Icon, Pop Art, controversy, white hair, and Campbell Soup. Do you know, who I'm talking about? No? Then let me tell you.
I'm talking about one of the greatest 20th-century pop art authors - Andy Warhol. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1928 and spent his entire life in the United States. In addition to being a great artist, you should also know that Andy Warhol`s parents came from Czechoslovakia. His father and mother eventually emigrated from eastern Slovakia, that is why he spent his entire life in the US. Too bad they emigrated, otherwise this icon would be even closer to the Czech Republic.
As is the case with artists, Andy Warhol showed his talent at an early age, that is why he later went to study design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburg, where he finished his degree in fine arts. During his studies, he met his colleague and faithful friend Phillip Pearlstein with whom he moved to New York. And now we know, that was the right step!
In New York, he met art director of the world-famous magazine named Glamour, Tina Fredericks. And everybody knows that contacts are very important in all fields. For Tina Fredericks, he began creating and illustrating commercials that made him very visible. At that time he was growing in many ways. He has painted for the magazines Vogue and Harper's Bazaar but has also worked for advertisement companies. Soon enough he had his agent Fritzie Miller, who provided him with his first exhibition of work for the stories of the writer Truman Capot in 1952, which he greatly admired.
But for the Warhol, the 1960s were the most successful. At this time, he began to make well-known images such as Campbell's soups from the Campbell Soup Company. He also painted portraits of celebrities. For example Marylin Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor or even Elvis Presley. And these are really big names. In those years, his famous factory, where he created mainly screen printing became popular very quickly. His style - dotted painting with very bright colors and the fact that he painted what he saw (portraits, banknotes, magazine clippings, items) had a good effect on the masses of people.
Andy Warhol was versatile. He also wrote books and worked in films. But his greatest collaborations are the one in the music industry. He, for example, collaborated with The Rolling Stones. Warhol designed and painted the cover of their two albums - Love You Live and Sticky Fingers. He also worked with the well-known group The Velvet Underground. He also helped this band design album covers.
And when we have gone through Warhol's life and career very briefly, we can move to the actual exhibition that takes place at the Gallery of Art Prague in the Old Town Square. The exhibition is divided into two parts. In the first part, you will find the famous artwork such as celebrities portraits, but also his lesser-known works from the 1950s. A big surprise was the second part, which shows facts about his family. So the exhibition will also show you how much Andy Warhol was connected with Czechoslovakia.
https://www.osobnosti.cz/andy-warhol.php
https://www.goap.cz/andy-warhol-cz