Censorship of Andy Warhol
The censorship of Andy Warhol highlights the intersection of art, politics, and societal norms during the 1960s. Warhol, known for his iconic silk-screen images of consumer goods and celebrities, faced early censorship when his series "13 Most Wanted Men" was painted over for political reasons during the 1964 New York World's Fair. This series featured images of men connected to organized crime, but after they were exonerated, concerns over potential lawsuits led to the artwork's removal without Warhol's consent.
In a subsequent incident, Canadian customs officials deemed Warhol's grocery cartons and tin cans as lacking originality, imposing a 20-percent duty on their import for exhibition. Warhol's transition to filmmaking also drew scrutiny; his film "Blue Movie," which depicted explicit sexual content, prompted legal action when a judge deemed it obscene, leading to the seizure of the film. Despite appeals, the film was ultimately upheld as obscene under contemporary legal standards. Through these experiences, Warhol’s work not only confronted artistic expression's boundaries but also reflected broader societal tensions regarding representation and morality.
Subject Terms
Censorship of Andy Warhol
Identification: American artist and filmmaker
Significance: Warhol’s art was censored in several media, including film, sculpture, and silk screen/painting
An artist initially known for his serial photographic silk screen images of soup cans and celebrities, Warhol encountered censorship early in his career when a series of twenty-five large silk screened panels were painted over in silver for political reasons. The panels were displayed briefly in 1964 on the exterior of the New York State Pavilion at the World’s Fair held in New York. The series, 13 Most Wanted Men, depicted photographic images of thirteen men taken from eight-year-old Federal Bureau of Investigation most-wanted posters. The men, all of Italian descent and reported to have Mafia connections, had since been exonerated. Fearing lawsuits from their families, Governor Nelson Rockefeller had the images painted over in the dark of night without consultation with the artist.
The following year Warhol experienced another form of censure when the director of the National Gallery of Canada, acting as an adviser to the Canadian customs office, ruled that his grocery cartons and tin cans were not “original sculpture.” Under Canadian customs regulations, these objects were subject to tariff regulations requiring a 20-percent merchandising duty to be paid by the Toronto gallery importing the works for an exhibition.
When Warhol turned his interests to film in the late 1960’s, his experiments with the media brought a different level of censorship. His “factory films,” as they have become known, featured a wide assortment of characters that frequented The Factory, his exclusive club in New York. His critically acclaimed 1968 film Flesh was followed by Blue Movie/Fuck, which took sexual intercourse from a mere scene, as in his earlier film, to become the entire focus with the stars, Viva and Louis Waldon, in a series of explicit sexual encounters. Warhol’s intent was to use lovemaking as the backdrop for an afternoon in a couple’s Manhattan apartment as they discussed mundane subjects of daily life. A New York County criminal court judge viewed the film; after finding probable cause for prosecuting it as obscene, he signed a search warrant for film seizure and “John Doe” warrants for the arrests of the theater manager, the projectionist, and the ticket-taker. After several appeals by Warhol’s attorneys, an appeals court viewed the film in 1971 and upheld the police officer’s seizure of the film and the lower court ruling that it was obscene under prevailing U.S. Supreme Court standards.