Portrait of a Leader - Andy Warhol Research Paper

Portrait of a Leader - Andy Warhol - Research Paper Example The paper "Portrait of a Leader - Andy Warhol" discusses the leader of the pop art, Andy Warhol. As a leader of a time that was typified by a collaboration of the bizarre with the mundane, Warhol has left a legacy that remains powerful and enigmatic. Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928 to Slovak immigrants and was raised near the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. As a child, he was ill with scarlet fever which had the consequence of leaving him with an affliction known as St Vitus’ Dance, which left him with an involuntary jerking reflex in his limbs and face. The long term affects appear to have been a general lightening of the skin, hair, and eyes, which gave him a unique and ethereal look that was attractive to the art community of the 1960’s, but left him being unusual as a child. His own commentary about his high school years suggests that he felt isolated and apart from his peers. There are varying stories about the way in which Warhol grew up, partly because of the variety of stories that he himself spread in order to ‘create’ himself. One myth says his father worked in the coal mines of West Virginia and was home very little. He was then mostly raised by his mother, Julie, along with his brother. His father died in 1942 after a prolonged illness from drinking poisoned water after which his family struggled in poverty. Warhol claims that he had three nervous breakdowns in three consecutive years during his childhood - one each at the age of eight, nine, and ten.