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" An American in Paris " is a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by American composer George Gershwin first performed in 1928 . It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s .
Walter Damrosch had asked Gershwin to write a full concerto following the success of " Rhapsody in Blue " ( 1924 ) ..
Although the story is likely apocryphal ,
Gershwin strongly encouraged Ravel to come to the United States for a tour . To this end , upon his return to New York , Gershwin joined the efforts of Ravel 's friend E. Robert Schmitz | Robert Schmitz , a pianist Ravel had met during the war , to urge Ravel to tour the U.S. Schmitz was the head of Pro Musica , promoting Franco-American musical relations , and was able to offer Ravel a $ 10,000 fee for the tour , an enticement Gershwin knew would be important to Ravel .
Gershwin greeted Ravel in New York in March 1928 during a party held for Ravel 's birthday by Éva Gauthier .
Gershwin based " An American in Paris " on a melodic fragment called " Very Parisienne , " written in 1926 on his first visit to Paris as a gift to his hosts , Robert and Mabel Schirmer . He described the piece as a " rhapsodic ballet " because it was written freely and is more modern than his previous works . Gershwin explained in " Musical America " , " My purpose here is to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city , listens to the various street noises , and absorbs the French atmosphere . "
The piece is structured into five sections , which culminate in a loose Ternary form | ABA format . Gershwin 's first A episode introduces the two main " walking " themes in the " Allegretto grazioso " and develops a third theme in the " Subito con brio . " The style of this A section is written in the typical French style of composers Claude Debussy and Les Six . This A section featured duple meter , singsong rhythms , and diatonic melodies with the sounds of oboe , English horn , and taxi horns . The B section 's " Andante ma con ritmo deciso " introduces the American Blues and spasms of homesickness . The " Allegro " that follows continues to express homesickness in a faster twelve-bar blues . In the B section , Gershwin uses common time , syncopated rhythms , and bluesy melodies with the sounds of trumpet , saxophone , and snare drum . " Moderato con grazia " is the last A section that returns to the themes set in A. After recapitulating the " walking " themes , Gershwin overlays the slow blues theme from section B in the final " Grandioso . "
Gershwin did not particularly like Walter Damrosch 's interpretation at the world premiere of " An American in Paris " . He stated that Damrosch 's sluggish , dragging tempo caused him to walk out of the hall during a matinee performance of this work . The audience , according to Edward Cushing , responded with " a demonstration of enthusiasm impressively genuine in contrast to the conventional applause which new music , good and bad , ordinarily arouses . " Critics believed that " An American in Paris " was better crafted than his lukewarm Concerto in F ( Gershwin ) | Concerto in F . Some did not think it belonged in a program with classical composers César Franck , Richard Wagner , or Guillaume Lekeu on its premiere . Gershwin responded to the critics , " It 's not a Beethoven Symphony , you know ... It 's a humorous piece , nothing solemn about it . It 's not intended to draw tears . If it pleases symphony audiences as a light , jolly piece , a series of impressions musically expressed , it succeeds . "
" An American in Paris " was originally scored for 3 flute s ( 3rd doubling on piccolo ) , 2 oboe s , English horn , 2 clarinet s in soprano clarinet | B-flat , bass clarinet in B-flat , 2 bassoon s , contrabassoon , 4 French horn | horns in F , 3 trumpet s in B-flat , 3 trombone s , tuba , timpani , snare drum , bass drum , Triangle ( musical instrument ) | triangle , Woodblock ( instrument ) | wood block , Ratchet ( instrument ) | ratchet , cymbal s , low and high Tom-tom drum | tom-toms , xylophone , glockenspiel , celesta , 4 vehicle horn | taxi horns labeled as A , B , C and D with circles around them , alto saxophone , tenor saxophone , baritone saxophone , ( all saxophones doubling soprano saxophones ) and String section | strings . It is likely that in labeling the taxi horns as A , B , C and D with circles , he may have been referring to the use of the four different horns and not the notes that they played .
A major revision of the work by composer and arranger F. Campbell-Watson simplified the instrumentation by reducing the saxophones to only three instruments , alto , tenor and baritone . The soprano saxophone doublings were eliminated to avoid changing instruments and the contrabassoon was also deleted . This became the standard performing edition until 2000 , when Gershwin specialist Jack Gibbons made his own restoration of the original orchestration of An American in Paris , working directly from Gershwin 's original manuscript , including the restoration of Gershwin 's soprano saxophone parts removed in F. Campbell-Watson 's revision ; Gibbons ' restored orchestration of An American in Paris was performed at London 's Queen Elizabeth Hall on July 9 , 2000 by the City of Oxford Orchestra conducted by Levon Parikian .
William Merrigan Daly | William Daly arranged the score for piano solo which was published by New World Music in 1929 .
On September 22 , 2013 , it was announced that a musicological Historical editions ( music ) | critical edition of the full orchestral score would be eventually released . The Gershwin family , working in conjunction with the Library of Congress and the University of Michigan , were working to make scores available to the public that represent Gershwin 's true intent . It was unknown if the critical score would include the four minutes of material Gershwin later deleted from the work ( such as the restatement of the blues theme after the faster 12 bar blues section ) , or if the score would document changes in the orchestration during Gershwin 's composition process .
The score to " An American in Paris " was scheduled to be issued first in a series of scores to be released . The entire project was expected take 30 to 40 years to complete , but " An American in Paris " was planned to be an early volume in the series .
Two urtext edition s of the work were published by the German publisher B-Note Music in 2015 . The changes made by Campbell-Watson were withdrawn in both editions . In the extended urtext , 120 bars of music were re-integrated . Conductor Walter Damrosch had cut them shortly before the first performance .
On September 9 , 2017 , The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of the long-awaited critical edition of the piece prepared by Mark Clague , director of the Gershwin initiative at the University of Michigan . This also featured a restoration of the original 1928 orchestration , except that it upheld the deletion of the contrabassoon part , an alteration usually attributed to F. Campbell-Watson .
" An American in Paris " has been frequently recorded . The first recording was made for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929 with Nathaniel Shilkret conducting the Victor Symphony Orchestra , drawn from members of the Philadelphia Orchestra . Gershwin was on hand to " supervise " the recording ; however , Shilkret was reported to be in charge and eventually asked the composer to leave the recording studio . Then , a little later , Shilkret discovered there was no one to play the brief celesta solo during the slow section , so he hastily asked Gershwin if he might play the solo ; Gershwin said he could and so he briefly participated in the actual recording . This recording is believed to use the taxi horns in the way that Gershwin had intended using the notes A-flat , B-flat , a higher D and a lower A. Harry James released a version of the blues section on his 1953 album " One Night Stand , " recorded live at the Aragon Ballroom ( Chicago ) | Aragon Ballroom in Chicago ( Columbia Records | Columbia GL 522 and CL 522 ) .
In 1951 , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the musical film " An American in Paris ( film ) | An American in Paris " , featuring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron . Winning the 1951 Best Picture Oscar and numerous other awards , the film was directed by Vincente Minnelli , featured many tunes of Gershwin , and concluded with an extensive , elaborate dance sequence built around the " An American in Paris " symphonic poem ( arranged for the film by Johnny Green ) , costing $ 500,000.The Eddie Mannix Ledger , Los Angeles : Margaret Herrick Library , Center for Motion Picture Study
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" A Clockwork Orange " is a Dystopian fiction | dystopian Satire | satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess , published in 1962 . It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence . The teenage protagonist , Alex ( A Clockwork Orange ) | Alex , narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him .
In 2005 , " A Clockwork Orange " was included on " Time ( magazine ) | Time " magazine 's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923 ,
Alex ( A Clockwork Orange ) | Alex is a 15-year-old living in a near-future dystopian city who leads his gang on a night of opportunistic , random " ultra-violence . " Alex 's friends ( " droogs " in the novel 's Anglo-Russian slang , " Nadsat " ) are Dim , a slow-witted bruiser , who is the gang 's muscle ; Georgie , an ambitious second-in-command ; and Pete , who mostly plays along as the droogs indulge their taste for ultra-violence . Characterised as a Antisocial personality disorder | sociopath and hardened juvenile delinquent , Alex also displays intelligence , quick wit , and a predilection for classical music ; he is particularly fond of Ludwig van Beethoven | Beethoven , referred to as " Lovely Ludwig Van . "
The novella begins with the droogs sitting in their favourite hangout , the Korova Milk Bar , and drinking " milk-plus " - a beverage consisting of milk laced with the customer 's drug of choice - to prepare for a night of mayhem . They assault a scholar walking home from the public library ; rob a store , leaving the owner and his wife bloodied and unconscious ; beat up a beggar ; then scuffle with a rival gang . Joyride ( crime ) | Joyriding through the countryside in a stolen car , they break into an isolated cottage and terrorise the young couple living there , beating the husband and rape | raping his wife . In a metafiction al touch , the husband is a writer working on a manuscript called " " A Clockwork Orange " , " and Alex contemptuously reads out a paragraph that states the novel 's main theme before shredding the manuscript . Back at the Korova , Alex strikes Dim for his crude response to a woman 's singing of an operatic passage , and strains within the gang become apparent . At home in his parents ' futuristic flat , Alex plays classical music at top volume , which he describes as giving him orgasm ic bliss before falling asleep .
Alex coyly feigns illness to his parents to stay out of school the next day . Following an unexpected visit from P.R. Deltoid , his " post-corrective adviser , " Alex visits a record store , where he meets two pre-teen girls . He invites them back to the flat , where he drugs and rapes them . That night after a nap , Alex finds his droogs in a mutinous mood , waiting downstairs in the torn-up and graffitied lobby . Georgie challenges Alex for leadership of the gang , demanding that they pull a " man-sized " job . Alex quells the rebellion by slashing Dim 's hand and fighting with Georgie . Then , in a show of generosity , he takes them to a bar , where Alex insists on following through on Georgie 's idea to burgle the home of a wealthy elderly woman . Alex breaks in and knocks the woman unconscious ; but , when he opens the door to let the others in , Dim strikes him in payback for the earlier fight . The gang abandons Alex on the front step to be arrested by the police ; while in custody , he learns that the woman has died from her injuries .
Alex is convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in Wandsworth Prison . His parents visit one day to inform him that Georgie has been killed in a botched robbery . Two years into his term , he has obtained a job in one of the prison chapels , playing Christian music on the stereo to accompany the Sunday Christian services . The chaplain mistakes Alex 's Bible studies for stirrings of faith ; in reality , Alex is only reading Scripture for the violent passages . After his fellow cellmates blame him for beating a troublesome cellmate to death , he is chosen to undergo an experimental behaviour modification treatment called the Ludovico Technique in exchange for having the remainder of his sentence commuted . The technique is a form of aversion therapy , in which Alex is injected with nausea-inducing drugs while watching graphically violent films , eventually conditioning him to become severely ill at the mere thought of violence . As an unintended consequence , the soundtrack to one of the films , Beethoven 's Ninth Symphony , renders Alex unable to enjoy his beloved classical music as before .
The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated to a group of VIP s , who watch as Alex collapses before a bully and abases himself before a scantily clad young woman whose presence has aroused his predatory sexual inclinations . Although the prison chaplain accuses the state of stripping Alex of free will , the government officials on the scene are pleased with the results and Alex is released from prison .
Alex returns to his parents ' flat , only to find that they are letting his room to a lodger . Now homeless , he wanders the streets and enters a public library , hoping to learn of a painless method for committing suicide . The old scholar whom Alex had assaulted in Part 1 finds him and beats him , with the help of several friends . Two policemen come to Alex 's rescue , but they turn out to be Dim and Billyboy , a former rival gang leader . They take Alex outside of town , brutalise him , and abandon him there . Alex collapses at the door of an isolated cottage , realising too late that it is the one he and his droogs invaded in Part 1 . The writer , F. Alexander , still lives here , but his wife has since died of injuries she sustained in the gang rape . He does not recognise Alex but gives him shelter and questions him about the conditioning he has undergone . Alexander and his colleagues , all highly critical of the government , plan to use Alex as a symbol of state brutality and thus prevent the incumbent government from being re-elected . Alex inadvertently reveals that he was the ringleader of the home invasion ; he is removed from the cottage and locked in an upper-story bedroom as a relentless barrage of classical music plays over speakers . He attempts suicide by leaping from the window .
Alex wakes up in a hospital , where he is courted by government officials anxious to counter the bad publicity created by his suicide attempt . Placed in a mental institution , Alex is offered a well-paying job if he agrees to side with the government . A round of tests reveals that his old violent impulses have returned , indicating that the hospital doctors have undone the effects of his conditioning . As photographers snap pictures , Alex daydreams of orgiastic violence and reflects , " I was cured all right . "
In the final chapter , Alex finds himself halfheartedly preparing for yet another night of crime with a new gang ( Lenn , Rick , Bully ) . After a chance encounter with Pete , who has reformed and married , Alex finds himself taking less and less pleasure in acts of senseless violence . He begins contemplating giving up crime himself to become a productive member of society and start a family of his own , while reflecting on the notion that his own children could possibly end up being just as destructive as he has been , if not more so .
The book has three parts , each with seven chapters . Burgess has stated that the total of 21 chapters was an intentional nod to the age of 21 being recognised as a milestone in Maturity ( psychological ) | human maturation . In the introduction to the updated American text ( these newer editions include the missing 21st chapter ) , Burgess explains that when he first brought the book to an American publisher , he was told that U.S. audiences would never go for the final chapter , in which Alex sees the error of his ways , decides he has lost all energy for and thrill from violence and resolves to turn his life around ( a moment of Metanoia ( psychology ) | metanoia ) .
At the American publisher 's insistence , Burgess allowed their editors to cut the redeeming final chapter from the U.S. version , so that the tale would end on a darker note , with Alex succumbing to his violent , reckless nature - an ending which the publisher insisted would be " more realistic " and appealing to a US audience . The film adaptation , directed by Stanley Kubrick , is based on the American edition of the book ( which Burgess considered to be " badly flawed " ) . Kubrick called Chapter 21 " an extra chapter " and claimed that he had not read the original version until he had virtually finished the screenplay , and that he had never given serious consideration to using it . In Kubrick 's opinion - as in the opinion of other readers , including the original American editor - the final chapter was unconvincing and inconsistent with the book .
" A Clockwork Orange " was written in Hove , then a senescent seaside town .
Burgess later stated that he wrote the book in three weeks .
Burgess has offered several clarifications about the meaning and origin of its title :
The saying " as queer as ... " followed by an improbable object : ... " a clockwork orange , " or ... " a four speed walking stick " or ... " a left handed corkscrew " etc. predates Burgess ' novel.1757 .
This title alludes to the protagonist 's negative emotional responses to feelings of evil which prevent the exercise of his free will subsequent to the administration of the Ludovico Technique . To induce this conditioning , Alex is forced to watch scenes of violence on a screen that are Operant conditioning | systematically paired with negative physical stimulation . The negative physical stimulation takes the form of nausea and " feelings of terror , " which are caused by an emesis | emetic medicine administered just before the presentation of the films .
The book , narrated by Alex , contains many words in a slang argot which Burgess invented for the book , called Nadsat . It is a mix of modified Slavic languages | Slavic words , rhyming slang and derived Russian ( like " baboochka " ) . For instance , these terms have the following meanings in Nadsat : " droog " = friend ; " moloko " = milk ; " gulliver " ( " golova " ) = head ; " malchick " or " malchickiwick " = boy ; " soomka " = sack or bag ; " Bog " = God ; " horrorshow " ( " khorosho " ) = good ; " prestoopnick " = criminal ; " rooker " ( " rooka " ) = hand ; " cal " = crap ; " veck " ( " chelloveck " ) = man or guy ; " litso " = face ; " malenky " = little ; and so on . Some words Burgess invented himself or just adapted from pre-existing languages . Compare Polari .
One of Alex 's doctors explains the language to a colleague as " odd bits of old rhyming slang ; a bit of Romani people | gypsy talk , too . But most of the roots are Slav propaganda . Subliminal message | Subliminal penetration . " Some words are not derived from anything , but merely easy to guess , e.g. " in-out , in-out " or " the old in-out " means sexual intercourse . " Cutter " , however , means " money , " because " cutter " rhymes with " bread-and-butter " ; this is rhyming slang , which is intended to be impenetrable to outsiders ( especially eavesdropping policemen ) . Additionally , slang like " appypolly loggy " ( " apology " ) seems to derive from school boy slang . This reflects Alex 's age of 15 .
In the first edition of the book , no key was provided , and the reader was left to interpret the meaning from the context . In his appendix to the restored edition , Burgess explained that the slang would keep the book from seeming dated , and served to muffle " the raw response of pornography " from the acts of violence .
The term
In 1976 , " A Clockwork Orange " was removed from an Aurora , Colorado high school because of " objectionable language . " A year later in 1977 it was removed from high school classrooms in Westport , Massachusetts over similar concerns with " objectionable " language . In 1982 , it was removed from two Anniston , Alabama libraries , later to be reinstated on a restricted basis . Also , in 1973 a bookseller was arrested for selling the novel . The charges were later dropped . However , each of these instances came after the release of Stanley Kubrick 's popular 1971 film adaptation of " A Clockwork Orange " , itself the subject of much controversy .
" The Sunday Telegraph " review was positive , and described the book as " entertaining ... even profound . " Chitty , Susan . " Is That the Lot ? " Sunday Telegraph , 13 May 1962 , p . 9 . " The Sunday Times " review was negative , and described the book as " a very ordinary , brutal and psychologically shallow story . " Brooks , Jeremy . " A Bedsitter in Dublin . " Sunday Times , 13 May 1962 , p . 32 . " The Times " also reviewed the book negatively , describing it as " a somewhat clumsy experiment with science fiction [ with ] clumsy cliches about juvenile delinquency . "
Burgess dismissed " A Clockwork Orange " as " too didactic to be artistic . " " A Clockwork Orange " ( Penguin Modern Classics ) ( Paperback ) by Anthony Burgess , Blake Morrison xxii He claimed that the violent content of the novel " nauseated " him.Calder , , John Mackenzie , and Anthony Burgess , . " Ugh . " The Times Literary Supplement , 2 Jan. 1964 , p . 9 .
In 1985 , Burgess published " Flame into Being : The Life and Work of D. H. Lawrence " and while discussing " Lady Chatterley 's Lover " in his biography , Burgess compared that novel 's notoriety with " A Clockwork Orange " : " We all suffer from the popular desire to make the known notorious . The book I am best known for , or only known for , is a novel I am prepared to repudiate : written a quarter of a century ago , a " jeu d 'esprit " knocked off for money in three weeks , it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence . The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about , and the misunderstanding will pursue me until I die . I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation , and the same may be said of Lawrence and " Lady Chatterley 's Lover " . " " Flame into Being : The Life and Work of D. H. Lawrence " ( Heinemann , London 1985 ) Anthony Burgess , p 205
" A Clockwork Orange " was chosen by " Time ( magazine ) | Time " magazine as one of the Time 's List of the 100 Best Novels | 100 best English-language books from 1923 to 2005 . { { cite magazine
A 1965 film by Andy Warhol entitled " Vinyl ( 1965 film ) | Vinyl " was an adaptation of Burgess 's novel .
The best known adaptation of the novella to other forms is the 1971 film " A Clockwork Orange ( film ) | A Clockwork Orange " by Stanley Kubrick , featuring Malcolm McDowell as Alex .
In 1988 , a German adaptation of " A Clockwork Orange " at the intimate theatre of Bad Godesberg featured a musical score by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen which , combined with orchestral clips of Ludwig van Beethoven | Beethoven 's Symphony No. 9 ( Beethoven ) | Ninth Symphony and " other dirty melodies " ( so stated by the subtitle ) , was released on the album " Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau " . The track " Hier kommt Alex " became one of the band 's signature songs .
In February 1990 , another musical version was produced at the Barbican Theatre in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company . Titled " A Clockwork Orange : 2004 " , it received mostly negative reviews , with John Peter ( critic ) | John Peter of " The Sunday Times " of London calling it " only an intellectual " Rocky Horror Show " , " and John Gross of " The Sunday Telegraph " calling it " a clockwork lemon . " Even Burgess himself , who wrote the script based on his novel , was disappointed . According to " The Evening Standard " , he called the score , written by Bono and The Edge of the rock group U2 ( band ) | U2 , " neo-wallpaper . " Burgess had originally worked alongside the director of the production , Ron Daniels , and envisioned a musical score that was entirely classical . Unhappy with the decision to abandon that score , he heavily criticised the band 's experimental mix of hip hop , liturgy | liturgical and gothic music . Lise Hand of " The Irish Independent " reported The Edge as saying that Burgess 's original conception was " a score written by a novelist rather than a songwriter . " Calling it " meaningless glitz , " Jane Edwardes of " 20 / 20 Magazine " said that watching this production was " like being invited to an expensive French Restaurant - and being served with a Big Mac . "
In 1994 , Chicago 's Steppenwolf Theater put on a production of " A Clockwork Orange " directed by Terry Kinney . The American premiere of novelist Anthony Burgess 's own adaptation of his " A Clockwork Orange " starred K. Todd Freeman as Alex . In 2001 , UNI Theatre ( Mississauga , Ontario ) presented the Canadian premiere of the play under the direction of Terry Costa .
In 2002 , Godlight Theatre Company presented the New York Premiere adaptation of " A Clockwork Orange " at Manhattan Theatre Source . The production went on to play at the SoHo Playhouse ( 2002 ) , Ensemble Studio Theatre ( 2004 ) , 59E59 Theaters ( 2005 ) and the Edinburgh Fringe | Edinburgh Festival Fringe ( 2005 ) . While at Edinburgh , the production received rave reviews from the press while playing to sold-out audiences . The production was directed by Godlight 's Artistic Director , Joe Tantalo .
In 2003 , Los Angeles director Brad Mays
An adaptation of the work , based on the original novel , the film and Burgess 's own stage version , was performed by The SiLo Theatre in Auckland , New Zealand in early 2007 .
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Aztlan Underground is a band from Los Angeles , California that combines Hip-Hop , Punk Rock , Jazz , and electronic music with Chicano and Native American themes , and indigenous instrumentation . They are often cited as progenitors of Chicano rap .
The band traces its roots to the late-1980s hardcore punk | hardcore scene in the Eastside Los Angeles | Eastside of Los Angeles .
As an example of the politically active and culturally important artists in Los Angeles in the 1990s , Aztlan Underground appeared on " Culture Clash " on Fox in 1993 ; and was part of " Breaking Out " , a concert on pay per view in 1998 , The band was featured in the independent films " Algun Dia " and " Frontierland " in the 1990s ,
Aztlan Underground remains active in the community , lending their voice to annual events such as The Farce of July ,
In addition to forming their own label , Xicano Records and Film , Aztlan Underground were signed to the Basque record label Esan Ozenki in 1999 which enabled them to tour Spain extensively and perform in France and Portugal . Aztlan Underground have also performed in Canada , Australia , and Venezuela . The band has been recognized for their music with nominations in the " New Times " 1998 " Best Latin Influenced " category , the " BAM Magazine " 1999 " Best Rock en Español " category , and the " LA Weekly " 1999 " Best Hip Hop " category . The release of their eponymous third album on August 29 , 2009 was met with positive reviews
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Andy Warhol ( ; " Random House Webster 's Unabridged Dictionary " : " ( 1966-67 ) .
Born and raised in Pittsburgh , Warhol initially pursued a successful career as a commercial illustrator . After exhibiting his work in several art gallery | galleries in the late 1950s , he began to receive recognition as an influential and controversial artist . His New York City | New York studio , The Factory , became a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectual s , drag queen s , playwrights , Bohemianism | Bohemian street people , Hollywood celebrities , and wealthy patrons . He promoted a collection of personalities known as Warhol superstars , and is credited with inspiring the widely used expression " 15 minutes of fame . " In the late 1960s he managed and produced the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founded " Interview ( magazine ) | Interview " magazine . He authored numerous books , including " The Philosophy of Andy Warhol " and " Popism : The Warhol Sixties " . He lived openly as a gay man before the gay liberation | gay liberation movement . After gallbladder surgery , Warhol died of cardiac arrhythmia in February 1987 at the age of 58 .
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective art exhibition | exhibitions , books , and I Shot Andy Warhol | feature and documentary films . The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city of Pittsburgh , which holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives , is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist . Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable . The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US $ 105 million for a 1963 canvas titled " Silver Car Crash ( Double Disaster ) " ; his works include some of the List of most expensive paintings | most expensive paintings ever sold .
Warhol was born on August 6 , 1928 , in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. whose first child was born in their homeland and died before their move to the U.S .
His parents were working-class Lemko Paul Robert Magocsi , Ivan Pop , , became a successful children 's book illustrator .
In third grade , Warhol had Sydenham 's chorea ( also known as St. Vitus ' Dance ) , the nervous system disease that causes involuntary movements of the extremities , which is believed to be a complication of Rheumatic fever | scarlet fever which causes skin pigmentation blotchiness .
As a teenager , Warhol graduated from Schenley High School in 1945 . Also as a teen , Warhol won a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards | Scholastic Art and Writing Award . These are believed to be his first two published artworks . Later that year , he moved to New York City and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising .
Warhol 's early career was dedicated to commercial and advertising art , where his first commission had been to draw shoes for " Glamour ( magazine ) | Glamour " magazine in the late 1940s . In the 1950s , Warhol worked as a Footwear | designer for shoe manufacturer Israel Miller .
Benstock , Shari and Suzanne Ferriss ( editors ) . " Footnotes : On Shoes " ; Rutgers University Press ; February 1 , 2001 ; ; pp. 44-48.For Israel Miller see i.a. " " , February 10 , 2008 . American photographer John Coplans recalled that
Warhol 's " whimsical " Pen-and-ink drawing | ink drawing s of shoe advertisements figured in some of his earliest showings at the Bodley Gallery in New York .
Warhol was an early adopter of the Screen printing | silk screen printmaking process as a technique for making paintings . A young Warhol was taught silk screen printmaking techniques by Max Arthur Cohn at his graphic arts business in Manhattan . " , Warhol writes : " When you do something exactly wrong , you always turn up something . "
Warhol habitually used the expedient of tracing photographs projected with an Opaque projector | epidiascope . for a 1958 design for a book cover he submitted to Simon & amp ; Schuster | Simon and Schuster for the Walter Ross pulp novel " The Immortal " , and later used others for his dollar bill series , " Three one-dollar bills mounted on cardboard " ( 1962 ) . Photograph by Edward Wallowitch . The Andy Warhol Museum , Pittsburgh ; Founding Collection , Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts , Inc.Printz , N. ( 2014 ) . Making Money / Printing Painting : Warhol 's Dollar Bill Paintings . Criticism , 56 ( 3 ) , 535-557. and for " Big Campbell 's Soup Can with Can Opener ( Vegetable ) " , of 1962 which initiated Warhol 's most sustained motif , the soup can .
With the rapid expansion of the record industry , RCA Records hired Warhol , along with another freelance artist , Sid Maurer , to design album covers and promotional materials .
He began exhibiting his work during the 1950s . He held exhibitions at the Hugo Gallery
Andy Warhol 's first New York solo pop art exhibition was hosted at Eleanor Ward 's Stable Gallery November 6-24 , 1962 . The exhibit included the works " Marilyn Diptych " , " 100 Soup Cans " , " 100 Coke Bottles " , and " 100 Dollar Bills " . At the Stable Gallery exhibit , the artist met for the first time poet John Giorno who would star in Warhol 's first film , " Sleep ( 1963 film ) | Sleep " , in 1963 .
It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American objects such as dollar bills , mushroom cloud s , electric chair s , Campbell 's Soup Cans , Coca-Cola bottles , celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe , Elvis Presley , Marlon Brando , Troy Donahue , Muhammad Ali , and Elizabeth Taylor , as well as newspaper headlines or photographs of police dogs attacking African-American protesters during the Birmingham campaign in the civil rights movement . During these years , he founded his studio , " The Factory " and gathered about him a wide range of artists , writers , musicians , and underground celebrities . His work became popular and controversial . Warhol had this to say about Coca-Cola :
New York City 's Museum of Modern Art hosted a Symposium on pop art in December 1962 during which artists such as Warhol were attacked for " capitulating " to consumerism . Critics were scandalized by Warhol 's open embrace of market culture . This symposium set the tone for Warhol 's reception .
A pivotal event was the 1964 exhibit " The American Supermarket " , a show held in Paul Bianchini 's Upper East Side gallery . The show was presented as a typical U.S. small supermarket environment , except that everything in it - from the produce , canned goods , meat , posters on the wall , etc . - was created by six prominent pop artists of the time , among them the controversial ( and like-minded ) Billy Apple , Mary Inman , and Robert Watts ( artist ) | Robert Watts . Warhol 's painting of a can of Campbell 's soup cost $ 1,500 while each autographed can sold for $ 6 . The exhibit was one of the first mass events that directly confronted the general public with both pop art and the perennial question of what art is.Wendy Weitman , " Pop Impressions Europe / USA : Prints and Multiples from the Museum of Modern Art " ( NY : Museum of Modern Art , 1999 ) .
As an Commercial art | advertisement illustrator in the 1950s , Warhol used assistants to increase his productivity . Collaboration would remain a defining ( and controversial ) aspect of his working methods throughout his career ; this was particularly true in the 1960s . One of the most important collaborators during this period was Gerard Malanga . Malanga assisted the artist with the production of silkscreens , films , sculpture , and other works at " The Factory , " Warhol 's aluminum foil -and-silver-paint-lined studio on 47th Street ( later moved to Broadway ) . Other members of Warhol 's Factory crowd included Freddie Herko , Ondine ( actor ) | Ondine , Ronald Tavel , Mary Woronov , Billy Name , and Brigid Berlin ( from whom he apparently got the idea to tape-record his phone conversations ) .Colacello , Bob ( 1990 ) , p . 67 .
During the 1960s , Warhol also groomed a retinue of Bohemianism | bohemian and counterculture of the 1960s | counterculture eccentrics upon whom he bestowed the designation " Warhol Superstar | Superstars , " including Nico , Joe Dallesandro , Edie Sedgwick , Viva ( actress ) | Viva , Isabelle Collin Dufresne | Ultra Violet , Holly Woodlawn , Jackie Curtis , and Candy Darling . These people all participated in the Factory films , and some - like Berlin - remained friends with Warhol until his death . Important figures in the New York underground art / cinema world , such as writer John Giorno and film-maker Jack Smith ( film director ) | Jack Smith , also appear in Warhol films ( many premiering at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre and 55th Street Playhouse ) of the 1960s , revealing Warhol 's connections to a diverse range of artistic scenes during this time . Less well known was his support and collaboration with several teenagers during this era , who would achieve prominence later in life including writer David Dalton ( writer ) | David Dalton ,
On June 3 , 1968 , radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and Mario Amaya , art critic and curator , at Warhol 's studio. a Separatist feminism | separatist feminist tract that advocated the elimination of men ; and appeared in the 1968 Warhol film " I , a Man " . Earlier on the day of the attack , Solanas had been turned away from the Factory after asking for the return of a script she had given to Warhol . The script had apparently been misplaced .
Amaya received only minor injuries and was released from the hospital later the same day . Warhol was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived : surgeons opened his chest and internal cardiac massage | massaged his heart to help stimulate its movement again . He suffered physical effects for the rest of his life , including being required to wear a surgical corset .
Solanas was arrested the day after the assault , after turning herself in to police . By way of explanation , she said that Warhol " had too much control over my life . " She was subsequently diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and eventually sentenced to three years under the control of the New York City Department of Correction | Department of Corrections . After the shooting the Factory scene heavily increased its security , and for many the " Factory 60s " ended .
Warhol had this to say about the attack : " Before I was shot , I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there - I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life . People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal , but actually it 's the way things happen in life that 's unreal . The movies make emotions look so strong and real , whereas when things really do happen to you , it 's like watching television - you don 't feel anything . Right when I was being shot and ever since , I knew that I was watching television . The channels switch , but it 's all television . "
Compared to the success and scandal of Warhol 's work in the 1960s , the 1970s were a much quieter decade , as he became more entrepreneurial . According to Bob Colacello , Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new , rich patrons for portrait commissions - including Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , his wife Empress Farah Pahlavi , his sister Princess Ashraf Pahlavi , Mick Jagger , Liza Minnelli , John Lennon , Diana Ross , and Brigitte Bardot .
Warhol socialized at various nightspots in New York City , including Max 's Kansas City and , later in the 1970s , Studio 54 .
In 1979 , along with his longtime friend Stuart Pivar , Warhol founded the New York Academy of Art .
Warhol had a re-emergence of critical and financial success in the 1980s , partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists , who were dominating the " bull market " of 1980s New York art : Jean-Michel Basquiat , Julian Schnabel , David Salle and other so-called Neo-expressionism | Neo-Expressionists , as well as members of the Transavantgarde movement in Europe , including Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi . Before the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics , he teamed with 15 other artists , including David Hockney and Cy Twombly , and contributed a Speed Skater print to the Art and Sport collection . The Speed Skater was used for the official 1984 Winter Olympics | Sarajevo Winter Olympics poster .
By this time , graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy paid homage to Warhol when he painted an entire train with Campbell soup cans . This was instrumental in Freddy becoming involved in the underground NYC art scene and becoming an affiliate of Basquiat .