Warhol
The
life and work of Andy Warhol has
inspired many writers to tell of the artist’s
secrets in published writings.
However, Carter Ratcliff accomplishes this feat
in a unique fashion,
profiling Warhol’s work in Andy Warhol. A must-read for
anybody interested in
the origins of American Pop art, Ratcliff’s book touches
on all aspects of
Warhol’s work. Segmented chronologically, Ratcliff explains
the influence and
significance of select paintings, as well as sections devoted
to Warhol’s
sketches, photographs, movies and notes on the techniques used by
the artist.
This format, combined with the inclusion of nearly 100 prints of
paintings,
is effective because a natural theme flows through the chronological
ordering
of the monograph. Some of the influences are obvious in Warhol’s
work.
However, the cumulative effect of the artist’s attempts is more
easily
understood through the chronological ordering of the pieces. The
chronological
ordering helps the reader understand what social or personal
beliefs or
conflicts the artist was dealing with pertaining to the given time
period. For
example, Warhol produced many pieces with singular subject matter
displayed
multiple times as in his Campbell’s soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles
and dollar
signs, possibly just comforting symbols to Warhol as well as the
American Pop
Culture. Also, Ratcliff leads the reader on a journey
through the details,
effects and consequences of the work. The author also
describes similarities in
select Warhol pieces. The development of Warhol as
an artist is easily
understood using this format, as his work transforms from
the playful character
of Saturday’s Popeye (Figure 1) to the realism of Skull
or the political power
of the Hammer and Sickle series. Andy Warhol takes a
convincing and
comprehensive look at the pursuits of the artist, basing
observations on a
plethora of sources. The information cited in each section
is a cumulation of
Ratcliff’s investigation, interviews with Warhol and
references to the
writings of other critics. Basing his survey largely in the
ideas of others,
Ratcliff discovers little original information.
Referring to such credible
contacts as Robert Rosenblume’s description of
Julia Warhola [1], saying that
Warhol’s portrait of his mother breaks
through the artists "aestheticism"
to convincing emotion (Figure 2). Art
critic Thomas Lawson’s notion that Pop
art has everything to do with nothing
[2], or Warhol’s own magazine article,
Crazy Golden Slippers [3], are
examples of the type of solid sources that the
author utilizes in his work.
The majority of Ratcliff’s ideas originate
elsewhere, however Ratcliff chose
to use these many sources to support his own
theories, drawing from
established and accepted concepts to uphold his
statements. The prize of Andy
Warhol lies in the inclusion of the author’s
essay about the artist. Together
with the effect of the many large prints, which
comprise a majority of the
body of the book, the essay enables the reader to
learn about the artist and
reflect on what may have been his intention for
select works. To fully
understand a work of art it is helpful to have some
background information
about the work and the artist. The author does a
fantastic job of presenting
this type information about the artist and his work.
Warhol was obsessed
with the idea of stardom, controversial works pertaining to
popular culture
and the use of images from every day life or symbols of such.
Ratcliff,
when compared to other writers who investigated Warhol, has an edge on
the
competition. Ratcliff not only describes the work itself, but also tells
of
the concept behind the art. Cantz’ The Last Supper is at best a
glorified
picture show of the artist’s work. The artist focuses on one series
of
paintings rather then on the entire portfolio.[4] Unseen Warhol is an in
depth
biography of Andy Warhol, not much attention is granted to the actual
pieces of
art.[5] Ratcliff’s Andy Warhol fills the gap left by other writers.
Ratcliff
delivers a complete analysis of Warhol’s work by explaining the
concepts and
ideas surrounding the work in an intensive manner. Ratcliff’s
thoughts on many
of the pieces help to define the actual meaning or ideas of
the work in a
practical fashion. For example, the use of helium filled mylar,
covered with
foil in Silver Pillows (Figure 3) served as a way of making his
paintings on the
wall come to life and float away.[6] Drawing comparisons
from the periods of
Pre-Pop art, Pop art, and Post-Pop art, Ratcliff
attempts to classify Warhol’s
work in Andy Warhol. Commercial art including
the title page for In The Bottom
of My Garden, album jackets commissioned by
RCA, book jackets for New Directions
and Warhol’s famous I. Miller shoe
advertisements became the focus of the
Pre-Pop art period, also called
the period of Consumerism by Warhol. Shifting to
the Pop art period Warhol
labels his art as "all surface with nothing
beneath".[7] The transition to
Pop culture from Consumerism may have been
influenced by the emptiness in
Warhol’s work. The artist seems to have
completed his projects as if he was
commissioned to do the work, painting
without a sense of feeling. The idea
that Warhol only looked at his paintings
for their face value is evident in
such works as the do-it-yourself images
(Figure 4) and Campbell’s soup cans,
which appear to be commercial works of
art, however they were part of Andy’s
private collection. Warhol’s Death and
Disaster series brought about
muddled reviews from the public. The artist may
have been equating the empty
electric chair (Figure 5) combined with car-crash
images to highway death as
a form of execution, or he may have been merely
trying to portray these
symbols of death as strong controversial statements, to
raise interest in his
work. Death is the common bond that moves us from the Pop
era to the Post Pop
era. On the third of June in 1968, Warhol was shot several
times by Valerie
Solinas, founder and sole member of S.C.U.M. (Society for
Cutting Up
Men). Warhol was pronounced dead on the operating table, however, he
was able
to fully recover nearly two months later. During this period Andy
said"everything is such a dream to me...I don’t know whether or not I’m
really
alive or whether I died."[8] This near death experience must have
been
Warhol’s ultimate feeling of emptiness. Emptiness seemed to be
a
characteristic that carried Warhol into the Post Pop era, as evident by
the
artist’s use of very pale (almost white) pigments to produce the faces of
Paul
Jenkins and Leo Castelli their respected portraits. Warhol also
continues his
Death and Disaster series during this period. Warhol
created his collective
works in an iconic style, which Ratcliff points out
throughout the text. The
Campbell’s soup can, dollar signs, and Gold
Marilyn express examples of
Warhol,s personal iconography of everyday
figures that he brought to his work.
Ratcliff is unique in mentioning
such tools as his blotted ink line or use of
symbols to the work of Warhol.
Ratcliff does a super job of uniting the wealth
of information pertaining to
the accomplishments of Warhol, as well as
thoroughly explaining monumental
works in the artist’s portfolio. However,
Ratcliff’s text Andy Warhol is
deficient, relating to the fact that there is a
lacking of information
concerning the artist’s work in the film industry. The
film industry is where
Warhol gained his "star" status. This deficiency may
be due to the fact that
Andy’s film works were just in the beginning stages at
the time of the texts
printing. This is a minor issue considering the enormous
amounts of other
information regarding Andy Warhol’s art that is contained in
Ratcliff’s
book. Warhol’s work is very unique; Andy broke all the rules and
made new
ones as he went along. Warhol is known as the father of Pop art.
Ratcliff
captures the essence of Warhol and his paintings, sketches,
photography, and
movies. Andy Warhol accomplishes the task of revealing some of
the mystique
behind the artist Andy Warhol as well as his work. Andy Warhol by
Carter
Ratcliff is a powerful source for anybody interested in the source
of
American Pop art.