Hey, Whyville! I'm richy605, and I'm back with the next artist of the week! Taking a jump from the 16th century Renaissance era to 20th century Pop Art, we will be learning about the famous artist Andy Warhol.
Andrew Warhola, AKA Andy Warhol, was an American artist. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 6, 1928, and died February 22, 1987. At the very young age of 8, Warhol got a disease called Chorea, also known as St. Vitus's Dance. This is a rare and sometimes fatal disease of the nervous system. "Chorea is characterized by brief, semi-directed, irregular movements that are not repetitive or rhythmic, but appear to flow from one muscle to the next." This caused him to be bedridden for 3 months. During these long months, his mom, a skilled artist as well, gave him his very first art lesson. Soon after this, drawing became one of Warhol's favorite things to do.
At the age of 14, Warhol attended free art classes at the Carnegie Institute as well as regular school. Again, Warhol suffered from another tragedy at a young age. His father had died. Warhol was so sad that he couldn't even attend his own father's funeral, and he hid under his bed throughout it. Warhol's father had put all of his life savings into his son's college funds when he died.
After graduating from the Carnegie Institute with his Bachelors Degree in Fine Art, Warhol moved to New York City to gain a career as a commercial artist. It was at this time that he took the 'a' off the end of his last name changing it from "Warhola" to "Warhol."
By the 1950's, Warhol had a job with the magazine Glamour, and was on his way to becoming one of the top commercial artists of that time. He frequently won awards for his unique, whimsical style using stamps and blotted lines to create his art.
In the later 1950's, Warhol began to pay more attention to painting rather than stamps and blotted lines. He debuted the "Pop Art" style in 1961. It was at this time he was focusing on painting more mass-produced commercial goods. In 1962, Warhol exhibited the now iconic, Campbell soup can paintings. Painting these small everyday items created a new style in the art world. This brought him into the national spotlight for the very first time.
I hope you enjoyed learning about another artist this week! Stay tuned for next week's Artist of the Week.
Author's Note: All of the information I found in this article was found on:
http://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875?page=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorea
