Andy Warhol's Mother: The Woman Behind the Artist by Elaine Rusinko

Session Submission Type: Ancillary Event

Brief Description

While biographers of Andy Warhol have recognized his mother as a significant influence, Julia Warhola’s story has not yet been told. As an American immigrant who was born in a Carpatho-Rusyn village in Austria-Hungary, Julia never had the opportunity to develop her own artistic talents. Instead, she worked and sacrificed so her son could follow his dreams, helping to shape Andy’s art and persona. Julia followed him to New York City and lived with him there for twenty years. She was well known as “Andy Warhol’s mother,” even developing a distinctive signature with the title that she used on her own drawings.

Exploring previously unpublished material, Andy Warhol’s Mother provides the first in-depth look at Julia’s hardscrabble life, her creative imagination, and her spirited personality. Elaine Rusinko follows Julia’s life from the folkways of the Old Country to the smog of industrial Pittsburgh and the tumult of avant-garde New York. Rusinko explores the impact of Julia’s Carpatho-Rusyn culture, Byzantine Catholic faith, and traditional worldview on her ultra-modern son, the quintessential American artist. This close examination of the Warhola family’s lifeworld allows a more acute perception of both Andy and Julia while also illuminating the broader social and cultural issues that confronted and conditioned them.

This book launch will gather art historians, community members, immigration historians, members of the Warhol family, and scholars of nationalism for a discussion of the Carpatho-Rusyn roots of the Warhols. It will be followed by a book signing.

Sub Unit

• Ancillary Events