The Art of Andy Warhol

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the various elements of Marxist ideology that arise within Andy Warhol's art works "100 Cans" (1962), "Marilyn Monroe" (1967) and "A Set of Six Self Portraits" (1967). It discusses the idea of commodity and cultural identity within these works and aims to reveal Warhol's medium and ideology in industrial American society. The paper shows how Warhol merges images of capitalism and mass production into his portraits.

From the Paper:

"This was the biographical background for Warhol's interest in images of famous people, since he was obsessed with the way that people could become famous in the mass communications milieu of American culture. The use of photography could now capture a person's image and be broadcast to millions of people nationwide through the television. For icons like Marilyn Monroe, her image could now be processed and manipulated through media exploitation now that it could easily be replicated. In this way, the nightmare of Marx's human devaluation and exploitation of identity within a mass production industrial culture became realized; it was a beautiful dream-come-true for Andy Warhol and his choice of replicating popular icons in American society."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alloway, Lawrence. 1958. The Arts and the Mass Media, http://www.warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/andy/warhol/articles/popart/popart.html (accessed October 16, 2006).
• Lynton, Norbert. 1968. Andy Warhol at the Rowan Gallery. http://www.warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/andy/warhol/articles/rowan.html (accessed 18 October, 2006).
• Marx Karl. 1847. The Communist Manifesto. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm (accessed 16 October, 2006).
• Pollack, Barbara. 1999. The Fame Game. http://www.students.sbc.edu/humphress06/Aticle.html (accessed 18 October, 2006).
• Warhol, Andy. 1962. 100 Cans. http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/lWarhol.html (accessed 16 October, 2006).

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