Andy Warhol "Giant" Size, Regular Format [Hardcover]

Editors of Phaidon Press (Author), Photo Editor (Editor), Steven Bluttal (Editor), Dave Hickey (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2009

Tracing Warhol's origins as the sickly child of Ruthenian immigrants in working-class Pittsburgh to his transformation into New York's dark prince of Pop and finally into the world's most successful 'business artist', "Andy Warhol "Giant" Size" provides an appropriately larger-than-life look at the celebrated artist's career. Cultural critic Dave Hickey provides a compelling essay on Warhol's geek-to-guru evolution while chapter openers by Warhol friends and insiders give special insight into the way the enigmatic artist led his life and made his art. More than 2,000 illustrations culled from rarely seen archival material, documentary photography, and artwork not only provide a full picture of the artist's life but a telling look at late twentieth-century popular culture. Warhol's little-explored early career as a successful commercial illustrator and designer, his importance as a co-creator of the Pop movement, his midcareer switch to filmmaker and manager of the Velvet Underground, his founding of Interview magazine, and his bid for the hearts and pocketbooks of the high-flying glitterati are shown throughout this stunning new volume.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dave Hickey is a freelance writer of fiction and cultural criticism, curator, and lecturer who has been affiliated with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1992. He has served as owner-director of A Clean Well-Lighted Place gallery in Austin, Texas, as director of the Reese Palley Gallery in New York City, as Executive Editor of Art in America magazine in New York City, and as Contributing Editor to The Village Voice. He has written for most major American cultural publications including The Rolling Stone, Art News, Art in America, Artforum, Interview, Harper's Magazine, Vanity Fair, Nest, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. Hickey received a B.A. (1961) from Texas Christian University and an M.A. (1963) from the University of Texas at Austin. He served as curator for SITE Santa Fe's Fourth International Biennial, "Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism" (July 2001 - January 2002). Hickey has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions, including Harvard University, Rice University, and the Otis Parsons Institute, Los Angeles. His critical essays on art have been collected in two volumes: The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty (1993) and Air Guitar: Essays in Art and Democracy (1997). Hickey is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1969) and the College Art Association's Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art or Architectural Criticism (1993). In 2001, he was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship grant.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (March 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714849804
• ISBN-13: 978-0714849805
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.8 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Picture Book, May 12, 2010

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H. S. Cohn "HSCohn" (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Andy Warhol "Giant" Size, Regular Format (Hardcover)

Lots of stories. A great deal. A really neat visual insight into the world of Andy Warhol. Good price too.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ohhhh!!!, July 8, 2009

By 

duluoztattva "Chris" (indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andy Warhol "Giant" Size, Regular Format (Hardcover)

this review comes from a true warhol junkie. i drove five hours to pittsburgh once just to see one of his films(and don't regret a minute or a penny of it). i've read quite a few books on andy and was excited to see this one and at a much cheaper price than when it first came out. i haven't looked at it all yet, just purchased today but i have to say i was really expecting just a little bit more than what i've seen so far. but, what i've seen has been great. i guess it's the lack of much text that really seems a real drawback to me, but in lieu of that it offers very much as far as the visual aspects. most, if not all, of his major works are represented but one has to have a little more cultural insight to realy comprehend what's going on here. like for instance, who are all these other people and what's going on with them. i, as an insider of sorts, know so it's cool for me, but i'm sorry for anyone else who doesn't know the whole story. so, to be brief, this is a cool book with tons of artwork reproduced and gads of photos but is probably not a good beginning book for the uninitiated. it's more of a companion piece to fill in the blanks left by the other works. as a starter for the warhol cult prospective initiate i would highly recommend "popism" by warhol and pat hackett and for a more complete story than that, including tons of artwork and photos, "warhol" by david bourdain. the latter tells a more complete story since "popism" leaves off in the 60's(albeit andy's halcyon days). those two are indispensable. this one is just a bonus but hey, it's a warhol book so not bad at all. campbell's soup forever!