Andy Warhol Defined Pop Art

Grade 5
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a popular
American print artist. He helped create Pop Art.
Warhol printed pictures of ordinary objects.
He also printed famous people. One of his
artworks, The Eight Elvises was sold for $100
million in 1963

Grade 5
Warhol did most of his painting during the 1960s. This
was an exciting time when new music, art, books, and
movies were being created. It inspired Warhol to look at
art in a new way.

Grade 5

Fun Facts:

In 1957, Warhol had plastic surgery to change the

shape of his nose.

He lost most of his hair by the time he was 25. He

wore wigs for the rest of his life.

Warhol made a lot of money, but he still dressed in

torn, sloppy clothes. His friends called him,
Raggedy Andy.

Warhol said that he started Pop Art because he

hated Abstract Expressionism.

Andy Warhol is famous for saying, In the

future, everyone will be world-famous for
15 minutes.

Early Career
Andy began his
career as a
commercial
artist.
His drawings
appeared in
many fashion
magazines.

Warhol appropriated (used without permission)

images from magazines, newspapers, and press
photos of the most popular people of his time

2006 Life
Inc.

Silver Liz [Ferus Type], 1963,

AWF

Warhol took common everyday items and

gave them importance as art

Knives, 1981,

AWF

Brillo Soap Pads Box, 1964,

AWF

Pop artists stretched the definitions of what art

could be and how it can be made.

photo by Herv Gloaguen

The Pop idea, after all, was that

anybody could do anything, so
naturally we were all trying to do it

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Many commercial
artists admired
Warhols work. But,
many in the fine arts
did not consider him
to be a real artist.
This upset Warhol. He
wanted people to
think of him as a real
artist and not just a
magazine illustrator.
So, Warhol began
painting ordinary
objects and display
them in museums.
Here he painted a
character from an old
cartoon.

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Repetition:

Warhol liked to paint many pictures of

the same thing. In 1962 a famous
actress named Marilyn Monroe died.
That same year he made a series of
pictures of her

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Later that year, a
friend suggested
Warhol paint
something that
was so common,
people didnt see
it as art. Warhol
loved to eat
soup. So he
decided to paint
cans of
Campbells Soup.
There were many flavors of Campbells
Soup at that time. Warhol bought all
the different kinds. Then he spent
hours copying the cans on a white
background. He painted the cans 32
times on one canvas! Each can was
slightly different from the next.

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Factory-made art:

By specializing in
printing,Warhol could
make multiple copies of
his pictures. He didnt
hold with the old idea
that each work of art
should be one of a kind,
individually crafted by
the artist. He even
named his studio The
Factory, to encourage
people to compare his
art to manufacturing.

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Warhol was fascinated by

famous faces and carefully
created a celebrity image of
his own, wearing a wild white
wig to make sure he stood
out from other people.

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Pop Art Legend

Today, Andy Warhol is

remembered as one of the
most important American
artists. He helped make
Pop Art important and
popular around the world.
For the first time, people
realized that cartoons,
movie stars, and soup
cans could be art.