Just Look at the Surface

(November 16, 2019) – Chicago, Illinois

Spending a pleasant late autumn weekend in Chicago with Jackie and family. I experienced an avalanche of culture.

Friday night we attended the historical (in manifold ways) colossal musical “Hamilton.” Wonderful lyrics, music, and stagecraft. The genius of Lin-Manual Miranda cannot be overemphasized. Spend a few Benjamins and get “Hamilton.” A true value for one of life’s memory makers.

Saturday, viewing elements of the phenomenon known as “Warhol” at the Art Institute of Chicago was equally enriching. Their current headliner is “Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again.” Seeing Warhol at the Art Institute was a retrospective for Jackie and me as well. We had seen the last extensive Warhol exhibit at the Chicago art palace on a family trip to the Windy City when she was a teenager in the mid-1980s.

Current consensus among art historians is the greatest artist of the first half of the twentieth century is Pablo Picasso and the greatest artist of the second half of the century is Andy Warhol.

Andrew Warhola was born and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Warhol’s Pittsburgh was a blue-collar working-class town standing in sharp contrast to New York City where Warhol would live out his professional, celebrated and celebrity life. 

Growing up, Andrew possessed a strong aptitude for art and was obsessed by Hollywood and movie celebrities. Graduating from public high school he attended Carnegie Institute of Technology where he received his degree in commercial illustration. Upon graduation he moved to New York City to find a job. 

self portrait 

On his second day in the City he was hired as a commercial artist. His first project was drawing depictions of women’s shoes for Glamour magazine. Commercialism became a strong influence on his art. His early work celebrated consumption.

Sidebar – In a magazine story reviewing Andy’s work, there appeared a typographical error (typo) leaving the “a” off the end of his surname. Andy liked the shortened version and adopted Warhol.

The Art Institute’s exhibit of over four hundred pieces was extensive, collected and curated from many important worldwide sources.  

The exhibition defined Warhol’s career development into essentially two portions. While working in advertising he developed his technique and view of art as the celebration of consumption. As the “art world” began to recognize the unique work, he was able to establish his own studio he named The Factory. The mid 1950s and 1960s is recognized as his Factory period.

Most notably were the Campbell Soup Can and the Brillo Boxes. These major pieces were genre busting and game changers in the art world. Warhol’s art went beyond the Pop Art of Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns. Warhol’s art called into question; What is art? What’s the difference between art and reality? Warhol was an astute observer who was fluent in the messaging of advertising.

Warhol was an incredible draftsman and developed tools helping him to duplicate, change, and enhance well known images that were generally silk screen on canvas or other varieties of cloth.

Following the huge success and the global following he obtained through his soup cans, Warhol used his art to enhance portrait images of the famous. Best known of Warhol’s portraits were the Marilyn’s (Monroe), the Elizabeth’s (Taylor), and the Mona Lisa’s. Other portraits I particularly liked in the exhibit included James Dean, Richard Nixon (under which Warhol emblazoned “Vote McGovern”), and a unique montage of Jacqueline Kennedy’s countenance relative to JFK’s assassination and funeral. 

Like the earlier Soup Cans, the portraits were constructed in multiple sizes and representations. Taken from his focus on commercialism many of the images were reproduced in small, medium, large, and extra-large sizes. The variety of sizes enabled him to increase the income from each image. 

The importance Warhol placed on wealth was a result of growing up among the working class, his working in commercial arts, and his desire for celebrity. One of his later famous works was the Dollar Sign ($).

The second period of Warhol’s work was his full realization of art as a business. Understanding he was an object of fascination Warhol capitalized on his success and celebrity.

During this second period Warhol began working in other media including film, television, magazines, and employment of oxidation techniques. In the later stages of his work emerged themes of religion. One of the most complex and interesting pieces was “Camouflage Last Supper.”

Andy Warhol’s art appears very straight forward but belies his complexity. Often overlooked, Andrew Warhola was a devout Catholic and attended church almost every day. Warhol said of himself; “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol just look at the surface of my paintings and my films, and me and there I am. There is nothing behind it.”

His art indeed explains his times. 

self portrait