The Pop Art movement was not only an art phenomenon, but also a reflection of society. Andy Warhol’s Factory became a symbol of celebrity and the fusion of art and commerce.
The book Warhol & Friends (Pockets, hardcover, 236 pages, 60 euros) offers an intensive and very intimate insight into this formative era of the 1960s, in which Warhol and his contemporaries revolutionized the art scene.
The photographer Steve Schapiro accompanied Warhol with his camera in 1965 and 1966 for “Life” magazine. He shows Velvet Underground privately, Edie Sedgwick and Nico. Plus dazzling exhibitions and parties with Warhol.
Steve Schapiro wants the real Andy Warhol
You can also observe an artist who consciously presented himself as an artist. He left little to chance. Not in his underground films (the filming of “Camp” is shown here), not in his first showcase of his work, which made him a big scene star overnight.
Warhol’s ambition almost competes with Schapiro’s ambition to capture the REAL Warhol photographically. It may be crazy that his story never appeared in Life magazine. For this book, however, it is a stroke of luck. Many of the images have never been published before.
The book with well over 100 images not only offers a retrospective of Warhol’s most famous works from an observer’s perspective, but also of his influences, friendships and rivalries. This might make you understand “Andymania” a little better.