CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE EXPLOITATION, WOMEN AND WARHOL A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art by Kathleen Frances Burke May 1986 The Thesis of Kathleen Frances Burke is approved: Louise Leyis, M.A. Dianne E. Irwin, Ph.D. r<Iary/ Kenan Ph.D. , Chair California State. University, Northridge ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Dr. Mary Kenon Breazeale, whose tireless efforts have brought it to fruition. She taught me to "see" and interpret art history in a different way, as a feminist, proving that women's perspectives need not always agree with more traditional views. In addition, I've learned that personal politics does not have to be sacrificed, or compartmentalized in my life, but that it can be joined with a professional career and scholarly discipline. My time as a graduate student with Dr. Breazeale has had a profound effect on my personal life and career, and will continue to do so whatever paths my life travels. For this I will always be grateful. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In addition, I would like to acknowledge the other members of my committee: Louise Lewis and Dr. Dianne Irwin. They provided extensive editorial comments which helped me to express my ideas more clearly and succinctly. I would like to thank the six branches of the Glendale iii Public Library and their staffs, in particular: Virginia Barbieri, Claire Crandall, Fleur Osmanson, Nora Goldsmith, Cynthia Carr and Joseph Fuchs. They provided me with materials and research assistance for this project. I would also like to thank the members of my family. My sister, Eileen M. Burke, who encouraged me to pursue this degree so that I might teach, and my husband, Patrick W. Kelly, who inspired me to finish it. They were invalu­ able as "sounding boards" for ideas, and as proofreaders when I simply couldn't read it one more time. Both Eileen and Patrick know more than they ever wanted to about Andy Warhol. Thanks also goes to my mother-in-law, Rita H. Kelly, for her assistance in the details of typing this project. Finally, to my parents, Mary Dorothy and William Vincent Burke, who taught all three of their daughters the value of education and the importance of a woman pursuing a professional career. Thank-you, Mom ·and Dad, we've made it! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF PLATES AND SOURCES .• vi ABSTRACT ..•. viii INTRODUCTION .. 1 Chapter 1. COMMERCIAL ART: WARHOLTS EARLY EXPOSURE TO WOMEN'S CULTURE. • . • 5 The I. Miller Campaign and Other Shoe-Related Imagery Warhol's Experience with Commercial Art and its Relationship to his Fine Art Production 2. WARHOL AND POP ART 1962-64. 16 Mainstream Critical Analysis of Pop Art Warhol's Pop Art Consumer Imagery Warhol's Pop Art Images of Media Celebrities 3. WARHOL AND THE SUPERSTARS 1964-68 . 32 Warhol's Factory "Baby" Jane Holzer Edie Sedgwick Nico Viva Valerie Solanas Summary 4. CONCLUSION. 77 PLATES ...• 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY •. 101 v PLATES AND SOURCES Plates Page 1. Andy Warhol, Crazy Golden Slippers. 12-13 Life Magazine, 21 January 1957 2 0 Andy Warhol, Crazy Golden SliJ2J2ers. 0 0 0 13 Life Magazine, 21 January 1957 3 0 Andy Warhol, 100 SOUJ2 Cans. 0 0 0 0 0 57 John Coplans, Andy Warhol (Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1970) 4 0 Andy Warhol, Coca-Cola Bottles. 0 0 0 0 0 45 John Coplans, Andy Warhol 5. Andy Warhol, The Six Marilyns (Marilyn Six-Pack) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 68 John Coplans, Andy Warhol 6 0 Andy Warhol, Liz as Cleo12atra 0 0 0 0 0 0 89 John Coplans, Andy Warhol 7 0 Andy Warhol, 16 Jackies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 101 John Coplans, Andy Warhol 8 0 Andy Warhol, Jackie 0 w 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 98 John Coplans, Andy Warhol vi Plates Page 9. "Baby" Jane Holzer in 13 Most Beautiful VV()Tirr~l1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 148 10. Factory Foto, Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. • . • . • . n.p. Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett, Popism: The Warhol Sixties (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980) 11. Paul Morrissey, Nico .... n.p. Warhol and Hackett, Popism 12. Viva and the Rape, in Lonesome Cowboys. n.p. Stephen Koch, Stargazer: Andy Warhol's World and His Films (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973) vii ABSTRACT EXPLOITATION, WOMEN AND WARHOL by Kathleen Frances Burke Master of Arts in Art Historians and critics have identified Andy Warhol as an influential force in the world of twentieth century art. As such, the attitudes expressed in his work of the sixties had an effect on the development of contemporary fashionable culture. The goal of this thesis is to de­ termine Warhol's attitude toward women and the culture that is created by and for women. By using a feminist critical methodology, I hope to establish that Warhol's attitudes are misogynistic, and personally destructive for the women with whom he associates in the mid and late nineteen sixties. Warhol's misogyny is most clearly expressed in a group of relatively obscure films, which featured prominent female members of the Factory entourage such as, viii Edie Sedgwick and Viva. The woman-hating content of these films suggest that Warhol's earlier Pop Art depictions of female media personalities and consumer objects might also reflect a similar connected set of exploitative ideas. By ''re-viewing" Warhol's work as a whole, it becomes clear that the artist is fascinated with but ultimately repulsed by women. ix INTRODUCTION Mainstream art history tells us that Andy Warhol was one of the major forces behind the 1960's explosion known as Pop Art, an art form that glorified the objects of popular culture. Critics reported that Warhol was a master at identifying the most "banal" symbols of that culture and at challenging our perceptions of them. His glorification of the Campbell's soup can and his portraits of Marilyn Monroe are recognized at all levels of society. Contemporary critical analysis of the sixties chose to view Warhol as a social commentator, one who pointed out the impersonal nature of our machine culture and our love of the vapid beauty queen depicted in popular Hollywood films. In this thesis, I will attempt to prove that Warhol's visual images of the sixties are not just a general indictment of heterogeneous consumer culture, but more specifically, that his Pop Art imagery is taken directly from women and the consumerist culture that is associated with them. Furthermore, his use of these images is a negative exploitation of women and the products of culture created by and for women. When one 1 2 looks at Warhol's work from the mid and late sixties, he moves from a critique of values he seemingly associates with women to a direct expression of anti­ feminism in his exploitation on every level of his young women "superstars". This is an element of Warhol's work that has largely been ignored, and thus I am going to use feminist critical methodology to "re-view" Warhol's work of 1962-68, analyzing the attitudes toward women implicit in his art. The key to this analysis is a group of obscure films, whose women-hating content is obvious and extreme. But if one is sensitive to it, there is much subtle sexism in his better known work: the Pop Art paintings of the early sixties. If one moves beyond formal..analysis and makes connections between subject "'>ftia.tter,: historical content and social values, it becomes ~1~2l.·r::'.that Warhol is fascinated with, but ultimately repulsed by, women. Warhol began his career as a commercial artist. It is in his early advertising work that we see the emergence of two trends that will dominate his career for the rest of the decade: objects associated with women as a cultural group and the glamour of Hollywood. This paper will open with a brief discussion of the early part of Warhol's career in advertising art. The purpose of this section is to establish his early involve­ ment with women's consumer culture as reflected in the 3 art of this period. Chapter two will include a discussion of mainstream critical analysis of Warhol's static visual art from 1962-64. The artist's early Pop Art used Campbell's soup cans, S&H Green Stamps and Brillo boxes as its subject matter. By using a feminist analytical method, I hope to establish the association of these objects with female consumerism, motherhood and housewifery. This section will conclude with an analysis of Warhol's portraits of Hollywood stars. His well-known portrait series of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy received much critical attention at the time of their completion. However, unlike Warhol's consumer images, ··.these... works were discussed primarily in formal terms, whil.e implications of the content were ignored. I believe this to be a reflection of the more uncomfortable aspects of these works. Critics ignored the parallel between the time of production of the portraits and the specific events occurring in each woman's life at the same time. Warhol chose to exploit their visages at the "appropriate" moment, when media and, therefore, public interest in them was at its apex. Chapter three analyzes Warhol's images of women in film. Filmmaking became Warhol's main interest from 1965-68; in fact, he gave up painting to concentrate on his underground movies. These films were made in the 4 artist's studio, known as the Factory.