Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra. Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop. Delacorte Press, New York: 2004. 200 pages. Tr. $16.95 ISBN 038573056X
Annotation
Andy
Warhol: Prince of Pop is a biography of one of the 20th
centuries best known and most controversial artists, Andy Warhol.
Review
I studied art history as an undergraduate at UC
Santa Barbara, but at the time my focus was on the Baroque artists in Italy and
modern, female Islamic artist, so I started Greenberg and Jordan’s book with
very little knowledge of the cultural icon, Andy Warhol. Warhol was a very interesting character and
refused to conform to other people’s ideas of what he should be or what his art
should be. While Warhol’s Factory became
synonymous with drugs and the counter culture movement, Warhol himself never
participated in taking drugs and in fact rarely drank alcohol. His effeminate style and his openness about
his homosexual lifestyle drew attention to Warhol, but his critics focused on
his art. They did not understand the
messages he was trying to convey in painting seemingly mundane objects like a
can of soup or how his film would later be seen as the precursor to today’s
reality television. Warhol was a truly
innovative artist, ahead of his times and never afraid to tackle a new medium
or challenge.
I was disappointed with the layout and design of Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop. Andy Warhol is such an iconic and inspirational
subject. I would have liked to seen page
designs and titles that matched his artistic style. As great example of how book design can be
tied to a subject is Ann Angel’s Rise Up
Singing, in which the pages feature colorful borders reminiscent of the psychedelic
art movement that coincided with the psychedelic music movement that Joplin was
a part of.
Awards/Honors
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2005
Front
and Back Matter
TOC, Important Dates, Selected Films by Andy Warhol,
Books by Andy Warhol, Glossary, Notes, Sources, Photography Credits, Index
Author’s
Website
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