
said that he wanted to be a machine.
Warhol became quickly known for his
brightly colored pop art. Some critics
were turned off by his glorification of
Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup, 1968, silk screen-printing
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