Andy Warhols Impact On Art Essays - Andy Warhol, Ruthenian Catholics

Andy Warhol's Impact On Art andy warhol's impact on art Page 1 Andrew Warhola was born August Sixth, 1928, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Julie and Andrej Warhola, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia. After a quiet childhood spent alternately alone and in art classes, Andrew went to college. He then got a job doing commercial art, largely advertisements for large companies. Over time his name was shortened and Andy Warhol changed the face of modern art. Through his silver lined Factory and the many people who frequented it a revolution was born. This paper will discuss some of these people and examine the impact they all made on modern art. Ruska Dolina was a small Ruthenian suburb of Pittsburgh. It was populated with, of course, eastern European immigrants. Andy Warhol was born into this very close-knit neighborhood speaking his parent's native tongue. Julia Warhola was herself a bit of an artist, in later years she would collaborate with her youngest son. Andrej Warhola worked in the great steel mills of Pittsbur gh. The Warhola household was very typical of the times. Julia would stay home, cook, and read to her boys while Mr. Warhola worked in a steel mill sweatshop with hundreds of other immigrants. The family was strictly Eastern Orthodox Catholics. On Sunday, the day of rest, no one was allowed to move. These days were passed indoors with Mrs. Warhola telling stories to the boys. Like most children, Andrew collected the pictures and posters of various celebrities that would define such a body of his work in later years. Andrew was a rather small boy. In interviews Andy Warhol said that he was pale and scrawny and that he was thusly bullied on several occasions by his classmates. When he was fourteen Andrew's father died of tuberculosis, a common malady of the times, especially for the profession. This had a profound affect on young Andrew. As was the Orthodox tradition, the body was laid out in the house for three days of mourning and visitation. During this span Andrew hid under his be d refusing to look at his father's body. Despite the poorly paying job, Andrej managed to set aside money for college. However, he saved only enough to send one child, and the general consensus was that this would be Andrew. In Fifth grade Andrew started attending the free Saturday classes that the Carnegie Institute taught. It is noted that even then young Andrew excelled at his art. Due to the bullying by his classmates he stayed inside a great deal, working on his art. Due to his aptitude in school, Andrew skipped two grades and was admitted into the Carnegie Institute of Technology at the young age of 16. Once in the school Andrew was admitted to the Department of Painting and Design. He studied various aspects of commercial graphic design and after his graduation he moved to New York to seek his fortune. Page 2 Once out of college Andrew of course had very little money and for a brief while he shared a basement apartment with seventeen other individuals. Finding employment dema nded a never-ending series of portfolio submissions. In an interview Andrew said that his name was accidentally changed to Warhol. He says that it was never a conscious decision, it rather happened over time. Regardless, the name change stuck, the first name was shortened, and the world-renowned artist was forming. The basement with seventeen roommates did not last long; Andy was rather fast at finding steady employment. In 1951, two years out of school, Andy Warhol bought a nice apartment for himself. Shortly thereafter his mother and her three cats showed up one evening. Julia Warhola was to live with the son she adored so greatly for her remaining twenty years. During these two decades Andy kept his home life strikingly separate from his public persona. His time with his mother was cherished. Julia was in fact his first collaborator in art. Andy helped her make a book about cats and *censored* heaven, where all cats went. This book was an interesting mixture of his mother's folk art background and his unique styling. Over this time Andy Warhol had his world famous silver