Warhol was born Andrew Warhola. According to his birth certificate, he was born in Forest City, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1930 (Warhol claims this birth certificate is a forgery). He grew up a sickly kid in a working-class neighborhood. He was the only member of his family to attend college. He graduated from Carnegie Tech with a degree in design in 1949 and shortly thereafter he moved to New York City to try his hand at commercial illustration (Ratcliff 11). Commissions came fairly readily, and within a few years he became a commerc

Andy Warhol is more than just an artist. He was also a leading film maker, author, magazine publisher, music promoter, collector, and cultural critic (Baal-Teshuva 17). No matter what his chosen medium, the works of Andy Warhol generally shocked, outraged, and influenced public opinion like no other cultural figure in modern America. According to Carter Ratcliff, no artist has ever been more “American”, for in many respects, Warhol’s work has come to epitomize success in post World War II American consumer culture. Against the backdrop of increasing American affluence, painting of ever-present mass-marketed consumer goods took on a decidedly nationalist slant. To eat Campbell’s soup or to drink Pepsi represented being American. Thus, Warhol’s image of a loaded refrigerator was surely also ideologically loaded at the close of a decade that had seen Richard Nixon’s major debate with the Soviets (over the provision of consumer goods) not only take place in a kitchen but even come to be called the “Kitchen Debate.” And Warhol’s painting of the American hero Superman blowing out a fire also takes on an extra fillip of significance in the context of the Cold War domino theory and America’s self-proclaimed heroic mission to put out the fires of a world communist takeover (Wollen

Some topics in this essay:
Andy Warhol, Abstract Expressionism, Icebox Warhol, Andy Warhol’s, York City, II American, Pennsylvania September, Cold War, Debate” Warhol’s, Albrecht Durer, andy warhol, abstract expressionism, america abstract expressionism, campbell’s soup, america abstract, war ii, printmaking warhol, individual freedom, world war, world war ii, warhol’s painting, birth certificate,