Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties

by Steven Watson

Factory Warhol and the Sixties is a fascinating look at the avant-garde group that came together—from 1964 to 1968—as Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, a cast that included Lou Reed, Nico, Edie Sedgwick, Gerard Malanga, Paul Morrissey, Joe Dallesandro, Billy Name, Candy Darling, Baby Jane Holzer, Brigid Berlin, Ultra Violet, and Viva. Steven Watson follows their diverse lives from childhood through their Factory years. He shows how this ever-changing mix of artists and poets, musicians and filmmakers, drag queens, society figures, and fashion models, all interacted at the Factory to create more than 500 films, the Velvet Underground, paintings and sculpture, and thousands of photographs.

Between 1961 and 1964 Warhol produced his most iconic the Flower paintings, the Marilyns, the Campbell’s Soup Can paintings, and the Brillo Boxes. But it was his films—Sleep, Kiss, Empire, The Chelsea Girls, and Vinyl—that constituted his most prolific output in the mid-1960s, and with this book Watson points up the important and little-known interaction of the Factory with the New York avant-garde film world. Watson sets his story in the context of the revolutionary milieu of 1960s New the opening of Paul Young’s Paraphernalia, Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball, Max’s Kansas City, and the Beautiful People Party at the Factory, among many other events.

Interspersed throughout are Watson’s trademark sociogram, more than 130 black-and-white photographs—some never before seen—and many sidebars of quotes and slang that help define the Warholian world. With Factory Made, Watson has focused on a moment that transformed the art and style of a generation.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Pop Culture, Music, New York

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2003

Reviews

[GK Stritch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the cover and photos and appreciate the author's effort. Andy was a visual artist, so maybe best to view his work visually and not try to read about it in a book, especially the details of his many films, films that are (slow) slightly moving portraits. But as Warhol said about them, "They're better talked about than seen." (page 436), maybe so. Andy's is a long, strange trip, especially The Silver Factory years with many out-there personalities and there are pages and pages of info on them. After reading all the books, I'm left feeling sad and asking what is art? Is it all about money and social connections? Is that it, a commodity? And modern art, contemporary art, is it just pornography? I don't know and find it confusing. It took a wit as shrewd as Anthony Blanche to proclaim so prophetically, "Take me to [Andy's] unhealthy pictures . . . and what did I find? I found, my dear, a very naughty and very successful practical joke."

[Kimmo Sinivuori · Rating 5 out of 5]

"They are better talked about than seen" Warhol said in the 1980's about the films that were made during the heyday of the Silver Factory. The Silver Factory became when Billy Linich (later Name) in early 1964 covered with tin foil and silver paint the interior of an old hat factory close to the UN building in midtown Manhattan that Warhol had rented as his studio space. This fantastic book focuses on the film making that took place during the, in retrospective, very short but glamorous period of the existence of the Silver Factory from 1964 to early 1968. During that period until being shot by Valerie Solanas in the summer of 1968, Warhol was mostly engaged in film making. In 1965 he even announced that he had retired from painting (he did make paintings during that period but only to finance his filming activities).
In this book, Steven Watson, explores Warhol thru the lives of the characters who orbited around the Silver Factory. He does a great job as his approach allows him to provide different angles to look at Warhol and his art and many interesting facts are revealed that are new even to those who have knowledge about Warhol and the New York underground scene in the sixties.
This is a highly enjoyable book which proves once again that Warhol was right about that it is great to read about underground films and film making whereas it is often painfully boring to watch them. Jonas Mekas would probably disagree with my latter proposition but fully agree with the former.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love anything to do with the 60s! I was born in that era and it's fair to say that I'm obsessed with every aspect of it - politics, history, art, pop culture, music, fashion and just the general feel and mix of those insane, heady times. This country will never be the same and thank god for that.

This book gives you a good sense of who Warhol was and the other people who comprised his Factory. The timeline is presented well so that you can feel the rise and fall of each person's time there and the place in general. What a fabulous thing it would have been to just experience it for even a little while. I'm so envious of people who lived during the 60s while my generation got stuck in the most conservative times ever - the Reaganite, sex-is-scary due to AIDS 80s, the overly PC-90s, and the unfortunate greed gone wild, hyperparenting early 2000s. It's enough to make a person wanna drop some acid, man!

[Andee]

how do you start a movement...you will learn a little bit about it all here

[Marikoisonfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything you've ever wanted to know about art in new york in the 60's and 70's. So much in here. I'm still not finished.

[A.Jay Wagner]

Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties by Steven Watson (2003)

[Mercurymouth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! What a wild ride those days at the FACTORY!

[Robert Haines · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a good general history of the time period and the people involved. However, there were some parts that seemed to exclude pertinent information or lack clarity. It is as if the author failed to realize that the reader does not share his knowledge of extended research. Perhaps the oversights and mistakes are due to an inexperienced editor (I read a first edition hardback, later editions may have been changed). For example, our introduction to the actress Ultra Violet communicates her childhood desire to visit America (from where? It is not explained), it is only through a photo caption that we learn Ultra is from Grenoble (France - Had to look it up online). Toward the end of the book there is also a glaring mistake with the birth date listed on Warhol's headstone - the book lists it as "August 6, 1926". Warhol's birth date is actually inscribed as August 6, 1928 (Google it for photographic proof).
This is not a strict Warhol biography, the ghostly portrayal of the artist does not offer much in-depth detail (perhaps a reflection of his actual personality). The idea behind "Factory" is to explore the personalities surrounding Warhol and their relationship to the social-changing '60s. For those interested in Warhol's universe, it's worth reading.

[Terri]

This one might be up next for me. I started reading the introduction and I'm totally clicking with this author. Off and on for about 20 years I've been informally studying the Warhol era and personalities that are the subject of this book. Watson gets it. I love what he has to say in the intro about how the factory worked, what it was all about, what Warhol did that was so special just as sometimes it seemed like he wasn't doing much of anything.

I have high hopes for this one.

[Marion for a Free Palestine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect in-depth look into life inside the Warhol Factory and the lives of the many people that went through it's door. So fascinating for anyone with an interest in the 1960's New York art world.

[Eric Diesel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Year by year account of Warhol's Sixties. Along with Edie, the best document of the era outside the art itself.

[Madeleine Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice history of the Warhol sixties. But the authors treatment of the trans superstars leaves a lot to be desired.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read about Warhol and the Silver Factory years, with interviews with most of the people who lived it. Fabulous book.

[Rob Schorr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough and well researched. Written in with lot of first hand accounts and excerpts. Written and composed in a very thought out and interesting manner.
recommended!

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

A fragmented mess of notes without order or coherence

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's like reading transcripts from a whole bunch of people of people in the 60s and 70s that did way too much speed in their 20s and 30s, because that's pretty much what it is.

[Gregory Kuchmek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very solid book that gives you a real feeling for being there.