Facts about Andy Warhol

Biography Summary: Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) was famous for a creator of the visual art movement that became known as pop art.

As a child he had been unwell for substantial periods having been diagnosed with Sydenham’s chorea. Being bedridden he found ways to distract himself by collecting pictures of movie stars and listened to the radio while he drew.

His career started out well in advertising and blossomed into him being able to express his own skills and talents and found people interested in his work.

He began exhibiting his work and selling his work. Once piece, known as “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” was sold in 1963 for one hundred and five million dollars. He died very unexpectedly after a routine operation on his gallbladder. His family sued the hospital and won an out of court settlement.

Andy Warhol Fact Sheet: Who was Andy Warhol? The following short biography and fact sheet provides interesting facts about the life, times and history of Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol Fact File Biography: Lifespan: 1928 - 1987 *** Full Name: Andrew Warhola *** Occupation: American Artist, Printmaker, Painter, Cinema and Photographer *** Date of Birth: Andy Warhol was born on August 6th 1928 *** Place of Birth: Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. *** Family background: His father was Ondrej Warhola and his mother was Julia Zavacka who were both from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father moved to the U.S. in 1914 and his mother was able to follow in 1921. His father worked in a coal mine *** Early life and childhood: He grew up with two older brothers Pavol and Jan *** Education: Andy Warhol attended Schenley High School followed by attending Carnegie Institute of Technology ***

Andy Warhol Fact 1: Andy Warhol was born on August 6th 1928 and during the 20th century period in history when there were world changing events happening including the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War.

Andy Warhol Fact 2: At just thirteen years of age his father died in an accident.

Andy Warhol Fact 3: As a young child he was diagnosed with Sydenham’s chorea which is thought to be a complication from having had scarlet fever. He was often confined to his bed and so became very close to this mother but it meant he did not make many friends at school.

Andy Warhol Fact 4: While attending college he also joined the Beaux Arts Society and the Modern Dance Club.

Andy Warhol Fact 5: He became the art director of the student magazine, Cano where he illustrated the cover in 1948.

Andy Warhol Fact 6: He graduated college with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in pictorial design in 1949 and later that same year he moved to New York City and started a career in advertising and magazine illustrations.

Andy Warhol Fact 7: His early career consisted of shoe advertisements in ink drawings of a whimsical nature. During a time when the record industry was growing rapidly RCA Records employed Warhol and artists like him to design artwork for promotional material and album covers.

Andy Warhol Fact 8: Early on he found a way of adapting silk screen printing to look like paintings, beginning with hand drawn images he was soon able to adapt to using techniques on photographs.

Andy Warhol Fact 9: His artwork would also involve the acceptance of mistakes and unintentional marks became accepted.

Andy Warhol Fact 10: Warhol produced work both professionally and privately.

Andy Warhol Fact 11: During the 1950’s he started to exhibit his work in such places as the Bodley Gallery and the Hugo Gallery in New York City as well as in California where his first exhibit took place on July 9th 1962 at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles

Andy Warhol Fact 12: It was the first time he exhibited work as pop art on the West Coast.

Andy Warhol Fact 13: His first solo pop art exhibit in New York City was hosted by Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in November 1962 and included such pieces as Marilyn Diptych, 100 Coke Bottles, 100 Dollar Bills and 100 Soup Cans.

Andy Warhol Fact 14: During the New York exhibition he met John Giorno, a poet who would be the lead in Sleep, Warhol's first film in 1963.

Andy Warhol Fact 15: It would be during the 1960’s that he began to paint the more iconic American celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali, Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley as well as the iconic American objects like dollar bills, mushroom clouds, Campbell’s Soup Cans and Coca-Cola bottles.

Andy Warhol Fact 16: During this time he established his studio with a myriad of musicians, artists and writers around him.

Andy Warhol Fact 17: It was in 1969 that Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist shot Warhol and Mario Amaya an art curator and critic while they were in Warhol's studio. Amaya was not seriously wounded and was allowed home on the same day.

Andy Warhol Fact 18: Warhol on the other hand, suffered very serious injuries and had chest cracked open and his heart massaged back to life. The event would have a profound effect on his life and transferred to his art.

Andy Warhol Fact 19: The 1970’s was more about his entrepreneurial efforts and the 1980’s would see Warhol's work re-emerge causing financial success as well as critical acclaim. However, he would be accused of being merely a “business artist”.

Andy Warhol Fact 20: Andy Warhol died on February 22nd 1987 of a cardiac arrhythmia believed to have been caused by post-operatively after a routine gallbladder procedure, aged fifty eight years. His body was laid to rest in St John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, Pittsburgh.

Influence & Legacy: A controversial artist he said “What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca-Cola, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.”