This "year in the life" of Warhol's artistic and social productions (was there a difference?) actually spans decades. More than 15 years after Warhol's death, his work retains an uncanny ability to make the most banal elements of American life sharp and subversive; these 365 full-page 91/2"×61/2" color illustrations, with pertinent (or impertinent), texts on facing pages) includes the movies (Blow Job
, Taylor Mead's Ass
), the silk screens (Mao etc.), the entourage (endless) and much more in celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Warhol museum (in Warhol's birthplace of Pittsburgh, Pa.). The Andy Warhol Diaries
and The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
are overdrawn on for the text. The illustrations are fresher and include early drawings; film notes and shooting schedules; photographs of Warhol's tape recorder, telephone and wig collection; and a magazine quiz filled out by Warhol. These are counterposed with reproductions of some (but not all) of Warhol's better known completed pieces, such as Campbell's Soup
or Elvis 11 Times
. However, the inclusion of "contextual" material like photographs of Brooke Shields or the Jacksons could have easily been replaced by more of Warhol's own artwork. While the range reproduced shows Warhol's extraordinary versatility in mediums, whether film, silkscreen, painting or people-collecting, no book can convey the shocking impact of his work. (June)
