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Warhol
When critics attacked Andy Warhol's Marilyn paintings as shallow, the Pop artist was happy to present himself as shallower still: He claimed that he silkscreened to avoid the hard work of painting, although he was actually a meticulous workaholic; in interviews he presented himself as a silly naïf when in private he was the canniest of sophisticates. Blake Gopnik's definitive biography digs deep into the contradictions and radical genius that led Andy Warhol to revolutionise our cultural world.
Based on years of archival research and on interviews with hundreds of Warhol's surviving friends, lovers and enemies, Warhol traces the artist's path from his origins as the impoverished son of Eastern European immigrants in 1930s Pittsburgh, through his early success as a commercial illustrator and his groundbreaking pivot into fine art, to the society portraiture and popular celebrity of the '70s and '80s, as he reflected and responded to the changing dynamics of commerce and culture.
Warhol sought out all the most glamorous figures of his times - Susan Sontag, Mick Jagger, the Barons de Rothschild - despite being burdened with an almost crippling shyness. Behind the public glitter of the artist's Factory, with its superstars, drag queens and socialites, there was a man who lived with his mother for much of his life and guarded the privacy of his home. He overcame the vicious homophobia of his youth to become a symbol of gay achievement, while always seeking the pleasures of traditional romance and coupledom. (Warhol explodes the myth of his asexuality.)
Filled with new insights into the artist's work and personality, Warhol asks: Was he a joke or a genius, a radical or a social climber? As Warhol himself would have answered: Yes.
962 pages, Hardcover
First published April 28, 2020
314 people are currently reading
3947 people want to read
About the author
Blake Gopnik
8 books55 followersBlake Gopnik (born 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American art critic who has lived in New York City since 2011. He previously spent a decade as chief art critic of The Washington Post[1], prior to which he was an arts editor and critic in Canada[2]. He has a doctorate in art history from Oxford University, and has written on aesthetic topics ranging from Facebook to gastronomy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
May 11, 2020
4.5, rounded up.
According to the afterword, there have been over 500 books published on Warhol, and though I can't claim to have read more than a small fraction of those, I HAVE hit all the major tomes, since I have been fascinated by the artist a long, long time (I've even had a fine litho of his iconic poster for the film 'Querelle' on my bedroom wall for over 25 years, since it combines my passions for Fassbinder and Genet, as well as Warhol!).
So I have some bona fides ... and can unequivocally state that this NOW becomes the definitive biography, supplanting Victor Bockris' also lengthy 2003 candidate. Gopnik's gets a slight edge, not only for the extensive 7 years of research Gopnik did, but because of his unprecedented access to previously unavailable documents, and the blessings of the Andy Warhol Museum and Foundation. That does NOT mean this is a whitewash ... Andy's many foibles and faults are here, warts and all. And Gopnik covers his entire life, from pre-birth to after death, with a thoroughness that only occasionally becomes ponderous. That is not to imply those other works become superfluous by any means - there are so many stories about Warhol that even at almost 1,000 pages, Gopnik can't cover them all. But he does a yeoman's job of sifting through them, and separating the chaff (and suspect & apocryphal versions) from the wheat.
His prose isn't fancy, but that makes it easy to follow, and he balances the biographical facts with a critic's eye that delineates and defines the artist's various phases, so that you don't need to be an art scholar to understand them. Each of the 50 chapters begins with a b & w photo of the subject from that era, and there is a rather skimpy color photo section with 10 of his representative works. Because of the length of the work itself, the copious (741 pages) endnotes are only included in the eBook edition, where they take so long to download they are virtually useless in that format; but they are also available for downloading from both the publisher's and author's websites, which works better for accessibility (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit... for OTHER issues with these, however).
Because I DID read the endnotes also, the 1,717 pages took me almost 2 weeks to finish - and I fear MOST people will not have the abiding interest to get through it all ... but for those who can't get enough of Warhol, this provides a good strong hit!
According to the afterword, there have been over 500 books published on Warhol, and though I can't claim to have read more than a small fraction of those, I HAVE hit all the major tomes, since I have been fascinated by the artist a long, long time (I've even had a fine litho of his iconic poster for the film 'Querelle' on my bedroom wall for over 25 years, since it combines my passions for Fassbinder and Genet, as well as Warhol!).
So I have some bona fides ... and can unequivocally state that this NOW becomes the definitive biography, supplanting Victor Bockris' also lengthy 2003 candidate. Gopnik's gets a slight edge, not only for the extensive 7 years of research Gopnik did, but because of his unprecedented access to previously unavailable documents, and the blessings of the Andy Warhol Museum and Foundation. That does NOT mean this is a whitewash ... Andy's many foibles and faults are here, warts and all. And Gopnik covers his entire life, from pre-birth to after death, with a thoroughness that only occasionally becomes ponderous. That is not to imply those other works become superfluous by any means - there are so many stories about Warhol that even at almost 1,000 pages, Gopnik can't cover them all. But he does a yeoman's job of sifting through them, and separating the chaff (and suspect & apocryphal versions) from the wheat.
His prose isn't fancy, but that makes it easy to follow, and he balances the biographical facts with a critic's eye that delineates and defines the artist's various phases, so that you don't need to be an art scholar to understand them. Each of the 50 chapters begins with a b & w photo of the subject from that era, and there is a rather skimpy color photo section with 10 of his representative works. Because of the length of the work itself, the copious (741 pages) endnotes are only included in the eBook edition, where they take so long to download they are virtually useless in that format; but they are also available for downloading from both the publisher's and author's websites, which works better for accessibility (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit... for OTHER issues with these, however).
Because I DID read the endnotes also, the 1,717 pages took me almost 2 weeks to finish - and I fear MOST people will not have the abiding interest to get through it all ... but for those who can't get enough of Warhol, this provides a good strong hit!
December 19, 2019
‘Warhol A Life as Art’ by Blake Gropnik is a huge book, coming in at 960 pages including sources and index. As the book I received from Vine was an advance reading copy, I don’t know if the final edition will contain pictures of Warhol and his works. However, when necessary I made use of the internet to search for relevant images.
As a former student of art history I had a passing awareness of Warhol’s life and work though this comprehensive biography provided a year-by-year chronicle of both from birth through his first and second deaths. Each chapter contains useful headings of the key events covered in them.
Gropnik notes that aside from utilising the archives and collections held by The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh he also conducted 260 interviews with friends, lovers, colleagues, and acquaintances and consulted 100,000 period documents. That is a very impressive undertaking.
While it is clearly a well researched biography written by someone with an established reputation as an art critic and journalist, it is also very readable. I found that I was increasing my knowledge of the art scene of the period as well as making connections to other movements in art history.
I hadn’t considered a link between Warhol and Marcel Duchamp’s legacy though describing aspects of Warhol’s work as Duchampesque made sense as Duchamp challenged the concept of the nature of art. Gropnik writes: “At its best, Warhol’s art always balanced on the edge between satire and reverence, whether its subjects were soup cans or celebrities.”
It also came as a revelation that the powerful New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held an anti-Pop Art stance; though I did appreciate that curators and art critics wielded tremendous power to make or break careers. As Gropnik observes: “The status and popularity that Pop Art eventually earned can blind us to the cruel world it was born into.” They may have tried to prevent the ascent of Warhol and pop art but ultimately failed.
Much of the biography focuses on the early years of his career up to his near fatal shooting in 1968. Warhol emerges as very hardworking and driven to create.
I had not appreciated the many areas that Warhol explored outside of his pop art and avant-garde filmmaking including forays into magazine editing, acting and his career as a portraitist to the wealthy and powerful. Again, I never would have made a link between Warhol and the more traditional portrait work of Thomas Gainsborough yet it made sense when Gropnik noted the connection.
Gropnik writes towards the end of the biography:
“At his best, Warhol didn’t think outside the box. He thought outside any artistic universe whose laws would allow boxes to exist. Warhol always wanted to make work for a world where x and not-x would be true at the same time.”
More than anything this biography revealed Warhol as very human. That he loved cats and was often lonely even when surrounded by his entourage wasn’t a surprise but the obsessive collecting and shopaholic tendencies were. He also came across as kind, which counters the popular image of his coldness. As Gropnik notes: “If we are tempted to see the common decency of Warhol’s final years as a late-in-life conversion to virtue, this may be because we failed to understand that Drella was decent all along.” (Note: Drella was an affectionate nickname given to Warhol combining Dracula with Cinderella.)
Gropnik provided me not only with a great deal of insight into Warhol’s life and work but with a broader appreciation of mid-20th Century art and culture. It was thought-provoking and a pleasure to read.
A biography that certainly I would expect will be appreciated by those interested in the history of modern art and by the work of this singular modern artist. Highly recommended.
Personal note not included in my Amazon Vine review:
As someone who experienced an inflamed/infected gall bladder that endangered my life before surgical intervention, I was saddened to read of Warhol’s unwillingness to seek proper medical treatment for this extremely painful condition. To die from what should have been routine surgery was a tragic end to his life.
As a former student of art history I had a passing awareness of Warhol’s life and work though this comprehensive biography provided a year-by-year chronicle of both from birth through his first and second deaths. Each chapter contains useful headings of the key events covered in them.
Gropnik notes that aside from utilising the archives and collections held by The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh he also conducted 260 interviews with friends, lovers, colleagues, and acquaintances and consulted 100,000 period documents. That is a very impressive undertaking.
While it is clearly a well researched biography written by someone with an established reputation as an art critic and journalist, it is also very readable. I found that I was increasing my knowledge of the art scene of the period as well as making connections to other movements in art history.
I hadn’t considered a link between Warhol and Marcel Duchamp’s legacy though describing aspects of Warhol’s work as Duchampesque made sense as Duchamp challenged the concept of the nature of art. Gropnik writes: “At its best, Warhol’s art always balanced on the edge between satire and reverence, whether its subjects were soup cans or celebrities.”
It also came as a revelation that the powerful New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held an anti-Pop Art stance; though I did appreciate that curators and art critics wielded tremendous power to make or break careers. As Gropnik observes: “The status and popularity that Pop Art eventually earned can blind us to the cruel world it was born into.” They may have tried to prevent the ascent of Warhol and pop art but ultimately failed.
Much of the biography focuses on the early years of his career up to his near fatal shooting in 1968. Warhol emerges as very hardworking and driven to create.
I had not appreciated the many areas that Warhol explored outside of his pop art and avant-garde filmmaking including forays into magazine editing, acting and his career as a portraitist to the wealthy and powerful. Again, I never would have made a link between Warhol and the more traditional portrait work of Thomas Gainsborough yet it made sense when Gropnik noted the connection.
Gropnik writes towards the end of the biography:
“At his best, Warhol didn’t think outside the box. He thought outside any artistic universe whose laws would allow boxes to exist. Warhol always wanted to make work for a world where x and not-x would be true at the same time.”
More than anything this biography revealed Warhol as very human. That he loved cats and was often lonely even when surrounded by his entourage wasn’t a surprise but the obsessive collecting and shopaholic tendencies were. He also came across as kind, which counters the popular image of his coldness. As Gropnik notes: “If we are tempted to see the common decency of Warhol’s final years as a late-in-life conversion to virtue, this may be because we failed to understand that Drella was decent all along.” (Note: Drella was an affectionate nickname given to Warhol combining Dracula with Cinderella.)
Gropnik provided me not only with a great deal of insight into Warhol’s life and work but with a broader appreciation of mid-20th Century art and culture. It was thought-provoking and a pleasure to read.
A biography that certainly I would expect will be appreciated by those interested in the history of modern art and by the work of this singular modern artist. Highly recommended.
Personal note not included in my Amazon Vine review:
As someone who experienced an inflamed/infected gall bladder that endangered my life before surgical intervention, I was saddened to read of Warhol’s unwillingness to seek proper medical treatment for this extremely painful condition. To die from what should have been routine surgery was a tragic end to his life.
July 12, 2022
While Gopnik's extensive new bio (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) runs to almost 1,000 pages, his endnotes cover an ADDITIONAL 741, which means they are not even published in the print edition (they ARE included in the eBook, but take an unconscionable time to download, but are also available to download in a more user friendly version from the publisher or author's websites).
But let's start out with what's good about this addendum. First off, there are often conflicting versions of many of the events in the author's life, so the endnotes provide alternate versions, along with indications of which Gopnik feels are most probably correct. The endnotes also offer some stories that for some reason are NOT incorporated in the main text, and these are often as interesting as anything that IS included. Many citations contain hyperlinks one can use to see photos or documents that might be of interest, so these also prove invaluable, although sometimes these take you to broken links.
But there are also some ... issues. Apparently no one taught whoever did the annotations about op. cit. and ibid., so that a full citation is given every single time a source is cited (one time in chapter 38, eight times in a row!) - had the abbreviations been used, it would have cut this in half. Inexplicably, numbers often get off, so that the citations do not coincide with the text itself (one entire chapter is off as the #s did not start over, but continue on from the previous chapter.)
The author also has an odd habit of identifying someone in the text by their profession or other characteristics, and you have to seek out the note to find out just who is being referred to, whereas it would have just been easier all around to use their name initially. And often the note will just say 'see:' ... and then cite something one can't easily access, such as items stored in the Warhol Museum. However, since the book itself is now indispensable for the casual fan and scholar alike, one can forgive these few mishaps.
But let's start out with what's good about this addendum. First off, there are often conflicting versions of many of the events in the author's life, so the endnotes provide alternate versions, along with indications of which Gopnik feels are most probably correct. The endnotes also offer some stories that for some reason are NOT incorporated in the main text, and these are often as interesting as anything that IS included. Many citations contain hyperlinks one can use to see photos or documents that might be of interest, so these also prove invaluable, although sometimes these take you to broken links.
But there are also some ... issues. Apparently no one taught whoever did the annotations about op. cit. and ibid., so that a full citation is given every single time a source is cited (one time in chapter 38, eight times in a row!) - had the abbreviations been used, it would have cut this in half. Inexplicably, numbers often get off, so that the citations do not coincide with the text itself (one entire chapter is off as the #s did not start over, but continue on from the previous chapter.)
The author also has an odd habit of identifying someone in the text by their profession or other characteristics, and you have to seek out the note to find out just who is being referred to, whereas it would have just been easier all around to use their name initially. And often the note will just say 'see:' ... and then cite something one can't easily access, such as items stored in the Warhol Museum. However, since the book itself is now indispensable for the casual fan and scholar alike, one can forgive these few mishaps.
June 13, 2020
This book was in desperate need of an editor. There was no need for it to be 1,000 pages long. It read like a play-by-play of the artist’s entire life including what he ate for dinner. Kudos for the enormous amount of research that went into this, but it seems the author was more interested in showing off all the quotes and factoids he learned than in writing a compelling book. I enjoyed the first part of the book, which covered Warhol’s early life and his pre-fame career as a commercial artist in New York. The middle section of minutiae about the Factory and Warhol’s filmmaking was especially painful.
July 13, 2020
I trudged through 400 pages of this and couldn't face the remaining 600. Each chapter feels like bullet points padded with endless drivel. I don't understand how the book is so highly rated. It's possibly one of the worst written biographies available. It's a shame because Warhol was such an interesting and important force.
September 17, 2020
“Andy Warhol looks a scream.
Hang him on my wall.
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can’t tell them apart at all”
~ David Bowie
I now know more about Andy Warhol than I ever needed to know. This tome is comprehensive and complete with Andy, for better or worse, in his various stages and guises. The Factory was called a factory for a reason. The weird, wild, and speed-addicted worked at making art and films much of which were boundary-breaking and tasteless but that was the point. Shallow, shrewd, seeking celebrity and fame, Andy was quite a con.
Hang him on my wall.
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can’t tell them apart at all”
~ David Bowie
I now know more about Andy Warhol than I ever needed to know. This tome is comprehensive and complete with Andy, for better or worse, in his various stages and guises. The Factory was called a factory for a reason. The weird, wild, and speed-addicted worked at making art and films much of which were boundary-breaking and tasteless but that was the point. Shallow, shrewd, seeking celebrity and fame, Andy was quite a con.
January 3, 2021
Was ich mochte:
Andy Warhol ist für mich eine sehr interessante Persönlichkeit, bei der seine Kunst für mich an zweiter Stelle steht. Ich hatte bereits mehrere Biografien und Dokus über ihn gelesenen beziehungsweise gesehen, daher war ich gespannt, ob mir diese Biografie noch neue Informationen liefern könnte.
Ich muss gestehen, dass ich diese Biografie sehr gut geschrieben finde. Sie hat mir nicht nur neue Facetten zu dem Menschen Andy und seinem künstlerischem Werdegang eröffnet. Dem Autor ist der Balanceakt zwischen wichtigen Ereignissen, Zeitgeschehen, Kunst und Zeitzeugen gelungen, ohne zum 'Erbsenzähler' zu werden und den Leser mit unnötigen Fakten zu ermüden. Ich empfand das Lesen als sehr interessant, besonders die Darstellung verschiedener Theorien, die sich um Ereignisse im Leben von Andy Warhol gebildet haben.
Die Biografie wendet sich, allein schon durch ihren Umfang von 1232 Seiten, nur an Menschen, die ein tieferes Interesse an Andy Warhol haben. Sie ist aber auch gut lesbar für Menschen, die bislang noch keinen Zugang zu diesem Künstler gefunden haben.
Was mir nicht gefallen hat:
Das Buch enthält auch Fotografien von Andy Warhol und seinen Werken. Auch allerdings fand ich es ein wenig schade, wenn Bezug auf Fotos genommen wurde, die nicht im Buch enthalten sind und auch nur schwer über Google zu finden sind.
Das Buch wurde mir kostenlos als Rezensionsexemplar zur Verfügung gestellt.
Andy Warhol ist für mich eine sehr interessante Persönlichkeit, bei der seine Kunst für mich an zweiter Stelle steht. Ich hatte bereits mehrere Biografien und Dokus über ihn gelesenen beziehungsweise gesehen, daher war ich gespannt, ob mir diese Biografie noch neue Informationen liefern könnte.
Ich muss gestehen, dass ich diese Biografie sehr gut geschrieben finde. Sie hat mir nicht nur neue Facetten zu dem Menschen Andy und seinem künstlerischem Werdegang eröffnet. Dem Autor ist der Balanceakt zwischen wichtigen Ereignissen, Zeitgeschehen, Kunst und Zeitzeugen gelungen, ohne zum 'Erbsenzähler' zu werden und den Leser mit unnötigen Fakten zu ermüden. Ich empfand das Lesen als sehr interessant, besonders die Darstellung verschiedener Theorien, die sich um Ereignisse im Leben von Andy Warhol gebildet haben.
Die Biografie wendet sich, allein schon durch ihren Umfang von 1232 Seiten, nur an Menschen, die ein tieferes Interesse an Andy Warhol haben. Sie ist aber auch gut lesbar für Menschen, die bislang noch keinen Zugang zu diesem Künstler gefunden haben.
Was mir nicht gefallen hat:
Das Buch enthält auch Fotografien von Andy Warhol und seinen Werken. Auch allerdings fand ich es ein wenig schade, wenn Bezug auf Fotos genommen wurde, die nicht im Buch enthalten sind und auch nur schwer über Google zu finden sind.
Das Buch wurde mir kostenlos als Rezensionsexemplar zur Verfügung gestellt.
July 2, 2020
It took me a long time to read this, the narrative of the book and its structure starts very strong but sort of plateau in the middle where it feels like repetition not only of the same style and painting but the same situations with the people in his life. It might be because such is the story of his life or just the way I started to perceive it.
Also it was literally painful to read so much about artists own cruelty or to be more precise callousness towards so many people around him. People who looked up to him, who followed his lead in art and life. Here I must acknowledge the great work of the author, who managed to be as subjective as possible in his portrait of this very complicated man . he managed to escape unharmed so many problems especially with substance abuse and later with AIDS epidemics. So many people around him didn't.
Without going into too many details and so called spoilers (although everything about this famous person is well known and discussed many times before) I feel that I both know and like Warhol less now. I know that he was a very fragile man who sometimes imposed suffering on other people knowingly or by carelessness. He is still an enigma to me. There are so many facts in this book; so many stories of dozens of love affairs, artistic collaborations and friendly relationships and feuds; and yet the great man himself is as illusive as before. I felt frustration often as if the main character of this biography was alive and well and still around to have this much influence on my life.
The fact that I read during the lockdown also played a huge role as I immersed completely into books as many people into movies and TV series.
I especially like the fact that despite so complete a story of his life there are still so much we don't know and don't understand and can only guess or imagine.
Also it was literally painful to read so much about artists own cruelty or to be more precise callousness towards so many people around him. People who looked up to him, who followed his lead in art and life. Here I must acknowledge the great work of the author, who managed to be as subjective as possible in his portrait of this very complicated man . he managed to escape unharmed so many problems especially with substance abuse and later with AIDS epidemics. So many people around him didn't.
Without going into too many details and so called spoilers (although everything about this famous person is well known and discussed many times before) I feel that I both know and like Warhol less now. I know that he was a very fragile man who sometimes imposed suffering on other people knowingly or by carelessness. He is still an enigma to me. There are so many facts in this book; so many stories of dozens of love affairs, artistic collaborations and friendly relationships and feuds; and yet the great man himself is as illusive as before. I felt frustration often as if the main character of this biography was alive and well and still around to have this much influence on my life.
The fact that I read during the lockdown also played a huge role as I immersed completely into books as many people into movies and TV series.
I especially like the fact that despite so complete a story of his life there are still so much we don't know and don't understand and can only guess or imagine.
May 7, 2020
3.5. Yes, it’s well-researched. Yes, it’s comprehensive; one would hope so since it’s as big as a doorstop. However, especially after the first half or so, I found it rehashing the same ground on many subjects. (It’s a book, not a Warhol screen print.)
I also found some of the way it was written to be off-putting. There are references such as “according to one critic” or “a contemporary of Warhol’s” that seem to be shortcuts. If you’re going to write a 960 page book, let your readers know who you are referring to.
And did anyone else find it galling to read the author’s assumption that Warhol’s experience as a gay man was approximately equivalent to Basquiat’s experience as a Haitian-Puerto Rican man? I know it was just one bit out of a very long book, but really; it seems a pretty big reach.
Ok. I’m done with my gripe session. It is largely well-written but so damned long that I almost gave up out sheer exhaustion.
I also found some of the way it was written to be off-putting. There are references such as “according to one critic” or “a contemporary of Warhol’s” that seem to be shortcuts. If you’re going to write a 960 page book, let your readers know who you are referring to.
And did anyone else find it galling to read the author’s assumption that Warhol’s experience as a gay man was approximately equivalent to Basquiat’s experience as a Haitian-Puerto Rican man? I know it was just one bit out of a very long book, but really; it seems a pretty big reach.
Ok. I’m done with my gripe session. It is largely well-written but so damned long that I almost gave up out sheer exhaustion.
February 6, 2021
To give a sense of how incredibly anal-retentive the author is, there are over 100 superscripted endnotes by page 11. I haven't seen a biography this trivial since Norman Sherry's three-volume Graham Greene. Thank God the subject is more interesting.
May 7, 2020
One thing this book can’t be accused of is skimping on content. At 44 hours, the audiobook is somewhat of a long haul to get through – happily though it goes fairly quick as most of it is engrossing. Gopnik definitely put together a ‘definitive’ account of Warhol’s life. Along the way he bats down some commonly held misconceptions about Warhol – namely that he didn’t have an active love or sex life. It’s all documented here in an appropriate amount of detail. The other striking item here is just the sheer amount of Warhol’s artistic expression that was spent on film rather than the artwork that he’s more commonly associated with. Not to say that his filmwork wasn’t very good (well, it wasn't - who would really want to sit through Empire?), but it’s kind of astonishing just how much time and effort was put into making the films as part of the Factory. The chronological approach made a lot of sense for this book, but the flip side is that his activity and output post assassination attempt in ’68 doesn’t have as much interest for the reader, however at that point you are a bit more than 2/3 of the way through his life story.
May 6, 2020
Just started this huge, gorgeous preview, perfect for a stay-at-home order (April 1, 2020).
I have almost no interest whatsoever in Andy Warhol, but I was completely immersed in this book for 2 1/2 weeks. Blake Gopnik's writing played a huge part, although I didn't always agree with his conclusions--he consistently gave Warhol the benefit of the doubt, no matter how questionable the personal and/or artistic decisions (for example, when Warhol didn't attend his mother's funeral). I didn't love Warhol by the end, but I did love the book.
I have almost no interest whatsoever in Andy Warhol, but I was completely immersed in this book for 2 1/2 weeks. Blake Gopnik's writing played a huge part, although I didn't always agree with his conclusions--he consistently gave Warhol the benefit of the doubt, no matter how questionable the personal and/or artistic decisions (for example, when Warhol didn't attend his mother's funeral). I didn't love Warhol by the end, but I did love the book.
December 21, 2020
A firm editor could have helped this book a lot. To be fair, Warhol made a practice of inventing stories about himself and those around him, so at first I tolerated the tendency of the author to describe all the points of view of everyone who had an story about a given event. But hey, historians and biographers have to eventually come to their own POV based on the preponderance of evidence, and be willing to accept that they were wrong if new evidence appears.
In addition, the book is highly repetitive. If someone met Andy in 1955, the author provides a mini-bio at that point in the chronology. But if they get together in 1962 for a project, another description and bio may appear. As well as other people's thoughts on the the person. If they get together again in 1968, we may have some more backstory material added.
There's a really need for synthesis on this.
Eventually I gave up. Part was the sprawling and chaotic content, and part was the unpleasantness of Warhol's character in the 60s. The author continues to point out how unknowable he is, but if one form of knowing some one is assessing his actions, Warhol was a thoroughly unpleasant and even cruel person at times.
In addition, the book is highly repetitive. If someone met Andy in 1955, the author provides a mini-bio at that point in the chronology. But if they get together in 1962 for a project, another description and bio may appear. As well as other people's thoughts on the the person. If they get together again in 1968, we may have some more backstory material added.
There's a really need for synthesis on this.
Eventually I gave up. Part was the sprawling and chaotic content, and part was the unpleasantness of Warhol's character in the 60s. The author continues to point out how unknowable he is, but if one form of knowing some one is assessing his actions, Warhol was a thoroughly unpleasant and even cruel person at times.
May 29, 2020
I learned a lot about this eccentric artist in this bio, as well as pop culture, art techniques and production methods, and social trends from the 1950s through the ‘80s.
Although there’s tons of detail on Andy Warhol’s life here, he still remains an enigma, which is probably exactly how he wanted us to see him.
Downsides to this book include the absence of endnotes (you apparently have to download them from a Website, but who wants to interrupt their reading to do that?), and a rather scanty selection of color pictures of some of Warhol’s important works (some of them are not included in the insert even though the author refers us there).
Although there’s tons of detail on Andy Warhol’s life here, he still remains an enigma, which is probably exactly how he wanted us to see him.
Downsides to this book include the absence of endnotes (you apparently have to download them from a Website, but who wants to interrupt their reading to do that?), and a rather scanty selection of color pictures of some of Warhol’s important works (some of them are not included in the insert even though the author refers us there).
September 18, 2021
I don't know how to rate this book. It took me over a month to read this, and, In fact, I have been reading it so long I had resigned myself to reading this book forever without any end in sight. It's thorough, too thorough, but also glances over so much. I think it spends too much time on analyzing Warhol's art and not enough time on the details of his person.
January 6, 2022
I love long biographies and it was fascinating to learn about the 60’s Pop art scene among others things. However, this one was bit too long and I grew tired of Warhol’s antics by the end.
December 18, 2020
I am listening to this book and I really like that it goes deeper into Andy's background then the other audio book I also own. I will write a more complete review when later, but now I wanted to mention that this book will tell you things you never knew about him. Therefore this book is a must for die hard fans. You can't really understand someone unless you know about their childhood.
March 25, 2023
This book was based on extensive research—over 260 interviews and 100,000 source materials among other things. It was very good at giving a comprehensive look into Warhol’s interesting life. The narration was impeccable—I loved the narrator’s Andy voice.
March 13, 2021
What a wasted opportunity. Gopnik is so much more interested in telling us why he thinks Warhol is great and not why he's important or influential, causing this whole book to feel less like a history and more like a defense.
Gopnik is an art critic and not a historian. Well, if ever there were an example of how telling history is, in fact, a skill that requires training and technique, this would be it.
I'm really just overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness after finishing this book. Warhol seemed to genuinely believe in nothing and stand for nothing. I have no idea what Gopnik was celebrating, and have no better insight into the art world that surrounded, influenced, and was influenced by Warhol because Gopnik wasn't interested in exploring that. He just wants us to think Warhol was some kind of troubled genius.
Like, Gopnik equivocates every time he mentions something that reflects poorly on Warhol. He downplays Warhol's actual stalking of Truman Capote, for example. Like he seems to treat it as a quirk more than anything. And there are other things, like this one passage to the effect, "He said he wished he was there to film a friend's death, but to be fair he also said he wished someone would have filmed his own attempted assassination." And Warhol's shorting or downright not paying his factory workers is brushed aside with "Well, nobody thought they were in it for the money."
In general as regards Warhol's art, Gopnik keeps saying things like "Everyone thought Warhol's art was lazy and bad and sucked, but sophisticated critics understood that it was SUPPOSED to be lazy and bad and suck."
Also: the trans women involved in the factory scene only get ONE cordoned off chapter? Are you kidding me? And with really weird wishy washy terminology to describe them. He often uses the word "transgendered," which might be just be him not keeping up with the latest terms (no severe foul there), but then this wasn't written that long ago. And I have no idea how someone who knows what the term "cisnormative" means and uses the right pronouns for trans women can then turn around and also describe trans women as "men who want to be women." It speaks to a lack of understanding of the queer culture that surrounded Warhol, which makes me very suspicious of Gopnik's perspective.
And it ends with the infuriating claim that he was as much of a genius as artists like Rembrandt or Picasso. At best he was only as much of an asshole as those two.
Gopnik is an art critic and not a historian. Well, if ever there were an example of how telling history is, in fact, a skill that requires training and technique, this would be it.
I'm really just overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness after finishing this book. Warhol seemed to genuinely believe in nothing and stand for nothing. I have no idea what Gopnik was celebrating, and have no better insight into the art world that surrounded, influenced, and was influenced by Warhol because Gopnik wasn't interested in exploring that. He just wants us to think Warhol was some kind of troubled genius.
Like, Gopnik equivocates every time he mentions something that reflects poorly on Warhol. He downplays Warhol's actual stalking of Truman Capote, for example. Like he seems to treat it as a quirk more than anything. And there are other things, like this one passage to the effect, "He said he wished he was there to film a friend's death, but to be fair he also said he wished someone would have filmed his own attempted assassination." And Warhol's shorting or downright not paying his factory workers is brushed aside with "Well, nobody thought they were in it for the money."
In general as regards Warhol's art, Gopnik keeps saying things like "Everyone thought Warhol's art was lazy and bad and sucked, but sophisticated critics understood that it was SUPPOSED to be lazy and bad and suck."
Also: the trans women involved in the factory scene only get ONE cordoned off chapter? Are you kidding me? And with really weird wishy washy terminology to describe them. He often uses the word "transgendered," which might be just be him not keeping up with the latest terms (no severe foul there), but then this wasn't written that long ago. And I have no idea how someone who knows what the term "cisnormative" means and uses the right pronouns for trans women can then turn around and also describe trans women as "men who want to be women." It speaks to a lack of understanding of the queer culture that surrounded Warhol, which makes me very suspicious of Gopnik's perspective.
And it ends with the infuriating claim that he was as much of a genius as artists like Rembrandt or Picasso. At best he was only as much of an asshole as those two.
February 1, 2024
I had to finally give up on this book. I picked it up and put it down several times. It's too long and too detailed. For every page of something that happened in Andy's life, there are another two or three pages of explanation and press reaction. Could have used a better editor.
October 9, 2020
Very good but as Dr. Johnson said about Paradise Lost, "None wished it longer."
November 8, 2021
I read War and Peace in less time than this one. 1000 pages on Andy Warhol? What was I thinking?
December 26, 2021
so many words, so little content. first part of the book is good the rest is disaster.
and minus one star for dyeing my hands black, pro tip: don't read this book without dust jacket.
and minus one star for dyeing my hands black, pro tip: don't read this book without dust jacket.
July 26, 2022
Summer is time for lazy reading. This was really laid back and non 'producing'. Loads of hours spent..
August 23, 2024
Because this book took so long to finish, and because it was such an up-and-down journey, I feel like I owe it to myself to write down my experience of reading it. I went through several phases of being very interested and “caught” in the story. Many other times I found the narration boring and the amount of details given tedious. You learn a lot about the events and movements (both artistic and social) that were occurring in the backdrop of Warhol’s life, as well as the people that he surrounded himself with. The book is therefore very successful in contextualizing Warhol’s life and art.
Interestingly, though, I don’t feel like Warhol himself becomes more clear as a person. The book does not reveal his inner world (the goal of a biography?), and does not manage to distinguish what of Warhol’s life was a performance, and what was his true unfiltered self.
The result is a kind of silhouette portrait, with the details of Warhol’s face and body fuzzy and elusive, but the outline of him made clear against an elaborate background.
Personally, I like this. Warhol seems to have wanted to remain a mystery to the public. I imagine it gave him a lot of pleasure playing with the attention he got and his persona. It would be cruel, somehow, if Gopnik had managed to dissect and map out Warhol’s life and thoughts. He is still a strange curiosity to me after reading the book, but I like him more than before because of that.
Interestingly, though, I don’t feel like Warhol himself becomes more clear as a person. The book does not reveal his inner world (the goal of a biography?), and does not manage to distinguish what of Warhol’s life was a performance, and what was his true unfiltered self.
The result is a kind of silhouette portrait, with the details of Warhol’s face and body fuzzy and elusive, but the outline of him made clear against an elaborate background.
Personally, I like this. Warhol seems to have wanted to remain a mystery to the public. I imagine it gave him a lot of pleasure playing with the attention he got and his persona. It would be cruel, somehow, if Gopnik had managed to dissect and map out Warhol’s life and thoughts. He is still a strange curiosity to me after reading the book, but I like him more than before because of that.
January 12, 2021
One of the most thorough, thoughtful, and engaging biographies I've read. I've immersed myself in Warholia for 30+ years, and this book exceeded my expectations, delivering abundant new information and insights. Highly recommended.
Read
June 30, 2020Unfortunately DNF because I knew I'd never get through it in the limited time I had it from the library. Will try again!
May 20, 2022
8.5/10
August 14, 2022
4 sterren- Nederlandse hardcover
Recensie volgt later. Uitgeleend.
Naar dependance Groen Licht, Nederlands voor anderstaligen.
Recensie volgt later. Uitgeleend.
Naar dependance Groen Licht, Nederlands voor anderstaligen.
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