Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola, Jr., 6 Aug 1928, Pittsburgh, PA, USA — 22 Feb 1987, New York City) was an American painter, printmaker, filmmaker, and a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

He visited Cambodia in 1956, when he was still a relatively unknown artist drawing for fashion magazines and advertising agencies after training at Carnegie Mellon University. 

After a successful career as a commercial illustrator (the now mythical 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans painting!) Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and member of highly diverse social circles including Bohemian artists, wealthy heirs and heiresses, Hollywood stars, and avant-garde literati.

Albeit sticking to ​“political neutrality”, Warhol indirectly criticized the American-made Vietnam War, agreeing to create a poster ​“Vote McGovern” for the Democratic Party against warmongering Richard Nixon, and subverting the right-wing campaign ​“Bomb Hanoi!” slogan. However, his pop-art sensibility led him to address politics, and political leaders, as a mere part of ​‘mass media stardom’. 

In May 2022, his 1964 silkscreen of Marilyn’s face, ​“Shot Sage Blue Marilyn”, was sold for about 195 million at Christie’s New York, highest price achieved for any auctioned American work of art.The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is $100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the ​“bellwether of the art market.” $100 million is a benchmark price that only Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-August Renoir, Gustav Klimt and Willem de Kooning have achieved.

Andy Warhol in 1956, the year he went to Asia.

‘Some/​thing’, Andy Warhol’s response to warmongers in 1966.

Andy Warhol is a virgin”, claims the model’s teeshirt on Forum magazine, 1981.