One of the most influential artists of the 1960s was Andy Warhol, an American artist, producer, and filmmaker. While still a teen, Warhol was the recipient of the Scholastic Art and Writing Award for his outstanding work.
To pursue a career in art teaching after high school, he had planned on enrolling in Pitt’s Carnegie Institute of Technology to study commercial art.
In the late 1950s, Warhol began to focus more on painting, and in 1961, he introduced the notion of “pop art”—paintings that focused on mass-produced commercial products.
In December 1962, the Museum of Modern Art of New York City convened a conference on ‘pop art’ during which artists like Andy Warhol were criticized for succumbing to the commercialization of their work.
By embracing market culture openly, Warhol sparked outrage among critics. This meeting laid the groundwork for Warhol’s acceptance..
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Writer Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist, was shot by Warhol on June 3, 1968, in his studio. S.C.U.M., her feminist manifesto published in 1967, called for the expulsion of men, and she also appeared in Andy Warhol’s 1968 film “I, a Man,” in which she played a woman.
Warhol “had too much control over my life” when Solanas was arrested the day after the assault, she added. Because of her paranoid schizophrenia, the Department of Corrections placed her in prison for three years.
In order to save Warhol’s life, surgeons had to rip open his chest and stimulate the movement of his heart. For the rest of his life, he was forced to wear a surgical corset as a result of his injuries.
He was lambasted by reviewers in 1979 for displaying photographs of 1970s celebrities that they characterized as “commercial and shallow.” At this point, Warhol was viewed as just another “commercial artist” by some critics in the 1980s.
Condylomata (a sexually transmitted illness) therapy in 1960 contradicts Warhol’s claim to be a virgin, as does the fact that he was questioned in 1980 and said he was still virgin.
Initially, a fine art gallery rejected Warhol’s sketches of male nudes because they were too obviously gay. Erotic photographs and sketches of male nudes were done by Warhol throughout his career.
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Portraits of Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as films like Blow Job, My Hustler and Lonesome Cowboys based on homosexual underground culture, freely explore sexuality and desire. To see more of his work, go to sites like BlouinArtinfo.com and Artsy.net.
In the wake of complications following a routine gallbladder surgery, Warhol passed away on February 22nd, 1987. In a settlement out of court, Warhol’s family was awarded an undisclosed sum of money after suing the hospital for poor care.