Andy Warhol

PLACE OF BIRTH: Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA

DATE OF BIRTH: August 6, 1928

DATE OF DEATH: February 22, 1987

  Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola) was born in Pittsburgh, he was one of four children, though one of his siblings died before the family moved from Slovakia to America. Warhol’s father moved to the U.S. in 1914 and his mother joined him in 1921. Andy’s father was a coal miner. The family lived at 55 Beelen St. then at 3252 Dawson St. in Pittsburgh. Warhol had two older brothers, Paul the oldest who was born in Slovakia; Jẚn was born in Pittsburgh.

While in grade three Warhol came down with Sydenham’s chorea (also known as St. Vitus’ dance) which is a nervous system disease that causes the person to have involuntary movement of the extremities. It is believed to be a complication of Scarlett fever which causes skin pigmentation blotchiness. From this traumatic childhood experience Andy became a hypochondriac with a fear of doctors and hospitals.  When he was a child he was often bedridden and became an outcast at school, because of this he used celebrity magazines and comics as an escape. While often confined to his bed he drew and listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his bed.  Warhol later stated that this time in his life was very important in the development of his personality and skill-set and preferences. During his college years Andy tried to create a new persona for himself signing greeting cards as “André”, and later he started dropping the ‘a’ from his last name Warhola. It was when Warhol was just thirteen his father was killed in an accident.

As a teenager he graduated from Schenley High School in 1945, after high school he intended to study art education at the University of Pittsburgh in hopes of becoming an art teacher. Those plans changed and he enrolled at Carnegie Institute of Technology to pursue a career as a commercial illustrator, and he majored in pictorial design. Warhol was the only member of his family to attend college. In 1949 Warhol earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. After graduation he moved to New York where his life as a pop artist we know today would soon begin.