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.
