Never. It was brought to my attention recently that a good portion of the pop believes this fact: Andy Warhol’s the greatest American artist of all time. Yeah, yeah, yeah… We all like Pop-Art. And I like it too. But Pop-Art, like Dada, was one those movements that was more of a reaction than anything else. There’s nothing wrong with this, but let’s not make Pop-Art, specifically Warhol, into something it isn’t (or wasn’t).
Warhol’s best stuff, his latter day stuff, doesn’t really resemble Pop-Art. The Electric Chair prints, the Car Accidents. I consider the Electric Chair to be his masterpiece; a piece that is staunchly anti-Pop. The only relation to his early stuff would be the use of numerous colored prints of the same image. Here’s the Green Car Crash and Electric Chair pieces…
But unlike his early stuff, and the entire Pop-Art movement, there are concrete ideas and meanings behind the Chair, or The Car Accident. These speak with a different (and in my opinion, stronger) voice than the Marylin Monroe prints or the Soup Cans. Most people don’t even know his latter day stuff. They only know him as the goofy blonde guy that paints cans and celebrities. Or the quiet lanky guy, that makes those cool LSD/Acid liquid films. I love those films, don’t you?
One of the most influential artists of the 20th; for certain, there’s no doubt about that. Warhol will be discussed indefinitely; I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. But people often times confuse greatness with influence.
Perfect example: Elvis. He’s talked about, he caused massive controversy. He pushed boundaries, and represented something. But he wasn’t a great musician, nor artist. He didn’t play guitar well. He didn’t write any of his songs. And even his voice wasn’t that great. Let’s not confuse greatness with influence; the two overlap slightly, but don’t determine one another.
If its any consolation: I love Andy Warhol. I just think that anyone who truly believes he’s the greatest American artist of all-time doesn’t know very much about art.
-Sonny
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Rossi d’Providence American, 70 years old in 09, by far the first great artist of the twenty-first century. Realist painter in oils. http://home.earthlink.net/~artistmaximus/
I found your entry both well written and insightful yet I take exception to the fact that you did not name who you thought to be the greatest American artist ever if not Warhol. Also your labeling of pop art as a reactionary movement seems odd, name me any art movement historical or contemporary which was not a reaction to the artistic, cultural or social forces and climates of their day or their past. Furthermore your statement of simply distinguishing “greatness” from “influence” while accurate does not in anyway begin to explain WHY you believe Warhol wasn’t a great artist. By what criteria are you defining greatness, if it is variety, Warhol experimented in various mediums with great success. If it is technical proficiency Warhol was a highly touted draftsmen previous to his artist career. My point is that this that while their may be merit to your point, you don’t do yourself any favors by not EXPLAINING your definition for greatness.
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Thank you.