Warhol memorabilia philia: our pop archeologists dig into the vaults of the Andy Warhol Museum

Interview, June-July, 2008 by Glenn O'Brien

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Andy Warhol's huge artistic output has been documented and catalogued with care and precision. But when it comes to Andy Warhol's huge collection of stuff, which in a way can be seen as another body of artwork, we've just scratched the surface. Many of Andy's belongings were sold by Sotheby's in 1988, the year after his death, to help fund the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, but the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh holds a treasure trove of archival material and what the artist called "time capsules." When it comes to the latter--612 boxes (the vast majority being identically sized and made of brown cardboard) into which Andy put all sorts of things, from the ridiculous to the sublime--we've only just begun the biggest dig in Pop archaeology. Among the first time capsules were the pharaohs' tombs, and the craze for all things pharaoanic was likely what popularized the idea of the time capsule around the time of the 1939 World's Fair. Suddenly people were burying all sorts of things in cornerstones and other caches, intended to be opened by future generations. Andy Warhol was an infamous pack rat, and in this issue Brigid Berlin and Vincent Fremont discuss his inability to throw anything out. But Andy took this problem and turned it into an asset in an almost alchemical way. He turned trash into treasure by collecting it methodically and obsessively. Exploring these boxes, very few of which have ever been opened, reveals an amazing panoply of stuff--invitations, correspondence, answering-service messages, gifts, magazines, newspapers, party lists, clippings, photos, artworks, clothing, and materials closely resembling rubbish. But the dross of one period is the delight of another, and since virtually no one else saved these sorts of things, what was once disposable has become a rarity, and these boxes provide an eerie feeling of what it was like to live in Andy's time and place. Slowly, the contents of the capsules are being catalogued, down to the last paper clip. These boxes hold much history, many mysteries, and, until a recent bug attack, they even held some semipetrified pizza dough.

In April 2008, Todd Eberle and I visited the Andy Warhol Museum, where curator Matt Wrbican and his staff kindly allowed us to poke around the archives and peruse some time capsules. Here's a tantalizing peek at the tip of a very coot iceberg.

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KNOWLEDGEABLE PARTIES CONFIRM THAT THIS IS ANDY'S PENIS, OR SOMEONE ELSE IS WEARING HIS CLOTHES. ANDY'S PASSPORT PROVES THAT HE ACTUALLY WAS BORN AUGUST 6, 1928. HE TENDED TO FORGET. VALERIE SOLANAS WROTE THIS NOTE TO ANDY A LITTLE MORE THAN NINE MONTHS BEFORE SHE SHOT HIM ON JUNE 3, 1968. ANDY AND HALSTON CREATED THE $100 BILL BATHROBE, BUT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT IS RUMORED TO HAVE TAKE IT OUT OF CIRCULATION BECAUSE THE BILLS DEPICTED WERE ACTUAL SIZE. (SEE THE INTERVIEW WITH MARC JACOBS.) THE PAINTBRUSH COVERED WITH MONEY WAS A GIFT TO ANDY FROM HALSTON'S BOYFRIEND, THE ARTIST VICTOR HUGO.

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THESE ARE ANDY'S PAINTING BOOTS. HE HAD AN IDENTICAL, PRISTINE PAIR. OPPOSITE: WHEN HE GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AFTER NEARLY DYING FROM GUNSHOT WOUNDS, ANDY WORE A CORSET UNDER HIS CLOTHES TO SUPPORT HIS STOMACH AND ABDOMEN, WHICH WERE RIDDLED WITH SCARS. BRIGID BERLIN DYED THESE CORSETS FOR HIM.

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THESE BOXES HELD THE RECORDS FOR FILMS DIRECTED BY PAUL MORRISSEY AND PRODUCED BY ANDY WARHOL.

THE BIG SHOT WAS A FIXED-FOCUS POLAROID MODEL THAT PRODUCED THE BEST EXPOSURES FOR ANDY TO USE FOR HIS PORTRAITS. THEY REQUIRED FLASH CUBES, WHOSE LIGHT GAVE A KIND OF INSTANT RETOUCHING EFFECT, WIPING AWAY WRINKLES AND FLAWS. AFTER THE MODEL WAS DISCONTINUED, ANDY WOULD BUY EVERY BIG SHOT HE CAME ACROSS, AND POLAROID WOULD REPAIR THE CAMERAS FOR HIM AGAIN AND AGAIN. OPPOSITE. ANDY'S LIBRARY WASN'T BIG, BUT IT WAS A MIX OF SERIOUS ART BOOKS, BOOKS BY FRIENDS, AND LIGHTER READING SUCH AS THESE.

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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT PAINTED ANDY'S SCARS ON THIS TURTLENECK, PROBABLY INSPIRED BY THE FAMOUS RICHARD AVEDON PHOTOGRAPH THAT REVEALED THEM. OPPOSITE: ALL OF ANDY'S WIGS WERE FROM ORIGINAL BY PAUL.

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ANDY DIDN'T DRIVE, BUT HE OWNED A BROWN MERCEDES-BENZ WITJ A STATE-OF-THE-ART 8-TRACK STEREO SYSTEM. OPPOSITE: A PHOTO OF ANDY IN 1964 BY THE FAMOUS NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER WEEGEE. SPECIAL THANKS: ALEX JONES AND MATT WRBICAN/THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM.

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY TODD EBERLE