Although born and raised in Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol became what this outsider could best describe as the quintessential New Yorker. After establishing himself as a successful commercial artist, Warhol immersed himself into the celebrity and personality of Manhattan, feeding off the energy of the elaborate cast of characters that surrounded him. By reinterpreting the iconic images of his era, Warhol himself became an icon. By seizing upon celebrity and advertising as methods of acute observation, Warhol’s simple statements often belied enigmatic prescience. Slightly less apocryphal than Nostradamus, his popular quote, “In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes,” seems like a readymade of digital prophecy.
In 1949, Warhol moved to New York City to work as a magazine illustrator and graphic artist for advertisements. Among a number of other recurring accounts, Warhol worked for RCA Records to design vinyl covers. During this period, he continued to develop and refine his method of creating silkscreens. His preferred technique, one that continued throughout most of his career, was not to seek perfection in image replication, but to embrace the imperfections as transformative.
Warhol had a number of art shows throughout the 1950s that proved successful. In 1959, he purchased a 16 and a ½ foot wide, 5-story brownstone at 1342 Lexington Ave on the Upper East Side. Warhol lived there with his mother, Julia, and used a portion of the living space as a studio. Working as an advertiser by day and an artist at night, Warhol began his Pop Art work at this location.
Warhol’s reputation quickly grew, and in 1962 he rented a space on the fifth floor of 231 E. 47th St in east Midtown. The location was nicknamed “The Factory” because of the assembly-line style of art creation, or “The Silver Factory” because of the tinfoil coating that covered the entire interior (thanks to Warhol Superstar Billy Name’s decoration). The Factory was a hive of activity, attracting performers, actors, artists, addicts, musicians, and generally interesting people.
In 1968, Warhol moved his studio to the sixth floor of the Decker Building at 33 Union Square West, a location that would be dubbed “The White Factory.” It was at this location on June 3, 1968 that Andy Warhol and art critic, Mario Amaya, were shot repeatedly by Factory regular, Valerie Solanas. Warhol himself was shot three times, and had to have his chest cut open and his heart massaged to get it beating again. The surrounding events of the incident were the subject of the 1996 indie film, I Shot Andy Warhol.
Warhol never fully recovered from the injuries. While still an avant-garde celebrity, he became somewhat more withdrawn than the earlier, wild Factory days. The Decker Building studio was outfitted with video cameras for Warhol to record all the activities of his studio, until he changed locations of his studio again in 1973.
In 1974, Warhol purchased an 8,000-sq-ft home at 57 E. 66th Street on the Upper East Side for $310,000. This period saw Warhol doing a number of commissioned works and portraits, and also the creation of The Andy Warhol Time Capsules. He lived at this location with his boyfriend, Jed Johnson, and his pet Dachshunds until his death in 1987.
In 1994, The Andy Warhol Museum opened in Pittsburgh, PA. The collection includes 900 paintings; approximately 100 sculptures; nearly 2,000 works on paper; more than 1,000 published and unique prints; 77 sculptures; and 4,000 photographs. The film & video collection includes 60 feature films, 200 of Warhol’s Screen Tests and more than 4,000 videos. You can make a lot with a Factory.