Andy Warhol's Cats & Dogs
In 1954, Andy Warhol,
a renowned cat lover, published
a series
of 25 cat
portraits in book form. Printed on
limited edition, hand-colored Arches watermarked paper,
the prints
were privately printed
and made as a Christmas keepsake. He named
his book 25 Cats
Name Sam
and One Blue Pussy. He had originally meant it
to read "... Named Sam" but
his mother,
who did
the lettering, left off
the "d"
and Warhol thought
that the final version
was fine.
In
the 1950s, Warhol bought a brownstone where
he and
his mother resided.
And, although they had owned cats for twenty
years, his series
of cat
portraits were not based on the cats
he lived
with and knew. Instead, they were based on the photographs
of New York Cat Photographer Walter Chandoha.
In the
1970s, Warhol 's interest
with cats faded and his interest
in dogs rose. His boyfriend
decided they should get a
short-haired Dachshund puppy. They named the
dog "Archie". Warhol became so enthralled with
Archie that he became his alter ego. As he held Archie
during interviews, when Warhol did not want to answer a particular question, he
would simply deflect the questions to Archie. Warhol took the dog
everywhere - to his studio, to art openings, to
dinner, to
photo shoots, and to London when his work took him there.
When Archie
was almost three, another Dachshund
came into the picture. This dog, they called "Amos". The
three of them got along famously. Amos and Archie
would run around the townhouse
barking, chasing and
playing with one another while providing constant entertainment for Warhol. All
was well, except now Archie would stay
at home with his newfound
friend Amos instead of gallivanting the city with Warhol.
In 1976, the art collector
Peter Brant commissioned Andy Warhol to paint his Cocker Spaniel named Ginger. Andy made two
paintings of Ginger, as well as
drawings. Peter Brant liked these so much that he thought Warhol should do a whole series of cat and dog drawings. Andy liked the idea too. It would open up a new area of commission portraits and would
give him a chance to use Archie and Amos
in his work. All he lacked was a cat that would fit the modeling mold.
Warhol liked to work
from photographs. He had a difficult
time staging his pets and having them remain
still. He decided to use stuffed animals for his
first cat and dog photos. Vincent
Fremont at Artnet called the finished paintings of these stuffed creatures
"spooky and
macabre". The paintings; however, that Warhol completed from photographs of cats and dogs are said to be vibrant and infused with personality.
After some time he
began dabbling
in other arts, including underground films that explored the
shock value of nudity,
greed, and sexuality.
In 1976, after his hiatus from
regular, mainstream art pursuits, Peter Brant arranged for Warhol's dog and cat series to be shown in New York and in London.
After Warhol's period of drawing and
painting cats and dogs, he
started on artistic renditions for Campbell soup
cans and his focus on
pop-culture as seen in his works centered around Marilyn Monroe. After his mother's death, Warhol became
more distant from the public's eye. Warhol left his
diaries behind that were
later published into a book. While many
say his entries are "mundane", those who study his art find that they
leave a
history - a post-modern history much reflective of his beliefs, ties to, and a life dedicated to explorative arts.
Melanie Light is an artist and site owner of Pet Lovers Art
& Resources at
http://www.artzpet.com and Petz Classic Dog Art at
http://www.cafepress.com/petz . Her portfolio site can be found here:
http://mlightart.com . You
will find
more artwork, gifts, and information on these sites.