Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928, both his parents were of Czech nationality who immigranted to America. Warhol studied pictorial design and art history, sociology and psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh until he moved to New York in 1949 to begin a very successful career as a commercial artist working with department stores and advertising agencies as well as for Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Glamour and The New York Times.
In the early fifties he shortened his name to "Warhol" In 1952 Warhol had his first individual show at the Hugo Gallery, exhibiting Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote. His work was exhibited in several other venues during the 1950's, including his first group show at The Museum of Modern Art in 1956.
The 1960's was an extremely prolific decade for Warhol and in 1960 came his first pictures of comic strips and company logos. Between 1962 and 1964 he produced over 2,000 pictures at his workshop know as "The Factory". Taking images from popular culture, Warhol created many paintings that remain icons of 20th-century art, such as the Campbell's Soup Cans, Endangered Species and Marilyns.
In July 1968 he was shot and seriously wounded by Valerie Solanis. He recovered and between 1969 and 1972 he was commissioned to do a number of portraits. During the early 1970's, Warhol began publishing "Interview" magazine and renewed his focus on painting. During the 70's he created such works as Maos, Skulls, Hammer and Sickles, Torsos and Shadows and many other commissioned portraits.
Warhol began the 1980's with the publication of POPism: The Warhol 60's and with exhibitions of Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century and the Retrospectives and Reversal series. Andy Warhol died in 1987 during a routine operation and some years later in 1994 The Andy Warhol Museum opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Andy Warhol will be best remembered as the inventor and most famous exponent of Pop Art where he took the technique of silk screening to a new level. Warhol also had the gift of understanding the defining moments and people of generations and the ability of bringing people together with every day icons and household items.
