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Warhol’s Polaroid series captured unpolished and raw photographs of celebrity icons until his death in 1987. Primarily using a 1971 Polaroid ‘Big Shot’ camera for his snaps, these instant pictures of friends, actors, musicians and himself served as a visual diary of Warhol’s life, as well as preserving the New York party scene of the 1970s and 80s. Amongst the Polaroids are talented musicians such as Debbie Harry of Blondie, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, and Dolly Parton.
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Whilst The Velvet Underground’s eponymous debut album is the most well-known for featuring Warhol’s work on the cover, many other famous bands and musicians also incorporated the Pop-Artist’s designs on their albums. Perhaps the most controversial is The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers featuring a close-up of a man wearing jeans; the original cover even featured a working zipper which unzipped the jeans! In addition to this iconic cover, Warhol created the artwork for John Lennon’s posthumous compilation album Menlove Ave. released by Yoko Ono and featuring previously unreleased music by Lennon. Other album covers created by Warhol include Diana Ross’ Silk Electric, Aretha Franklin’s Aretha and Liza Minelli’s Live at Carnegie Hall.
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In addition to creating their iconic banana-printed album cover, Warhol also managed The Velvet Underground, helping them to secure a recording contract with MGM's Verve Records and incorporating the band in his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Warhol also suggested The Velvet Underground incorporate German singer Nico on several of their songs, such as Femme Fatale and I’ll Be Your Mirror. Warhol’s reputation as an artist helped the band gain more recognition, particularly in the art scene.
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Fellow artist and legendary musician David Bowie stated numerous times that Warhol was a huge inspiration on his music and career, leading him to write a song named after the artist on his 1971 album Hunky Dory. Despite Bowie’s successful career as a musician, Bowie stated that after playing Warhol his song during their first meeting, that the artist simply responded “oh okay” before walking off. In spite of this awkward encounter, Bowie was cast as Warhol in the 1996 film Basquiat, mirroring his adoration of the artist.
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Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints are synonymous with his reputation as an artist, immortalising celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, and symbols of American culture like Campbell’s soup, in bright Pop Art style. Warhol captured the likeness of musicians in these prints, such as Debbie Harry of Blondie, Elvis Presley, and Mick Jagger. Whilst not the first artist to implement this method, Warhol saw its potential to make a comment on mass production and his results were made even better by the slight imperfections and smudges that the printing method caused.
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