The Digital Journalist

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol went from drawing shoe sketches for department stores to becoming one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Incredibly shy, but with an unquenchable thirst for gossip and merchandising, he gradually learned how to project a special charisma, which the whole world fawned upon.

Warhol, in public, hid behind a posed, emotionless mask, finger to his chin, which allowed him to watch everything happening around him, without showing any sign of a reaction. I believe once I did see the real Andy while photographing Edie Sedgwick and Warhol at a party in Los Angeles. That night Andy seemed so totally enthralled with Edie's charm that his face lit up into a warm, human smile that I had never seen before and never saw again.