In contrast to Andy Warhol’s fascination with fame and materialism, it is important to consider the background he came from. Born with the original name of Andrew Warhola, he was from a humble background, with Slovakian immigrant parents—a construction worker as a father and an embroiderer as a mother. When Warhol was once asked where he was from, he replied with a cryptic “I am from nowhere” with this nowhere being Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Warhol has always been private about the details and said he “never like to give my background” because he “preferred to remain a mystery” (Kattenberg, 1). Warhol does not talk about his family often. It is known that he has a good relationship with his mother that he has kept throughout his life. Warhol
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Born on August 6th, 1928, it was one year before the Great Depression. Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist in the University of Michigan, notes a correlation with those who grew up in a time of economic scarcity and political upheaval to a tendency “to give top priority to economic and physical security” (215). Perhaps it was why the world was so ready to embrace this movement of Pop Art that emerged in the mid-1950s, just as World War II ended in 1945 (“Pop Art Movement”). It’s important to consider this period of the Great Depression that troubled most of the country economically, then transitioning into a time of war that stressed the importance of recycling and rationing for the sake of military production (“The War”). With the war ending and pulling the country out of the Great Depression, the economy was back on its feet as Americans saw a rise in spending power. Gone was this obscure style of Abstract Expressionism that emphasized thoughts and feeling, and came this movement of Pop Art with images of consumer society, with the visual aspects of advertising and idealization of mass production (Bolton, 13). Warhol was the kind of person who grew to favor the latter during this time of manufacturing and media boom, as opposed to the ideas of abstract …show more content…
When Warhol first struggled to break into this world of fine art just as the movement of Pop Art emerged, he struggled to set himself from Roy Lichtenstein or James Rosenquist who also drew from popular culture and deviated from the emotional depths of Abstract Expressionism (“Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”). Ted Carey, a friend of Warhol, recalled Warhol turning to him and gallerist Muriel Latow for ideas on what to paint:
Latow: Money. The thing that means more to you and that you like more than anything else in the world is money. You should paint pictures of money.
Warhol: Oh, that’s
Born on August 6th, 1928, it was one year before the Great Depression. Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist in the University of Michigan, notes a correlation with those who grew up in a time of economic scarcity and political upheaval to a tendency “to give top priority to economic and physical security” (215). Perhaps it was why the world was so ready to embrace this movement of Pop Art that emerged in the mid-1950s, just as World War II ended in 1945 (“Pop Art Movement”). It’s important to consider this period of the Great Depression that troubled most of the country economically, then transitioning into a time of war that stressed the importance of recycling and rationing for the sake of military production (“The War”). With the war ending and pulling the country out of the Great Depression, the economy was back on its feet as Americans saw a rise in spending power. Gone was this obscure style of Abstract Expressionism that emphasized thoughts and feeling, and came this movement of Pop Art with images of consumer society, with the visual aspects of advertising and idealization of mass production (Bolton, 13). Warhol was the kind of person who grew to favor the latter during this time of manufacturing and media boom, as opposed to the ideas of abstract …show more content…
When Warhol first struggled to break into this world of fine art just as the movement of Pop Art emerged, he struggled to set himself from Roy Lichtenstein or James Rosenquist who also drew from popular culture and deviated from the emotional depths of Abstract Expressionism (“Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”). Ted Carey, a friend of Warhol, recalled Warhol turning to him and gallerist Muriel Latow for ideas on what to paint:
Latow: Money. The thing that means more to you and that you like more than anything else in the world is money. You should paint pictures of money.
Warhol: Oh, that’s