Andy Warhol [Hardcover]

Starred Review. With its beautiful layouts, pin-sharp reproductions and sparkling texts, this enormous 15-pound book is worth every penny of its price. The volume kicks off with an illuminating essay by Dave Hickey (Air Guitar) that traces the development of Warhol's genre-mocking style to his childhood in industrial Pittsburgh. Poverty forced Warhol to hone the instincts of a salesman, Hickey suggests, and neighborhood tales about Czech folk hero David Schrapnel taught him his favorite artistic method: get it exactly wrong. "Exactly wrong demonstrated that you knew what was exactly right and you were doing it wrong for the right reasons," Hickey explains. "Thus, in his impoverished early days as a fashion illustrator, Warhol dressed so wretchedly that... colleagues suspected him of being rich." The volume covers both Warhol's numerous accomplishments (in commercial illustration, advertising, painting, film) and his transformation of the New York art scene so thoroughly that even fans will gain new appreciation for Warhol's enduring influence. Longer texts by Kenneth Goldsmith, David Dalton, Ivan Karp, Peggy Phelan, Ronnie Cutrone and Bruno Bischofberger reward sustained reading, but for those who prefer browsing, the 16"×12" reproductions and the quotations of Warhol's many witticisms will be enough. (Mar.)
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ANDY WARHOL "GIANT" SIZE is a spectacular visual biography of the life and career of Andy Warhol.Weighing in at 15 pounds, this enormous book is packed with 2,000 images and documents, many rare or previously unpublished.Taking its inspiration from Warhol's over-the-top nature, ANDY WARHOL "GIANT" SIZE depicts the major events, people, works and moments in the artist's life told in chronological order by subject.As Warhol almost never threw anything away (from restaurant receipts to postcards), the featured material in the book has been painstakingly compiled.As the publisher of The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonn+, Phaidon was granted unprecedented access to an array of public and private image and memorabilia archives and collections, including the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh as well as the holdings of many Warhol collaborators, friends, and photographers of the period.The large-format of ANDY WARHOL "GIANT" SIZE enables the reader to explore in detail hundreds of fascinating photographs, letters, personal correspondence, art works, film stills, tickets, receipts, celebrity head shots, notes, press clippings and ephemera all featured in this one of a kind publication. The book also features illuminating texts by insiders Bruno Bischofberger, Ronnie Cutrone, David Dalton, Kenneth Goldsmith, Ivan Karp and Peggy Phelan.What is unique about ANDY WARHOL "GIANT" SIZE is that it provides fascinating insight into the public and private life of Warhol and in many cases also reveals the stories behind his art works.The book provides amazing comparisons between his work and his life that have never been demonstrated visually in such a way before.For example, it not only features Warhol's famous "Mao" series, but also includes ephemera from a 1982 trip to China (his passport, boarding pass, a souvenir from his hotel, etc.) alongside a photo of Warhol standing in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing with an official Mao portrait in the background. This important new publication includes a staggering quantity and array of colorful material including: Warhol's birth certificate, citing Andrew Warhola' was born on 8/6/28 in Pittsburgh; childhood photographs of his family; the magazine tear sheet showing the first article he illustrated for Glamour when he arrived in New York in 1949;numerous photos of Warhol with his mother; artworks for gold shoes he created in the 1950s; a letter from the MOMA dated 1959 in which the Director of the Museum's Collections rejects a work of art Warhol offered them as a gift; photographs of Warhol posing with Edie Sedgwick in a New York fashion shoot; personal letters from Mick Jagger and Liz Taylor; pictures of Warhol in the office working on Interview; pictures of Warhol private views; a series of shots of Warhol in drag; the program from his Memorial Mass on 4/1/87 and his gravestone.ANDY WARHOL "GIANT" SIZE is the only publication available that features Warhol's entire life, work and words in one book.The visual biography offers a behind-the-scenes look at the New York art scene of the 1950s to the 1980s, and provides a new perspective on an artist who continues to be endlessly fascinating to those inside and outside of the art world.