{"product_id":"9780141977744-warhol","title":"Warhol","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA Life as Art\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Superb.Gopnik persuasively assembles his case over the course of this mesmerising book, which is as much art history and philosophy as it is biography\" Kathryn Hughes, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen critics attacked Andy Warhol's Marilyn paintings as shallow, the  Pop artist was happy to present himself as shallower still: He claimed  that he silkscreened to avoid the hard work of painting, although he was  actually a meticulous workaholic; in interviews he presented himself as  a silly naïf when in private he was the canniest of sophisticates.  Blake Gopnik's definitive biography digs deep into the contradictions  and radical genius that led Andy Warhol to revolutionise our cultural  world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on years of archival research and on interviews with hundreds of Warhol's surviving friends, lovers and enemies, \u003ci\u003eWarhol \u003c\/i\u003etraces  the artist's path from his origins as the impoverished son of Eastern  European immigrants in 1930s Pittsburgh, through his early success as a  commercial illustrator and his groundbreaking pivot into fine art, to  the society portraiture and popular celebrity of the '70s and '80s, as  he reflected and responded to the changing dynamics of commerce and  culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWarhol sought out all the most glamorous figures of his  times - Susan Sontag, Mick Jagger, the Barons de Rothschild - despite  being burdened with an almost crippling shyness. Behind the public  glitter of the artist's Factory, with its superstars, drag queens and  socialites, there was a man who lived with his mother for much of his  life and guarded the privacy of his home. He overcame the vicious  homophobia of his youth to become a symbol of gay achievement, while  always seeking the pleasures of traditional romance and coupledom. (\u003ci\u003eWarhol\u003c\/i\u003e explodes the myth of his asexuality.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFilled with new insights into the artist's work and personality, \u003ci\u003eWarhol\u003c\/i\u003e asks: Was he a joke or a genius, a radical or a social climber? As Warhol himself would have answered: Yes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40942952775777,"sku":"9780141977744","price":21.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_32292566.jpg?v=1737351721","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780141977744-warhol","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}