Andy Warhol

Chronology

1928 Born Andy Warhola, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1936 Has an emotional breakdown attack which forces him to stay in bed for a month.

1945 Attends the Carnegie Institute of Technology, majoring in pictorial design.

1949 Graduates from Carnegie, and moves to New York to work as a commercial artist. Changes his name to Warhol.

1950 His mother, Julia Warhola, moves to New York to live with her son.

1952 His first solo art exhibition at New York’s Hugo Gallery, entitled Andy Warhol: Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote.

1953-5 Self-publishes a series of promotional books, with titles like Love is A Pink Cake and A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu.

1956 His work appears in a show called Recent Drawings, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

1957 He forms Andy Warhol Enterprises. Has plastic surgery on his nose, but is unhappy with the results.

1960 Paints his first Pop paintings, using images of Superman, Batman, Popeye and Coca-Cola bottles.

1962 Begins painting soup cans, as well as the Death and Disaster, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe series. The soup cans are displayed at the Ferns Gallery in Los Angeles and are a major success. He starts using silk-screening.

1963 Paints Electric Chairs, Race Riots, then after the John F. Kennedy assassination, portraits of Jackie Kennedy. Buys a 16mm movie camera and begins to make movies.

1964 Paints the Most Wanted Men series, creates the Brillo boxes. Buys his first tape recorder and begins recording his own conversations. Solo exhibitions in New York and Paris.

1965 Continues to make a great many films. Designs a cover for Time magazine. Solo exhibitions in Paris, Buenos Aires, Turin and Toronto.

1966 At an exhibition in the Castelli Gallery he covers the walls with his cow wallpaper. Creates multimedia events, under the title the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, involving live music, dance and film projection.

1967 Chelsea Girls, Warhol’s major film work, opens and is an international commercial and critical success. Warhol is signed up for a lecture tour and sends a Iookalike — Allen Midgette — to impersonate him.

1968 Shot by Valerie Solanas of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men). Paul Morrissey takes over responsibility for film production under the Warhol name.

1969 First issue of Interview published.

1971 Warhol’s stage play Pork is performed in London and New York. Has a major exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery.

1972 Begins to make a large number of portraits. His mother dies.

1974 2000 Mao portraits shown in Paris.

1975 Publication of the book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again).

1976 Begins the series of Skull paintings.

1977 Paints Athletes, Torsos, Hammer and Sickles. Shows his vast collection of folk art at the Museum of Folk Art in New York.

1978 Paints the Shadows series and makes the Oxidation paintings.

1979 Publication of Andy Warhol’s Exposures. An exhibition called Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70^s, shown at the Whitney Museum, New York The exhibition is not well-received.

1980 Makes paintings using diamond dust, and creates the series Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century.

1981 Paints the series Knives, Guns, Crosses and Myths.

1982 Andy Warhol’s TV appears on a New York cable channel.

1983 Creates a poster for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge.

1984 Creates the Rennaissance, Munch and Rorschach paintings. Collaborates with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente.

1985 Publication of the book America.

1986 Paints the series Camouflage, Cars and Flowers. A series of paintings based on the Last Supper shown in Milan. Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes appears on MTV.

1987 In January his first exhibition as a photographer opens at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York. Dies on February 22nd after gall bladder surgery. He is buried in Pittsburgh. On April 1^st a memorial service at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral is attended by over 2000 people.