The painting that most clearly alludes to the hiddenness of religious truth is perhaps Warhol’s Camouflage Last Supper, where the visual message of the painting is distorted by an overlay of visual noise. Warhol began to use camouflage in 1986, the same year in which he did his Last Suppers, and used it as well in connection with his own self-portrait, in which it carries something like the same meaning it does in Camouflage Last Supper: it reveals the hiddenness of his own truth, which is all on the surface. He famously said, “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.†He even did a series of works consisting of nothing but camouflage, which as a visible pattern had become as ordinary and as everyday as violence itself in the modern world, however unusual its appearance in art—as unusual as Brillo Boxes in art galleries would have been in 1964, for that matter. Critics saw the camouflage works as ready-made abstractions, but what they mean is that their subject is completely hidden. The camouflage swatch has in fact become the portrait of the political reality of our time, too horrifying to look upon directly. The inference, on seeing someone wearing camouflage, that it is a solder is based on a social truth that camouflages, is the visible mark of the military in our time.
My feeling is that the hiddenness implied by camouflage belongs with the idea that confidences were disclosed at the Last Supper. What meaning could be more secret than that the wine and bread are Christ’s flesh and blood, and that in partaking of these Jesus becomes part of the blood and flesh of the partakers? But I do not think Warhol became a religious artist in the last years of his life, with the Last Supper paintings.
I think the religious turn, if there was one, happened much earlier. I believe that at some moment between 1959 and 1961 Andy Warhol underwent an artistic change deep enough to bear comparison with a religious conversion—too deep, one might say, not to be a religious conversion. Before then, his work had a certain effete charm, consisting of plump cherubs, posies, pink and blue butterflies, pussycats in confectionary colors. He made a handsome living as a commercial artist, whose chief product consisted of playfully erotic advertisements for upscale ladies’ footwear. My feeling is that his religious identity was disclosed in April 1961, in his first exhibition—installed, symbolically, in a site displaying soft fluttery summery resort wear for the class of women for whom the luxurious shoes that had given him his first success were designed—the windows of Bonwit Teller, one of the great emporia for upscale women’s clothing on Fifth Avenue in New York. Warhol, as we saw, surrounded the mannequins with blowups of the coarse, grainy advertisements one sees in the back pages of cheap newsprint blue-collar publications. The images he appropriated after the conversion were vernacular, familiar, and anonymous. They typically advertise cures. A montage of black-and-white newspaper ads is for falling hair; for acquiring strong arms and broad shoulders; for nose reshaping; for prosthetic aids for rupture; for love elixir (“Make him want youâ€); and for Pepsi-Cola (“No Finer Drinkâ€). It projects a vision of human beings as deficient and as needy. It was a message not unlike that of Josef Beuys, whose symbols were fat and felt, to minister to the hungry and the cold. All religion is based on suffering and its radical relief. It was as if the message of saviors had been translated into the universal language of cheap American advertisements. The Bonwit Teller show testifies to what remains perhaps the most mysterious transformation in the history of artistic creativity—Warhol’s “before and after.â€
In a great photograph of Warhol’s studio taken by Evelyn Hofer just after his death, there is a large painting, on the far wall, of a double portrait of Jesus presiding at the Last Supper, his eyes cast down, while two disciples, Thomas and James, gesture with great animation to his left. In that studio photograph, many other paintings are shown, leaning against the side walls. The only other picture that faces us, however, is on the left of the painting I have been discussing. It shows a bowl of chicken noodle soup blazoned on the familiar red and white Campbell’s soup label, with the familiar logo, the neatly written Campbell’s. The image on the label is of a mass-produced china dish, whose utterly commonplace decorated rim rings the Queen of Soups like a halo. I find it affecting that the two images—Campbell’s Soup Can and Last Supper—mark the beginning and the end of Warhol’s career—at least, once he found his way. But I find it no less affecting that the plate on the label echoes the plate on the table, at which Jesus appears to be gazing with his downcast eyes, as if the plate embodies some profound meaning. I imagine Warhol, standing before the two paintings, at the final moment he was to spend in his studio, looking at both the dishes as if they were cognate Grails.
What his final thought as an artist was, of course, is impossible to say, but I like to think that it has to have been about two dishes, one empty, the other full of our daily soup, warm, hot, filling, tasty, like the answer to a prayer. The two paintings together reveal his calling as an artist. He is grateful for the daily bread asked for in the Lord’s Prayer. Meanwhile, he was in terrible pain from gallstones, for which he knew and feared that he would soon require an operation. The trip to Milan for the Last Supper show had been physically agonizing. The second and last death struck him on February 22, 1987, at New York Hospital. He died peacefully and to the surprise of everyone.
Bibliography
The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 1: Paintings and Sculptures, 1961–1963. Vol. 2: Paintings and Sculptures, 1964–1969. Edited by Georg Frei and Neil Printz. New York: Phaidon, 2004.
Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962–1987. Edited by Frayda Feldman and Jorge Schellman. 3rd ed. New York: DAP, 1997.
Andy Warhol: A Retrospective. Edited by Kynaston McShine. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1989.
Angell, Callie. Andy Warhol Screen Tests: The Films of Andy Warhol—Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2006.
———. “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker.†In The Andy Warhol Museum. Pittsburgh: The Museum, 1994 (121–45).
Bockris, Victor. Warhol: The Biography. New York: Da Capo. 2003.
Bourdon, David. Warhol. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989.
Cabanne, Pierre. Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp. New York: Da Capo, 1971.
Colacello, Bob. Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
Danto, Arthur C. “The Philosopher as Andy Warhol.†In The Andy Warhol Museum. Pittsburgh: The Museum, 1994 (73–90).
———. The Transfiguration of the Commonplace: A Philosophy of Art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
———. “The Artworld.†Journal of Philosophy 61, no. 19 (Oct. 15, 1964): 571–84.
Dillenberger, Jane. The Religious Art of Andy Warhol. New York: Continuum, 1998.
Duchamp, Marcel. “A Propos of ‘Readymades’†(lecture at the Museum of Modern Art, 1961). In Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings. Edited by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996.
Giorno, John. “Andy Warhol’s Movie Sleep.†In You Got to Burn to Shine: New and Selected Writings. London and New York: High Risk/Serpent’s Tail, 1994 (122–63).
Hegel, G. W. F. The Phenomenology of Mind. Translated by J. B. Baillie. London: George Allen and Unwin; New York: Macmillan, 1949.
Janowitz, Tama. Slaves of New York: Stories. New York: Crown, 1986.
Kuspit, Donald. Fischl. New York: Vintage, 1987.
Malanga, Gerard. Archiving Andy Warhol. Creation, 2002.
Motyl, Alexander J. Who Killed Andrei Warhol? Santa Ana, CA: Seven Locks, 2007.
Steinberg, Leo. Other Criteria: Confrontations with Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.
———. A: A Novel. New York: Grove, 1968.
Warhol, Andy, and Pat Hackett. POPism: The Warhol ’60s. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1990.
Warhol from the Sonnabend Collections. New York: Gagosian, 2009.
Watson, Steven. Factory-Made: Warhol and the Sixties. New York: Phaidon, 2003.
Woronov, Mary. Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory. London: High Risk/Serpent’s Tail, 1995.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
A: A Novel (Warhol), 83, 97, 98
Absolute Spirit concept, 139
Abstract art, xii, 10
Abstract Expressionism, xi, xiv, 6, 22, 23, 58, 64, 108, 109
culture of, 27
end of, xii, 38
enlargement of images, 14–15
nature of, 30
paint quality, 10, 13–14, 15, 16, 27
philosophy of art and, 8–9
subject matter, 10–11
“Abstract Expressionist Coca Cola Bottle, The†(Danto), 16
abstraction, 132
Advertisement (Warhol), 17, 20–21
aesthetics, x, xi, xv, 13, 15, 34, 37, 52, 54–56, 60, 83, 86, 132, 135
Agnelli, Gianni, 117
Alloway, Lawrence, 26
Amayo, Mario, 103
Andy Warhol Enterprises, 92–93, 114, 122, 123, 124, 125, 134
Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes (Warhol), 87, 89
Andy Warhol TV Productions, 88, 90
Angell, Callie, 79, 84
anti-aestheticism, 52, 56
Armory show of 1913, 32
art criticism, 66
art (general discussion): concept of, 48
conceptual experiment in, 81
cultural revolution in, 3, 26, 28–29
definition of, xiv, 65, 78
frontiers of, 3–4, 7
high vs. low, xv, 2, 7, 17, 28
history of, 48, 61, 62, 66, 120, 126
intellectual, 56
life and, 7, 30, 31, 32, 36
mass production of, 93, 147
mass vs. high, 14
philosophical definition of, 36
philosophy of, ix–x, xiii, 48, 65, 135–136
politicization of, xii
racial and ethnic, 109
reality and, 11, 16, 23, 29, 45–46, 64, 67, 71
religious objects and, 136, 139.
See also “What is art?†controversy
“Art into life†slogan, 29, 30
ARTnews, xiii, 22, 28
Arts and Crafts Movement, xv
art schools, 107–108
art world (curators, dealers, critics, buyers, artists), 4, 16, 22, 69
death of painting and, 110–111
of Europe, xii
of New York City, xvi, 2, 92, 127
1960s, xii, 92
1970s, 109–110
pluralism in, 111 126
view of Warhol’s work, 14
Warhol and, 25–26, 35
“Art World, The†(Danto), x, xvi
Atkinson, Ti-Grace, xviii, 101, 102, 103
Aunt Jemima, 128
avant-garde, 2, 6, 30, 32, 61, 82–83, 85, 110
literature, 97, 98
Russian, 29
Avedon, Richard, 104
Bad film (Warhol), 125
Bastien, Heiner, 20–21
Beatles, The, 5, 7
Beautiful People Party, 94
Beckmann, Max, 115
Bed (Rauschenberg), 11
Before and After (Warhol), 1–3, 3, 6, 12, 16, 17–20, 147
Benday screen, 13, 15
Berlin, Brigid, 84, 86
Berlin Wall, 118
Beuys, Josef, 58, 111, 146
Bidlo, Mike, 53
Bird in Flight (Brancusi), 68–69
Bischofsberger, Bruno, 111
Black Mountain College, 30
Blondie, 13
Blow Job film (Warhol), 76–77
Blum, Irving, 35
Bockris, Victor, ix, 1, 8, 36, 98, 101, 105, 112
Bonwit Teller.
See exhibitions of Warhol’s work: Bonwit Teller windows
boredom, 85, 86
Bourdon, David, ix
Bowie, David, 84
Brancusi, Constantin, 68–69, 110
Brandt, Willy, 117
Brillo Box(es) (Warhol), xiv, 52–53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 77, 78, 81, 135–136, 145
criticism of, 67, 68
as individual works, 67–68
literature about, 67–68
massive presence of, 68
value of, 69.
See also “What is art?†controversy
Buffalo Bob, 128
Burns, Ric, 70, 94
Cabanne, Pierre, 56
Cage, John, 30, 54
Camouflage Last Supper (Warhol), 144–145
Campbell’s Soup Can(s) (Warhol), 25, 32, 34–36, 37, 41, 52, 81, 105, 134, 147.
See also subject matter of Warhol’s works: Campbell Soup cans
capitalism, x, xii, 72–73, 117
Castelli Gallery, New York City/Leo Castelli, 14, 24, 25, 28, 70, 71, 106, 116, 129–130, 144
celebrities, 114–115, 118, 122
at the Factory, 84–85, 88, 94
movie stars, 24, 128
publicity photographs, 17, 24, 40
suicides of, 126–127
in Warhol’s television show, 86, 87–88
Cézanne, Paul, 143
chance aspect of artistic production, 54–55
Chelsea Girls film (Warhol), 82, 98
Cinecitta film studio, Rome, 122, 124, 125
civil rights, 7
Clemente, Francesco, 114–116
Clift, Montgomery, 94
Coca Cola (Warhol), 19
Colacello, Bob, 84, 87, 89–90, 117, 124, 132
Cold War, xii, 111, 116, 118
Coltrane, John, 41
Columbia University, 30
Comfort, Charles, 69
comic books and characters, xv, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26–28, 32.
See also Pop art movement
commercial art, xv, 2, 12, 64, 143.
See also Warhol, Andy: as commercial artist
commercial culture, 26, 37
Communist Party/communism, 72, 111, 116–117, 118
Conceptual art, 125
Conversation, La (Matisse), 143
Coplans, John, 106
Correggio, Antonio da, 80
Courbet, Gustave, 56
Crone, Rainer, xii
Cuban missile crisis, 38–39
cultural change (1950s–1960s), 6–7, 25, 31
cultural revolution in art, 3, 26, 28–29
Curtis, Jackie, 84, 112
Cutrone, Ronnie, 91, 124, 125, 130, 131, 132
Dada art, 29, 30, 51, 52
dance, 31
Dance Diagram (Warhol), 39, 40
Darling, Candy, 84, 112
De Antonio, Emile, 15–16, 18, 22, 33, 35, 37, 131
Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Manet), 6
de Kooning, Willem, 10, 98, 132–133, 141
Democratic Party, 73
Dia Foundation, 133
Diaries (Warhol), 73
Dickie, George, 69–70
Dick Tracy, 13, 26
Diderot, Denis, 97
Dine, Jim, 4
di Salvo, Donna, 106
Do It Yourself (Flowers) (Warhol), 39, 40, 71, 81, 106, 113
Dollar Bills (Warhol), 81
Dollar Sign(s) (Warhol), 130
Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), 143
Donald Duck, xi
Dove soap, 143
Dracula, 128
drugs, 48, 75, 92, 94, 98, 105, 121
Duchamp, Marcel, 29, 32, 44, 54, 55–56, 62, 82–83, 110–11
concept of retinal art, 56, 66
concept of the readymade, 51–52, 55, 66
Elegy for the Spanish Republic (Motherwell), 141
Empire film (Warhol), 77, 78–80, 85, 86, 124, 136
Euthyphro (Socrates), 69–70
exhibitions of Warhol’s work: Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, 9
Bonwit Teller windows, 17–20, 21, 21–22, 23, 24, 26, 31–32, 39, 40, 106, 143, 146–147
Castelli Gallery, 71, 129–130
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, 34, 37, 40
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, 116
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 5
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 52–53
Pasadena Art Museum retrospective, 53, 122, 126
proposed traveling retrospective, 106
Andy Warhol Page 13
