REAL ESTATE…with a difference: Andy Warhol House Under Contract!

Artist Andy Warhol is best known for his paintings of Uncle Sam, Campbell Soup cans and the famous silk screen photographic portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Warhol was both praised, criticized and stirred controversy. Though many refer to him as the Father of Pop Art, it was really a very small portion of his career in which style he worked through 1961. He also had groups of paintings in the early 1960s which were call his “Suicides” and “Car Crash” periods.

It was also in the 1960s when he started his silk screen photography of famous celebrities; the most notable of which were of Marilyn, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Warhol’s process for making silkscreen and paint portraits in the 1960s was what made them important as it brought out brilliant color against the dark outlines, which had not yet been achieved by others. Warhol liked the money he derived from his portraits and was known to settle the price for the work (in multiple thousands), very early on. This love of money and fame brought criticism from some factions of the art world. However, since he was trained as a commercial artist and worked for “Vanity Fair” for some years, it’s not that surprising. He also branched out into other works including album covers, shoes, commissions, sculptures, provocative film and anything else he could attach his name to and sell.

The New York City townhouse that Warhol used as a studio from 1959 to 1974 recently sold. The ground level was used as his studio while he lived upstairs. He also had large studios which he called The Factory; larger spaces where large projects were undertaken. But wherever Andy was, he was surrounded by his groupies; a crowd of intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights and Hollywood celebrities. After having been shot by demented groupie, Valerie Solanas, in June of 1968 who claimed “he controlled her life,” he barely survived but the gravity of the situation caused him to calm down his lifestyle. Warhol eventually died at age 58 in 1987 from complications during gallbladder surgery.

His former four bedroom, five bath townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan recently went under contract. The asking price was $5,795,000.

src: bhsusa.com