Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Pop

Date and Place of Birth:
(disputed) August 6, 1928, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Life and Work:
Warhol was trained as a commercial artist, and is best known for founding (or claiming to found) the Pop Art Movement in American art. He developed the technique of projecting photographic images to a silk screen, a process that enabled him to produce repetitive patterns within the same piece relatively quickly. Typical works are of famous people, everyday objects (soup cans, dollar bills) and macabre scenes of car wrecks and electric chairs.

Warhol also produced experimental films, helped found the band Velvet Underground and was an integral part of making performance art acceptable, if not understood. His studio, "The Factory", was a social hub in New York City.

Date and Place of Death:
February 27, 1987, New York City

Warhol died of complications following gall bladder surgery, which was, perhaps, a fitting way for an artist who championed the mundane and claimed to love "boring things" to go. Still, afterwards he got a spectacular send-off as some 2,000 people attended his memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.