Book Description

This new catalogue documents a recent exhibition at the Starmach Gallery in Krakow, presenting Andy Warhol's Polaroid work during the last two decades of his life. The 65 color images here include Warhol's self-portraits--occasionally in drag or another kind of costume--as well as Warhol's pictures of celebrities and artists from all fields. Included here are artists such as Keith Haring, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Francesco Clemente, and Jean-Michel Basquiat; writers such as William S. Burroughs and Truman Capote; and actors including Liza Minelli and Dennis Hopper, among numerous others. These images mark out a territory all their own within Warhol's oeuvre, a space where both living humanity and the spectacle in which it is woven can coexist. Also featured here is ''King for a Day,'' Francesco Clemente's brilliant and revelatory essay on Andy Warhol. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very little for the money
This large sized, but very thin book is printed on a large format but the photographs within are to scale (ie. Polaroid instant photo size). Very little text, though it does provide technical information, such as the size and date of each photograph at the end. The only problem is that the techinical information is almost exactly the same on each Polaroid snapshot, with the same dimensions and film type used, etc. It also only spans a short time period of Warhol's work. Very boring. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

FINE TRIBUTE TO MR POP ART
This lavishly illustrated book includes poignant portraits of Andy Warhol like the photo of him in front of his Self-Portrait (1967) and one of him distributing Interview magazine on Madison Avenue. There are also early black and white illustrations like A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu (1955) and Young Man With A Flower (1957).

Of course, it includes all his most famous works like Soup Cans, Green Coca-Cola Bottles, Triple Elvis, Marilyn Diptych, Gold Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe's Lips, Mona Lisa, Brillo Boxes, Campbell's Soup Multicoloured, Dollar Signs and others. All of the works of art reproduced here are discussed in detail and often illuminated with quotes from Warhol himself.

The insightful introduction examines Warhol life and work from his birth in 1928 to his death in 1987. I found the sections on his association with The Velvet Underground, his films like Chelsea Girls, Trash, Flesh and I, A Man, most interesting. There is a reproduction of a still from the film Trash (1970), showing Joe Dallesandro and Holly Woodlawn.

The assassination attempt by Valerie Solanas is covered in detail, making for gripping history. The author claims that it took a deep psychological toll, greatly heightening Warhol's feeling that both life and art were senseless.

The book concludes with a Chronology, Photograph Credits, List of Plates and Selected Bibliography. Warhol as painter, printmaker, sculptor and filmmaker remains my favorite artist of the 20th century and this book does full justice to his genius.

Fans of Warhol would also benefit by investigating the album Songs For Drella by John Cale and Lou Reed. The tracks Forever Changed and Hello It's Me capture his spirit very well. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

Trade Secrets
Warhol was always a scene-maker. A neglected part of his c.v. is his social connection to the Lower East Side (East Village) movement of post-Beat, pre-Hippie, "Little Magazines." These were ephemeral, often hand printed on mimeo machines. Editor/publishers included poet & Factory member Gerard Malanga, Ted Berrigan, & Ed Sanders. Wolf makes a convincing case that Sanders' folk-rock group The Fugs, working out of Peace Eye bookstore, preceded the Velvet Underground as a muse for Warhol. This book explains how the lives of certain people in this scene were determined as a kind of Living Art with components of gossip, in-jokes, zen, amphetamines, social climbing, celebrity hankering, and semi-closeted homosexuality. Traces of these and other themes can be found in the art & writing of the time. A "Trade secret" of how to engage in a certain type of conceptual art, is detailed on pp. 40-41 of this book. A must read.

Warhol and writers
Warhol is often portrayed in films and literature as a superficial, aloof, overtly homosexual artist. What is often overlooked is that Warhol was an intellectual. Reva Wolf does a wonderful job pointing this key factor out to the reader. Warhol was associated with some of the world's greatest writers. People like Kerouac and Dylan came to Warhol for a reason; Warhol offered them a world that was worth writing about. Wolf delves into Warhol and his relations with various writers. The factory scene is covered in that great detail is given to Gerard Malanga (who was often viewed as Warhol's sole intellectual). Gerard was an aspiring poet (much like many at The Factory) and Warhol was often spotted at various "happenings" listening to the current spill of contemporary poetry in the sixties. There are relatively few flaws in comparison to the overall book. Wolf provides the reader with several rare photographs. The clarity of some of them is slightly weak. Yet, the layout of the book is modern and a few of the photos catch Warhol fairly intimately. The entire book provides the reader with an intellectual perspective to viewing the life of Andy Warhol. Wolf proves that Warhol was more than his facade by addressing the gossip and writings that surrounded Warhol. Wolf does not attempt to explain the enigma which is Warhol, but merely gives a new angle in which to view. Anyone interested in Warhol and the intelligencia of the sixties must read this book. Wolf's book is a fabulous companion to The Andy Warhol Diaries and Popism. ... Read more

Book Description

New York City, the 1960s: Inside a ramshackle studio known as The Factory, the post-war art world encountered the industrial revolution. For more than two years, Nat Finkelstein was on the scene, documenting the explosive emergence of Pop Art, a subversive spectacle created by the constantly calculating Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol: The Factory Years is an extraordinary photographic account of the twisted, the addicted, the nameless, and the famous. As a member of the club, Finkelstein discreetly captured icons in the making, including Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Allen Ginsberg, Edie Sedgwick, and Nico, along with such legends of another era as Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp. And, of course, Warhol himself. Engagingly sequenced by renowned design firm Pentagram, Andy Warhol: The Factory Years features Finkelstein's seminal black-and-white photographs, in addition to several series of previously unpublished color photographs that were thought lost for the past three decades. Finkelstein accompanies these striking images with vivid memories, poetic recollections, and acerbic commentary, providing both visual and intellectual insight into the culture of The Factory. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Worth buying but only just: color photos a big plus!
It is not a little ironic that the photographic record of an artist as prolific and as wrapped up in making and taking film and photographs as Andy Warhol was suffers from a dearth of great photos of the scene of Andy Warhol, The Factory and his Superstars: For real. I mean, I would love to own a book that is just chockablock full of all of the characters, primary, secondary, tertiary and beyond who populate the pages of the many books about Andy Warhol and the Warhol Experience. Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be any out there. Most of the books by and about the actors in the Warhol drama are text-based with a few, often the same few, grainy, shadowy, poorly framed black & whites. This book is an attempt by one to bring together more and better photos that fans such as I desire. It is a fair effort but only just. The book is over-size or 'folio' form which is GREAT, and mostly photographs. The text is composed of an opening statement of a couple of pages of over-sized type by the author followed by lots of photographs. The essays contain some valuable information that have the ring of truth to them, but they also seem spontaneous, off-the-cuff and free associative and as a result are not easy to follow. They are more blurted out than intoned, if you get me. The book is printed in the UK on non-glossy heavy stock. I'm unsure if this was done to save money or to impart a flat, gritty, industrial feel to the photos. It is a different look than anything else out there about Warhol and I can live with it; although, I catch myself wondering what this book would look like if done on really expensive, glossy paper with top notch production values. The author explains at one point that his photos were criticized by media critics for being odd and unconventional. He states that today this is recognized as a somewhat ground-breaking and very original and excellent representation of the scene. I think that they are a bit odd and unconventional. There are some great shots there though, and the author gets some portraits of Edie Sedgewick that are heart-breakingly prescient in retrospect. There are a couple great shots of Nico too and, of course, Andy. I was pleased to see some good ones of Taylor Mead and Paul Morissey which is a refreshing change; although, I must say that it would have been cool to see how the author would have represented Andy's mother, Billy Name, and Andrea Feldman. Oh, well, I suppose one must be happy with what one can get. I believe that if you are a huge Warhol admirer such as I you would be mad to not own this. If you are curious but indifferent to Warhol and the scene, right now as I speak you can buy this book right here on Amazon for a fraction of what it is worth and you should buy it NOW. If you don't care for Andy Warhol or care about him this book will certainly not change your mind so don't bother.

new edition
the book expanded redesigned and with the addition with a complete section of color phots has been republished by canongate books ,scotland ... Read more

Book Description

More than sixty samples of criticism reprinted from a variety of sources offer insights about the most controversial artist of the century. The collection includes some of the most important and best examples of Warhol criticism and provides access to material that is no longer easily obtainable. Organized chronologically, the criticism has been selected on the basis of its value in interpreting Warhol's artistic legacy. The last section of the book contains five new essays which specifically address the artist's relationship with the critics. Valuable for scholars, students, and others interested in art and popular culture. ... Read more

Book Description

Gerard Malanga was chief assistant at Andy Warhol’s legendary Factory in New York from 1963 to 1970.

As well as helping Warhol produce many, now instantly recognizable, works of art, Malanga also appeared in several Warhol movies—including Couch and Chelsea Girls — and was the Velvet Underground’s notorious "whip dancer." He has since been widely published as a poet and photographer in his own right.

Archiving Warhol is Malanga’s first major book publication on Warhol and his years at the Factory. Primarily a collection of his many writings on, and interviews with, Andy Warhol over the years, it is heavily illustrated with photographs from Malanga’s personal archive, including many shots published here for the first time. Subjects include members of Warhol’s enigmatic entourage such as Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Bob Dylan, and of course Warhol and Malanga himself.

Archiving Warhol provides a unique historical insight into Andy Warhol’s art and philosophy, and is an invaluable document of the Warhol 1960s, one of the most crucial and innovative periods in modern art.

... Read more

Book Description

As well as being one of the leading figures in the American Pop Art movement, Andy Warhol was a painter, printmaker, occasional sculptor and filmmaker whose work carried on the tradition of Dadaism which questioned the very validity of art itself. He used images and objects, and the means of their production to draw draw parallels with cultural processes. Thus, by means of a variety of techniques, but principally the choice of images, their visual repetition and pictorial isolation, and the use of colour, Warhol makes us aware of contemporary materialism, political manipulation, economic exploitation, conspicuous consumption, media hero-worship, and the creation of artificially-induced needs and aspirations. Through manipulating images and the public persona of the artist, Warhol also confronts us with the contradictions and superficialities of contemporary culture and the art it has engendered, whilst incorporating in his paintings and sculptures the very techniques of mass production that are central to the modern world, emphasizing to the point of absurdity the complete detachment from social and artistic commitment that he saw in the world around him. Despite the unevenness and shallowness of much of his later work, Andy Warhol was one of the most brilliant, challenging and intentionally infuriating artists of the last half of the twentieth century.

About the author: Eric Shanes Eric Shanes is himself a painter and a renowned art historian. Amongst his many articles on twentieth-century art are best-selling books on Constantin Brancusi and David Hockney. He is also a leading authority on JMW Turner on whom he has written nine best-selling books and catalogues. He is currently the Chairman of the Turner Society. He is much in demand all over Britain and the United States as a lecturer on art. ... Read more

Book Description

The life and work of Andy Warhol are interconnected in a manner unlike any other artist. One of the preeminent depicters of the society of the spectacle, Warhol became a spectacle unto himself, hobnobbing with celebrities and creating an ongoing hipster scene around his image. As his work has continues to grow in popularity, and critical positions on him proliferate, the depth and ambiguity of his oeuvre becomes clearer, and scholars and audiences alike now see Warhol for the prophetic visionary he was. "Andy Warhol and His World" presents an amazing selection of Warhol's work from throughout his career--from his early Brillo boxes and silkscreens of auto accidents and electric chairs, to his ''portraits'' of Elvis, Marilyn, Liz, Mao, and Queen Elizabeth II, to film stills and self-portraits--as well as extensive essays on Warhol and the world he reflected and created. What emerges is an artist who addressed death and mortality as much as he did commodity fetishism and celebrity. ... Read more

Book Description

The more familiar elements of Warhol's oeuvre touch on subjects ranging from religion to women's shoes, from celebrity to death, and so here, finally, are sex and bodily fluids. Gathered together are a group of works that include Warhol's rarely exhibited erotic male nude drawings from the 1950s, the Torso and Sex Part paintings and drawings (1977-82), and the conceptual alchemy of the abstract Oxidation and Piss paintings series (1978). Essay by Bruce Hainley. Paperback, 9.25 x 10.5 in./100 pgs / 92 color 0 BW0 duotone 0 ~ Item D20136 ... Read more

Book Description

By the 1960s, Andy Warhol was already famous for turning the world of advertising and commercial art on its head with his new presentational style using silk-screened images. Less known is that during those heady times, Warhol began boxing up personal items, art, letters, bills, photographs, postcards, found objects, illustrated vinyl LPs, newspaper clippings, and diaristic notes into what he called "Time Capsules." This book displays for the first time all 32 capsules featuring 300 color photos, spread out and shot in a montage format so that the viewer can better understand the obsessive inclusiveness of these records of Warhol/Factory content. ... Read more