Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola was also known as Andy Warhol. He was born on August 6th, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the fourth child to Ondrej Warhola and Julie Warhola. When Andy was 13, his father died in an accident. He later studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology. He then moved to New York City and began a career as a magazine illustrator. His first art gallery was on July 9th, 1962 in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles. The exhibition marked the West Coast debut of Pop Art. During the 1960's, he started to make iconic American things such as Campbell's soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. He started making his prints using the silkscreen method.

June 3rd, 1968, Valeria Solanas shot Andy and an art critic and a curator, Mario Amaya, at his studio. Andy barely survived the attack. He suffered with physical effects for the rest of his life. Valerie Solanas was arrested the day after the assault. She said that he had too much control over her life. The shooting was overshadowed after the assassination Robert F. Kennedy two days later.

Andy Warhol was not just a painter, he was also a prolific filmmaker. Between 1963 and 1968 he made more than 60 films. Batman Dracula was a film that was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, without permission from DC comics. The film was thought to have been lost, until some scenes were in a 2006 documentary. His most popular and successful film was Chelsea Girls. Very few of his films are sold on video or DVD.

Andy tragically died in New York on February 22nd, 1987. He had apparently been making a good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery before dying in his sleep in a sudden post-operative cardiac arrest. He delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, because he was afraid of going into hospitals. His family sued because they thought it was caused by improper care and water intoxication. After his funeral, his family held an estate sale. They got more than 20 million dollars.