Andy Warhol--Godfather of Pop Art

            
             Andrew Warhola was born August Sixth, 1928, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Julie and Andrej Warhola, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia. After a quiet childhood spent alternately alone and in art classes, Andrew went to college. He then got a job doing commercial art, largely advertisements for large companies. Over time his name was shortened and Andy Warhol changed the face of modern art. Through his silver lined Factory and the many people who frequented it a revolution was born. This paper will discuss some of these people and examine the impact they all made on modern art. Ruska Dolina was a small Ruthenian suburb of Pittsburgh. It was populated with, of course, eastern European immigrants. Andy Warhol was born into this very close-knit neighborhood speaking his parent's native tongue. Julia Warhola was herself a bit of an artist, in later years she would collaborate with her youngest son. Andrej Warhola worked in the great steel mills of Pittsburgh. The Warhola household was very typical of the times. Julia would stay home, cook, and read to her boys while Mr. Warhola worked in a steel mill sweatshop with hundreds of other immigrants. The family was strictly Eastern Orthodox Catholics. On Sunday, the day of rest, no one was allowed to move. These days were passed indoors with Mrs. Warhola telling stories to the boys. Like most children, Andrew collected the pictures and posters of various celebrities that would define such a body of his work in later years. Andrew was a rather small boy. In interviews Andy Warhol said that he was pale and scrawny and that he was thusly bullied on several occasions by his classmates. When he was fourteen Andrew's father died of tuberculosis, a common malady of the times, especially for the profession. This had a profound affect on young Andrew. As was the Orthodox tradition, the body was laid out in the house for three days of mourning and visitation.