NEW YORK TIMES contributor Blake Gopnik has written a precise, expansive biography of the man whom many consider the most influential artist of the twentieth century: Andy Warhol. Graham Halstead’s highly skilled narration does much to support that assessment. Halstead adds a young exuberance to an enjoyable excursion through the vast expanse of Warhol’s interconnected personal and artistic lives. The pace and timbre of the performance are nuanced and appropriate to the setting. Many Warhol myths are debunked, while much supported is the belief that Warhol never emotionally recovered from the unsuccessful attempt on his life that left him seriously injured. Halstead and Gopnik work together to enhance the listener’s experience of a truly sensational pop phenomenon who was always aspiring to be at the cutting edge. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Warhol
Narrated by Graham Halstead
Blake GopnikUnabridged — 43 hours, 33 minutes
Warhol
Narrated by Graham Halstead
Blake GopnikUnabridged — 43 hours, 33 minutes
Overview
The definitive biography of a fascinating and paradoxical figure, one of the most influential artists of his-or any-age.
To this day, mention the name “Andy Warhol” to almost anyone and you'll hear about his famous images of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. But though Pop Art became synonymous with Warhol's name and dominated the public's image of him, his life and work are infinitely more complex and multi-faceted than that.
In Warhol, esteemed art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions. “The meanings of his art depend on the way he lived and who he was,” as Gopnik writes. “That's why the details of his biography matter more than for almost any cultural figure,” from his working-class Pittsburgh upbringing as the child of immigrants to his early career in commercial art to his total immersion in the “performance” of being an artist, accompanied by global fame and stardom-and his attempted assassination.
The extent and range of Warhol's success, and his deliberate attempts to thwart his biographers, means that it hasn't been easy to put together an accurate or complete image of him. But in this biography, unprecedented in its scope and detail as well as in its access to Warhol's archives, Gopnik brings to life a figure who continues to fascinate because of his contradictions-he was known as sweet and caring to his loved ones but also a coldhearted manipulator; a deep-thinking avant-gardist but also a true lover of schlock and kitsch; a faithful churchgoer but also an eager sinner, skeptic, and cynic.
Wide-ranging and immersive, Warhol gives us the most robust and intricate picture to date of a man and an artist who consistently defied easy categorization and whose life and work continue to profoundly affect our culture and society today.
Editorial Reviews
★ 11/25/2019
Art, commerce, homosexual camp, and the 1960s counterculture were all blithely blenderized by one man’s genius, according to this sweeping biography of pop art master Andy Warhol. Art critic and New York Times contributor Gopnik dives deep into Warhol’s oeuvre, from the famous pieces that mirrored mass-produced imagery—paintings of Campbell Soup cans and Brillo boxes, screen prints of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe—and his semiprurient, militantly unwatchable avant-garde films (Sleep comprised five hours of footage of a naked man sleeping) to his late urine-on-canvas phase. But Warhol’s greatest image was himself, and Gopnik’s fascinating narrative does full justice to the silver-wigged, pixie-ish, satirically vapid provocateur (“verybody’s plastic—but I love plastic,” he pronounced during a Hollywood sojourn) and to the maelstrom of drugs, partying, and crazed excess at the Factory, his New York studio-cum-asylum for artsy eccentrics. One of them, Valerie Solanas, founder of the Society for Cutting Up Men, shot and gravely wounded Warhol—and then asked him to pay her legal bills. Gopnik’s exhaustive but stylishly written and entertaining account is Warholian in the best sense—raptly engaged, colorful, open-minded, and slyly ironic. (“He had become his own Duchampian urinal, worth looking at only because the artist in him had said he was.”) Warhol fans and pop art enthusiasts alike will find this an endlessly engrossing portrait. Photos. (Apr.)
John Lennon and I once hid from Andy in a closet at the Sherry-Netherland hotel. I wish I'd known him better. This fantastic new biography makes me feel that I do. It really reveals the man - and the genius - under that silver wig. — Elton John
"An excellent inside view on Andy’s life, personality and genius!" — Diane von Furstenberg
"Enthusiastic and absorbing." — Wall Street Journal
"Warhol lived one of the great lives of the 20th century, and he now has a biography worthy of that life...Even at 976 pages, the book rarely leaves you wanting less. It turns out this life, so often discussed in grandiose or mythic terms, is quite intricate, even beautiful, in extreme close-up.” — Los Angeles Times
"Impressive, sweeping" — Washington Post
"There have been several biographies and memoirs of Warhol, but Gopnik’s contribution may be the most comprehensive and clear-eyed. Warhol was an obsessive archivist and self-mythologist, but the author manages to wade through the evidence without being bogged down, and argues the case for Warhol as a genius of his own making.” — Apollo Magazine
"Knowing and getting a thumbs up from Andy Warhol as an up and coming artist in what would be his later years was a triumph and a thrill. Blake Gopnik's incisive, richly detailed bio puts you in Andy's inner circle and sanctum from beginning to end. It breaks down how, for decades, Andy strategically defined the pop culture zeitgeist as the world’s most renowned artist.” — Fab 5 Freddy
Gopnik’s exhaustive but stylishly written and entertaining account is Warholian in the best sense—raptly engaged, colorful, open-minded, and slyly ironic. (“He had become his own Duchampian urinal, worth looking at only because the artist in him had said he was.”) Warhol fans and pop art enthusiasts alike will find this an endlessly engrossing portrait. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An epic cradle-to-grave biography of the king of pop art...The author serves up fresh details about almost every aspect of Warhol's life in an immensely enjoyable book that blends snappy writing with careful exegeses of the artist's influences and techniques...A fascinating, major work that will spark endless debates.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Highly readable...certainly for those fascinated with Warhol, but equally for those seeking an in-depth yet accessible introduction to the artist." — Library Journal
John Lennon and I once hid from Andy in a closet at the Sherry-Netherland hotel. I wish I'd known him better. This fantastic new biography makes me feel that I do. It really reveals the man - and the genius - under that silver wig.
"Impressive, sweeping"
"Knowing and getting a thumbs up from Andy Warhol as an up and coming artist in what would be his later years was a triumph and a thrill. Blake Gopnik's incisive, richly detailed bio puts you in Andy's inner circle and sanctum from beginning to end. It breaks down how, for decades, Andy strategically defined the pop culture zeitgeist as the world’s most renowned artist.”
"There have been several biographies and memoirs of Warhol, but Gopnik’s contribution may be the most comprehensive and clear-eyed. Warhol was an obsessive archivist and self-mythologist, but the author manages to wade through the evidence without being bogged down, and argues the case for Warhol as a genius of his own making.
"An excellent inside view on Andy’s life, personality and genius!"
"Enthusiastic and absorbing."
"Warhol lived one of the great lives of the 20th century, and he now has a biography worthy of that life...Even at 976 pages, the book rarely leaves you wanting less. It turns out this life, so often discussed in grandiose or mythic terms, is quite intricate, even beautiful, in extreme close-up.
"Warhol lived one of the great lives of the 20th century, and he now has a biography worthy of that life...Even at 976 pages, the book rarely leaves you wanting less. It turns out this life, so often discussed in grandiose or mythic terms, is quite intricate, even beautiful, in extreme close-up.
"Enthusiastic and absorbing."
"Impressive, sweeping"
"Knowing and getting a thumbs up from Andy Warhol as an up and coming artist in what would be his later years was a triumph and a thrill. Blake Gopnik's incisive, richly detailed bio puts you in Andy's inner circle and sanctum from beginning to end. It breaks down how, for decades, Andy strategically defined the pop culture zeitgeist as the world’s most renowned artist.”
02/01/2020
Several biographies and memoirs of pop art superstar Andy Warhol (1928–87) have been written by people who knew him closely, but this newest portrait—and lengthiest at some 900 pages—may, through its wealth of detail, become the treatment that defines Warhol for a generation not yet born during his lifetime. With the perspective of time and distance, and through extensive research in and support from the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, art critic Gopnik's highly readable account carries the artist's legacy forward into the 21st century. Notable is the concern that Gopnik has to sort fact from fiction, weigh the accuracy of sources, and attempt to understand the reality behind the artist's coy and mysterious public persona. The text weaves juicy gossip (much of it R-rated) about Warhol and his social circle with thoughtful insights about his art practice and creative influences, and Gopnik seems genuinely excited to explore Warhol's story, from working-class Pittsburgh to international jetsetter, and to struggle to understand this enigmatic man. VERDICT Certainly for those fascinated with Warhol, but equally for those seeking an in-depth yet accessible introduction to the artist. [See Prepub Alert, 10/14/19.]—Michael Dashkin, New York
NEW YORK TIMES contributor Blake Gopnik has written a precise, expansive biography of the man whom many consider the most influential artist of the twentieth century: Andy Warhol. Graham Halstead’s highly skilled narration does much to support that assessment. Halstead adds a young exuberance to an enjoyable excursion through the vast expanse of Warhol’s interconnected personal and artistic lives. The pace and timbre of the performance are nuanced and appropriate to the setting. Many Warhol myths are debunked, while much supported is the belief that Warhol never emotionally recovered from the unsuccessful attempt on his life that left him seriously injured. Halstead and Gopnik work together to enhance the listener’s experience of a truly sensational pop phenomenon who was always aspiring to be at the cutting edge. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
★ 2019-12-02
An epic cradle-to-grave biography of the king of pop art from Gopnik (co-author: Warhol Women, 2019), who served as chief art critic for the Washington Post and the art and design critic for Newsweek.
With a hoarder's zeal, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) collected objects he liked until shopping bags filled entire rooms of his New York town house. Rising to equal that, Gopnik's dictionary-sized biography has more than 7,000 endnotes in its e-book edition and drew on some 100,000 documents, including datebooks, tax returns, and letters to lovers and dealers. With the cooperation of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the author serves up fresh details about almost every aspect of Warhol's life in an immensely enjoyable book that blends snappy writing with careful exegeses of the artist's influences and techniques. Warhol exploded into view in his mid-40s with his pop art paintings of Campbell's Soup cans and silkscreens of Elvis and Marilyn. However, fame didn't banish lifelong anxieties heightened by an assassination attempt that left him so fearful he bought bulletproof eyeglasses. After the pop successes, Gopnik writes, Warhol's life was shaped by a consuming desire "to climb back onto that cutting edge," which led him to make experimental films, launch Interview magazine, and promote the Velvet Underground. At the same time, Warhol yearned "for fine, old-fashioned love and coupledom," a desire thwarted by his shyness and his awkward stance toward his sexuality—"almost but never quite out," as Gopnik puts it. Although insightful in its interpretations of Warhol's art, this biography is sure to make waves with its easily challenged claims that Warhol revealed himself early on "as a true rival of all the greats who had come before" and that he and Picasso may now occupy "the top peak of Parnassus, beside Michelangelo and Rembrandt and their fellow geniuses." Any controversy will certainly befit a lodestar of 20th-century art who believed that "you weren't doing much of anything as an artist if you weren't questioning the most fundamental tenets of what art is and what artists can do."
A fascinating, major work that will spark endless debates.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173930699 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 04/28/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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