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FAMOUS FOR 15 MINUTES: MY YEARS WITH ANDY WARHOL
Set in the dervish years of the Sixties and Seventies, Famous For Fifteen Minutes is a confession memoir of Ultra Violet. The story recounts of Warhol, a shy, bald, myopic, gay albino from an ethnic Pittsburgh suburb and the "Girl in Andy's Soup," Isabelle Collin Dufresne, a.k.a. Ultra Violet, a convent educated heiress from France. Salvador Dali, her companion for five years, introduced her to Andy in 1963. The book won the Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt Award, and has been published in 14 languages.
316 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 1988
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736 people want to read
About the author
Isabelle Dufresne
6 books5 followersIsabelle Dufresne is a French-American artist, author, and former colleague of Andy Warhol. Earlier in her career, she worked for and studied with the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. She lives and works in New York City, and also has a studio in Nice, France.
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September 16, 2022
CRITIQUE:
A Reader's Apologies
I owe Ultra Violet many apologies, despite the fact that she is no longer alive.
The first results from a case of mistaken identity.
I thought that Mary Woronov had scorned Ultra in her memoir, "Swimming Underground". As a result, I had approached this memoir with a degree of scepticism, but very quickly found myself really enjoying it. So I went back to the source of my scepticism, and found that it was actually Ingrid Superstar whom Mary had detested.
My second apology concerns her writing style. I thought it was so good that a mere Warholian Superstar couldn't possibly have written it herself. I wondered whether she must have used a ghostwriter. This is a really offensive and insulting presumption on my part, an act akin to denial of Ultra's very essence and existence. But again I couldn't find any analogue or digital evidence of a ghostwriter. And her style seemed to be consistent with her family background and lifestyle.
Many apologies, Ultra.
Ultra Violet 2009 (Aged 74; she subsequently died, aged 78, in 2014)
First Person Playful Egotism
As must have been inevitable, there is a focus on ego, narcissism, fame and money in this memoir. The title of the memoir is derived from a quotation attributed (some think wrongly) to Andy Warhol himself: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
The memoir starts with a description of Warhol's memorial service and a recollection of an earlier gossip column in which Valerie Solanas was described as getting her "moment in the spotlight" when she burst into Warhol's studio and shot him. The accompanying image was a photo of Ultra, another case of mistaken identity.
Later, in contrast to this moment in the spotlight (an act of destruction, triggered by a pistol, rather than an act [or multiple acts] of creation), Ultra argues that: "From 1962 to 1987, for twenty-five years - not just fifteen minutes - Andy Warhol was famous." So her book itself is an argument that fame, at least in Andy's case, can be perpetual or enduring, not just ephemeral or fleeting.
It's not only Warhol's ego that is on trial in these proceedings. Ultra exposes her own ego to scrutiny.
Given the vast cast of actors, film-makers and artists, there is a very helpful dramatis personae. It's broken into categories, including "Stars", of whom there are only two: Andy and Ultra, the latter of whom, in alphabetical order, is listed first.
In her story, she is the first person. For the first hundred pages or so, chapters more or less alternate between Andy and Ultra. I suppose you could call this the (first person) narrator's privilege.
"Wild About Andy"
When Ultra (she is Isabelle at the time) first meets Andy, she goes into seduction mode. She thinks:
She invites him to make love. She's presumptuous enough to believe that he'll fall for her charms: "I reach for him, but he wriggles out of my embrace. When I move closer and try to clasp him to me, he stiffens and resists...I let go of my prey."
Finally, she realises, "This lover boy is not made for love. At least not for me...
"Escape from Ugliness and Cruelty"
Later, Andy explains his perspective on sex in his own life:
Ultra elaborates:
Andy's passion is plastic; he's captivated by plastic passion. Plastic can be moulded, replicated, collected, abandoned, discarded and replaced.
"Our Catholic Refugee Camp"
Ultra writes pithy capsule reviews of each member of the Factory crowd as she meets them (and, later, when they disappear or die). Interestingly, many of them share the same family or social background. Ultra refers to them as "our Catholic refugee camp".
Rivalry is never far from the surface, particularly with Viva Superstar:
"An Enormous Complicity of Art, Sex and Drugs"
At first, Ultra is disconcerted by the rampant drug use in the Factory scene:
"The Promise of Stardom"
Andy is able to collect this crowd around him, because "the promise of stardom keeps the hungry actors and actresses alive and hoping...Andy wouldn't have us around if we were more professional - he'd have to pay us. All we're acting out is our own destiny...
Passion and Indifference
Ultra's understanding and appreciation of Andy grows throughout her memoir:
Ultra is made of different (rather than indifferent) stuff:
Even when she is thirteen, she thinks of herself as a seductive nymphet. In the guise of Ultra:
Source: Dillon + Lee - Installation Featuring the Contents of Iconic Artist and Warhol Superstar’s Chelsea Studio - "Ultra Violet: The Studio Recreated" (Exhibition)
Tidal Waves and Tempests
In his book, "Popism", Andy describes Ultra in laudatory terms:
Ultra reveals how her appreciation of some of Warhol's art and films changed over time:
When Andy is in hospital after his shooting in 1968, Ultra starts to understand her differences with his worldly aesthetic:
Repentance and Remorse
After Andy's death in 1987 and her own psychic collapse, Ultra embraces a more spiritual view of life and the Factory scene. She repents and finds her way to inner peace:
On Balance
This is a well-written, insightful and enjoyable memoir of the Factory scene written by a Warhol Superstar and prominent player. Ultra gives us a balanced view of Andy Warhol without being obsequious or scornful. Her appreciation of Warhol's art benefits from her knowledge of the man, as much as he might have been wearing a mask.
SOUNDTRACK:
A Reader's Apologies
I owe Ultra Violet many apologies, despite the fact that she is no longer alive.
The first results from a case of mistaken identity.
I thought that Mary Woronov had scorned Ultra in her memoir, "Swimming Underground". As a result, I had approached this memoir with a degree of scepticism, but very quickly found myself really enjoying it. So I went back to the source of my scepticism, and found that it was actually Ingrid Superstar whom Mary had detested.
My second apology concerns her writing style. I thought it was so good that a mere Warholian Superstar couldn't possibly have written it herself. I wondered whether she must have used a ghostwriter. This is a really offensive and insulting presumption on my part, an act akin to denial of Ultra's very essence and existence. But again I couldn't find any analogue or digital evidence of a ghostwriter. And her style seemed to be consistent with her family background and lifestyle.
Many apologies, Ultra.
Ultra Violet 2009 (Aged 74; she subsequently died, aged 78, in 2014)
First Person Playful Egotism
As must have been inevitable, there is a focus on ego, narcissism, fame and money in this memoir. The title of the memoir is derived from a quotation attributed (some think wrongly) to Andy Warhol himself: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
The memoir starts with a description of Warhol's memorial service and a recollection of an earlier gossip column in which Valerie Solanas was described as getting her "moment in the spotlight" when she burst into Warhol's studio and shot him. The accompanying image was a photo of Ultra, another case of mistaken identity.
Later, in contrast to this moment in the spotlight (an act of destruction, triggered by a pistol, rather than an act [or multiple acts] of creation), Ultra argues that: "From 1962 to 1987, for twenty-five years - not just fifteen minutes - Andy Warhol was famous." So her book itself is an argument that fame, at least in Andy's case, can be perpetual or enduring, not just ephemeral or fleeting.
It's not only Warhol's ego that is on trial in these proceedings. Ultra exposes her own ego to scrutiny.
Given the vast cast of actors, film-makers and artists, there is a very helpful dramatis personae. It's broken into categories, including "Stars", of whom there are only two: Andy and Ultra, the latter of whom, in alphabetical order, is listed first.
In her story, she is the first person. For the first hundred pages or so, chapters more or less alternate between Andy and Ultra. I suppose you could call this the (first person) narrator's privilege.
"Wild About Andy"
When Ultra (she is Isabelle at the time) first meets Andy, she goes into seduction mode. She thinks:
"Entering a new age, a silver age, I am excited about the future. I am suddenly wild about Andy. In a low tungsten key, he is amusing, even thrilling. I must seduce him. That is the only way to find out if he is real, if he is a man or just a silver-plated robot."
She invites him to make love. She's presumptuous enough to believe that he'll fall for her charms: "I reach for him, but he wriggles out of my embrace. When I move closer and try to clasp him to me, he stiffens and resists...I let go of my prey."
Finally, she realises, "This lover boy is not made for love. At least not for me...
"...even here [at the Factory], it is a man's world - a gay man's world."
"Escape from Ugliness and Cruelty"
Later, Andy explains his perspective on sex in his own life:
"Sex is so nothing...Sex is an illusion. The most exciting thing is not making it."
Ultra elaborates:
"Only in telephone sex, robot sex, computer sex, is there escape from ugliness and cruelty. Machine sex is the only kind left that is uncontaminated, antiseptic, clean, even a little mysterious. Let's not think about affection and tenderness - they are entirely beyond expectation."
Andy's passion is plastic; he's captivated by plastic passion. Plastic can be moulded, replicated, collected, abandoned, discarded and replaced.
"Our Catholic Refugee Camp"
Ultra writes pithy capsule reviews of each member of the Factory crowd as she meets them (and, later, when they disappear or die). Interestingly, many of them share the same family or social background. Ultra refers to them as "our Catholic refugee camp".
Rivalry is never far from the surface, particularly with Viva Superstar:
"Viva is tall and very slim, with big blue eyes, fair skin, high cheekbones, frizzy, blondish hair, and a very personal style. Her allure is Garboesque.
"As soon as I see her, I know that she will be my chief competitor for Superstardom. She has the same reaction, for we constantly upstage one another. I die of jealousy each time I see her picture in the paper with Andy. Luckily Andy has two sides...I maneuver to be on Andy's right, for then my name will be first in the caption."
"An Enormous Complicity of Art, Sex and Drugs"
At first, Ultra is disconcerted by the rampant drug use in the Factory scene:
"I've never set much store by normality, but I've never actually met drug users before. I am both fascinated and repelled. I sense an enormous complicity of art, sex, and drugs...I am literally afraid of drugs and I don't want to share this part of the Factory action."
"The Promise of Stardom"
Andy is able to collect this crowd around him, because "the promise of stardom keeps the hungry actors and actresses alive and hoping...Andy wouldn't have us around if we were more professional - he'd have to pay us. All we're acting out is our own destiny...
"The one thing that unites us all at the Factory is our urgent, overwhelming need to be noticed. Fame is the goal, rebellion the style, narcissism the aura for the superstars, demi-stars, half-stars, bad-stars, no-stars, men, women, cross-overs, over-sexed, de-sexed, switch-sexed, decadent, satanic denizens of Warhol's new utopia...
"If need be, I'll be crazier than the others, bolder, more daring, to keep eyes and cameras focused on me, me, me."
Passion and Indifference
Ultra's understanding and appreciation of Andy grows throughout her memoir:
"Warhol is not interested in passion, I think, but the opposite. But what is the opposite? Indifference, frigidity, iciness."
Ultra is made of different (rather than indifferent) stuff:
"Years later I am to have a multitude of lovers, as I try to fill my endless need for love."
Even when she is thirteen, she thinks of herself as a seductive nymphet. In the guise of Ultra:
"I am both daring and timid. I love to smash rules, to amaze, to shock. But at the same time, I am often shy. I hesitate to speak up in a crowd. I rarely argue with people. This conflict between bravura and reticence persists all my life. I feel a duality in my nature."
Source: Dillon + Lee - Installation Featuring the Contents of Iconic Artist and Warhol Superstar’s Chelsea Studio - "Ultra Violet: The Studio Recreated" (Exhibition)
Tidal Waves and Tempests
In his book, "Popism", Andy describes Ultra in laudatory terms:
"Ultra was popular with the press because she had a freak name, purple hair, an incredibly long tongue [ed: it's six inches long] and a mini-rap about the intellectual meaning of underground movies...she was as big a mystery to us as she was to everybody else."
Ultra reveals how her appreciation of some of Warhol's art and films changed over time:
"At the time I'm rather impressed with ['Chelsea Girls']. I see it as an epic of sorts, with Joycean overtones. (But when I see it years later at the Whitney Museum as part of a retrospective of all Andy's films, I can barely sit through its deliberate meaninglessness and self-indulgence.)"
When Andy is in hospital after his shooting in 1968, Ultra starts to understand her differences with his worldly aesthetic:
"Andy's goal from the beginning has been fame and money."
"'The greatest art is making money,' he tells an interviewer."
"For all these years now, I've been trained to experience events of every kind in terms of headlines and photographs in the paper. Real emotions? Real feelings? They have been smothered by our obeisance to the media, warped by our need to strike a pose, smile, smile some more, whip out a witty retort."
Repentance and Remorse
After Andy's death in 1987 and her own psychic collapse, Ultra embraces a more spiritual view of life and the Factory scene. She repents and finds her way to inner peace:
"I think of the psychological and sociological devastation that we who proudly labeled ourselves the avant-garde have caused. I am overcome with guilt, with remorse."
"...I have to acknowledge that I participated in a movement that helped lay the basis for the explosion of hard-core pornography, drug pestilence, and the AIDS plague."
"Why did I ever invite him into my life? Why did I invest so much of my life in his? It seems incomprehensible to me now. Fame, Frenzy? To be at the most innermost in spot in the universe? But why? I will never really know."
"...[this] man [was] affianced to his tape recorder and married to his camera and [had] exiled love from his life as beyond his understanding..."
"...The affection I once felt for him - to the extent that affection for a person so deliberately plastic, robotic, and unreachable is possible - is draining away..."
On Balance
This is a well-written, insightful and enjoyable memoir of the Factory scene written by a Warhol Superstar and prominent player. Ultra gives us a balanced view of Andy Warhol without being obsequious or scornful. Her appreciation of Warhol's art benefits from her knowledge of the man, as much as he might have been wearing a mask.
SOUNDTRACK:
July 14, 2019
Ultra Violet, Isabella Collin-Dufresne, was a narcissist, a bit of a parasite (okay, more than a bit), a relentless name-dropper, someone who adored attention and publicity and would do almost anything to get it. Which made her sort of perfect for Warhol’s circle of attention-hungry Superstars. For Warhol, who never kept anyone around whom he couldn’t use, she was also a useful conduit into aristocratic, artistic, and cultural circles he was having trouble in the mid-‘60s getting into on his own. Once they had gotten everything in terms of publicity and connections that they could from one another, they dropped each other pretty promptly. Neither one seems to have been capable of or interested in forming deep, non-self-serving connections with other people, so things worked out great for both of them. Though not for everyone, as her list of Warholian casualties and roadkill towards the end of the book makes clear.
May 2, 2018
I liked the part when, in 1963, while forming her Ultra Violet persona, she goes to a thrift store on St. Mark's Place, and they have heaps of clothing from the 1930s and 40s, so she can array herself in finery from the past (definitely a bit ahead of her time when it comes to fashion). This reminded me of how, in the 1990s, when I constantly bought garments at thrift stores, there was always clothes from the 1960s and 70s. Now I don't know what the young people buy. Now I usually just shop for books at the thrift store.
August 4, 2018
This was one of those books I bought decades ago and let it linger (“on, your pale blue eyes”) on my bookshelf. Glad I finally picked it up.
Defresne (Ultra Violet to the Warhol crowd) was one of the Factory regulars who made it out alive and in general good health, wasn’t an imbiber of the copious amounts of drugs like her cohorts, and therefore a relatively reliable reporter of the events she writes of, mostly her time with Warhol in the sixties. She has a lot of ground to cover and gives only cursory glances at conversations and events, but from a true insider’s point of view, an insider who doesn’t feel compelled to share the minutes of details but lets it spill more like a series of stories told over a long series of dinners.
If you have any interest in that pre-punk time, the art of the deals, the highlife and the low of NYC pre-Disneyfication then this will sufficiently hold your interest. It’ll give you a look at well-tread alleys of remembrance from a different angle.
Defresne (Ultra Violet to the Warhol crowd) was one of the Factory regulars who made it out alive and in general good health, wasn’t an imbiber of the copious amounts of drugs like her cohorts, and therefore a relatively reliable reporter of the events she writes of, mostly her time with Warhol in the sixties. She has a lot of ground to cover and gives only cursory glances at conversations and events, but from a true insider’s point of view, an insider who doesn’t feel compelled to share the minutes of details but lets it spill more like a series of stories told over a long series of dinners.
If you have any interest in that pre-punk time, the art of the deals, the highlife and the low of NYC pre-Disneyfication then this will sufficiently hold your interest. It’ll give you a look at well-tread alleys of remembrance from a different angle.
August 26, 2014
I read this many many moons ago (like probably almost 25 years ago). I got it for cheap in hardcover on a sale display at one of those mall chain book stores that probably no longer exists. It's a lot of fun, but you have to go into it knowing that this woman is full of herself and wants to dish dish dish. In that way, it shows you just exactly why Warhol kept her around. Bitchy rich self-absorbed art-world jet-setter? She played her part in Warhol's world quite well.
March 16, 2016
The author says in the start of this book that she has taken "artistic license" with her story. That means it's like an "inspired by true events" kind of movie. According to her, our author is the most important person in Warhol's career - the one who gave him his big ideas, introduced him to everyone important, and got him to all the parties. Without her we would have no Pop art at all, it seems. This book is full of name drops left and right, usually involving sex. She claims to be the only one in the Factory crowd who didn't drink or do drugs. Yeah. Right. I'm fascinated with the Factory people and have read lots about those times. In all of them Ultra Violet is kind of a background character, a second-string Superstar. I'm inclined to believe all of the other accounts and let Ms. Violet rest in peace believing that she was the most important factor in Warhol's career. and, of course, there aren't enough pictures for a time and person who was supposedly photographed every day. I would love to have the purple velvet dress with the torn hem that she wore on her first day of her new identity, though.
January 21, 2015
3.5
As a general rule, I'm interested in pretty much anything related to Andy Warhol. This book, written by one of his "Superstars," who goes by the moniker Ultra Violet (real name Isabelle Dufresne), entwines the narrative of her life with that of Warhol's, chronicling events, memories, and conversations of Factory life, personal issues, and obsession with fame. Although at times the writing came off as being a bit showy, I was interested how she weaved her and Warhol's life through the narrative's construction.
Regarding the "truth" of what she writes, she provides a disclaimer stating, "Just as Impressionist painters used strokes of color rather than photographic techniques to portray objects, so I have taken artistic license in conveying both reality and essence in this book." I approached the book with this mindset and although I still found myself questioning certain instances, I appreciated her unique perspective, as well as her truths she shared.
As a general rule, I'm interested in pretty much anything related to Andy Warhol. This book, written by one of his "Superstars," who goes by the moniker Ultra Violet (real name Isabelle Dufresne), entwines the narrative of her life with that of Warhol's, chronicling events, memories, and conversations of Factory life, personal issues, and obsession with fame. Although at times the writing came off as being a bit showy, I was interested how she weaved her and Warhol's life through the narrative's construction.
Regarding the "truth" of what she writes, she provides a disclaimer stating, "Just as Impressionist painters used strokes of color rather than photographic techniques to portray objects, so I have taken artistic license in conveying both reality and essence in this book." I approached the book with this mindset and although I still found myself questioning certain instances, I appreciated her unique perspective, as well as her truths she shared.
March 1, 2019
Velice zajímavá knížka o zajímavé, hektické, ba přímo převratné době. Mnozí autorce vyčítají, že je sebestředná, že upozaďuje samotného Andy Warhola, ale asi zapomněli, že kniha se jmenuje Můj život s Andy Warholem, čímž se ta sebestřednost vysvětluje. Warhol byl a je osobností v uměleckém světě nepřehlédnutelnou a extrémně důležitou, i kdyby se vám nic z jeho tvorby nelíbilo. Žít po boku krále polaroidu, polévek Campbell, CocaColy a Marylin muselo být šílené. Knihou se mihne i mnoho jiných důležitých ikon té doby: John Cale, Velvet Underground, Salvador Dalí, Miloš Forman, Cecil Beaton, truman Capote, Bob Dylan a desítky dalších. Stojí to za to.
May 9, 2012
Candy floss for the mind. Colorful, sticky, fun and wanting more when its finished. The Factory through Ultra's eyes sounds like a pretty funky place with misfits and marvels and one pretty distant dude named Warhol hunting down fame. I really enjoyed the lightness in the writing and I now have a better appreciation for the characters in Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.
March 2, 2015
Review of "Famous for 15 Minutes"
This book is irritating and yet fascinating ~ irritating because it is not a straightforward narrative but more a series of short vignettes describing specific things or times and fascinating because it is full of showbiz gossip, art works gossip, society gossip - you name it. Isabelle Dufresne met everyone who was anyone in the sixties in New York and many more in France and other parts of Europe. The book has a Dramatis Personae at the beginning with 5 pages of names from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to Howard Hughes, Jane Fonda and Jim Morrison.
This is a a book of excesses - drugs, sex and life. There is unlikely to be a clearer description of hedonism and its impact on people. Dufresne reinvented herself as Ultra Violet and became a muse to Andy Warhol. She always seems to have kept herself slightly apart from the other Warhol groupies but nevertheless appeared in his films (and in films like Midnight Cowboy) and helped with his art. Warhol had set up "The Factory" which originally was in a factory but the name came to reflect the way canvasses and silk screens were produced. A couple of quotes from the book give a sense of the man:-
"I tell him I've enjoyed reading his book but I've noticed many inaccuracies in it. He replies 'Not my fault. I never wrote it, never read it.'"
"Authentication is at best nebulous for Andy's silk screen works, especially since Andy's non-touch policy sometimes disinclined him to put his signature on a canvas."
The description of the way Warhol manipulated people and promised them things is well written and shows how "fame" is as addictive as the many other drugs mentioned in this random read. Some of the films made by Warhol were never likely to appear in mainstream cinema; especially the one Dufresne documents involving a horse and several naked young men.
The shooting of Warhol by Valerie Solanas is covered and the author gives some considerable time to explaining the incident and its effects on Warhol and his attendees.
Several artists are discussed in the book and it might be of value to art historians but I would suggest it is of more value to cultural researchers as a painful but honest description of the time and the effect of an icon on those around him - and the impact of AIDS on a group of people intent on drugging up and having a good time. It is an interesting read and strangely entertaining.
This book is irritating and yet fascinating ~ irritating because it is not a straightforward narrative but more a series of short vignettes describing specific things or times and fascinating because it is full of showbiz gossip, art works gossip, society gossip - you name it. Isabelle Dufresne met everyone who was anyone in the sixties in New York and many more in France and other parts of Europe. The book has a Dramatis Personae at the beginning with 5 pages of names from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to Howard Hughes, Jane Fonda and Jim Morrison.
This is a a book of excesses - drugs, sex and life. There is unlikely to be a clearer description of hedonism and its impact on people. Dufresne reinvented herself as Ultra Violet and became a muse to Andy Warhol. She always seems to have kept herself slightly apart from the other Warhol groupies but nevertheless appeared in his films (and in films like Midnight Cowboy) and helped with his art. Warhol had set up "The Factory" which originally was in a factory but the name came to reflect the way canvasses and silk screens were produced. A couple of quotes from the book give a sense of the man:-
"I tell him I've enjoyed reading his book but I've noticed many inaccuracies in it. He replies 'Not my fault. I never wrote it, never read it.'"
"Authentication is at best nebulous for Andy's silk screen works, especially since Andy's non-touch policy sometimes disinclined him to put his signature on a canvas."
The description of the way Warhol manipulated people and promised them things is well written and shows how "fame" is as addictive as the many other drugs mentioned in this random read. Some of the films made by Warhol were never likely to appear in mainstream cinema; especially the one Dufresne documents involving a horse and several naked young men.
The shooting of Warhol by Valerie Solanas is covered and the author gives some considerable time to explaining the incident and its effects on Warhol and his attendees.
Several artists are discussed in the book and it might be of value to art historians but I would suggest it is of more value to cultural researchers as a painful but honest description of the time and the effect of an icon on those around him - and the impact of AIDS on a group of people intent on drugging up and having a good time. It is an interesting read and strangely entertaining.
March 11, 2015
Ultra Violet was a Zelig-like personality always popping up in the right place at the right time...according to her memoir, she suggested painting a soup can to Andy Warhol, discovered Janis Joplin's body, was a muse to Dali, and inspired quite a few other renowned moments in the Pop Art-o-sphere, and even cured her own perforated colon.
Self importance aside, this was certainly readable, and fun for anyone who wants an overview of the erratic and spontaneous nature of the life of one of Andy Warhol's superstars.
Self importance aside, this was certainly readable, and fun for anyone who wants an overview of the erratic and spontaneous nature of the life of one of Andy Warhol's superstars.
December 14, 2014
I was not sure if I should review it a two, because it's not particularly well written and I had to stop reading the last chapter where she imagines waking up as Andy Warhol and all the vast possessions he surrounded himself with. But I gave it the three because it has the appeal of art gossip as history, and that always sucks me right in. It's a fun, light read. A first person account of an era of some pretty messed up living.
January 10, 2014
First off I love everything Warhol Superstar related. Not Warhol himself so much but the "stars", I LOVE. This book was a little self serving to me. She never really admits to doing anything too crazy, which we know she did. She came off as always being proper & better than the others. I wanted juicy details as she was Dali's muse. I'm sure there are good stories to tell but she didn't.
Want to read
May 23, 2016Books That Every Badass Woman Should Read
In Famous for 15 Minutes, the self-styled Ultra Violet gives us a grand tour of Andy Warhol’s exotic world of sex, drugs, and art. Ultra Violet was a muse for Salvador Dali before Warhol, so she was obviously a force to be reckoned with. Famous for 15 Minutes is an addictively colorful and glamorous read.
In Famous for 15 Minutes, the self-styled Ultra Violet gives us a grand tour of Andy Warhol’s exotic world of sex, drugs, and art. Ultra Violet was a muse for Salvador Dali before Warhol, so she was obviously a force to be reckoned with. Famous for 15 Minutes is an addictively colorful and glamorous read.
June 6, 2018
I have read at least a dozen books concerning Andy Warhol and the colorful participants of the "Factory" years in New York City. This book is by far the worst, stretching creditability by outlandish claims and "remembrances" that I have never read anywhere else. Should you trust a book that spells Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin "Jimmy Hendix" and "Janice Joplin"? No. Pass on this awful book.
January 13, 2010
I liked it! Decadent, self indulgent, mod, raw and real. A not so glamorous look into the days of the 'factory' with Warhol and the world they created.
May 2, 2012
This was an interesting read but the author is such a huge liar that it's impossible to take it seriously.
December 14, 2016
It's interesting just to get a feel for the time, but the author is truly annoying.
November 24, 2018
Somewhat unbalanced here and there, but still fun to read and Ultra seems to be a reflexive and likeable enough character.
August 19, 2025
What a wild wild ride through the sixties and some seventies and the times of sex, drugs, and pop art. The prose vibrates with Ultra's energy dragging the reader from party to party to event to well, shameless pursuit of fame. I felt part of the entourage and thought this was the best primer to the obsessive quest for fame that we are now pursuing with our phones. Warhol IS the godfather of the Viral. I am not a fan of Warhol but this book is a great romping read and breeze through of what a cult of an artform and robotic artist. Also, Ultra does dish. Great summer read, and real too!
February 4, 2020
Very interesting and the writing kept me wanting to read more. Definitely one of the better Warhol themed books.
December 23, 2024
3,5 Superstar Warhola tourne religious freak.
Jalousie.
Jalousie.
June 18, 2025
A book about big names that wanted to fuck Ultra Violet...
September 4, 2018
extravagantly amusing, and then, at the end, a conversion
November 21, 2012
Quick read. There are a few things in this book that made me raise an eyebrow. I have "Factory Made" to read next and I think that will give me a better, less biased perceptive of the Factory. There is worth to this book if only to see a sober point of view of the Factory. She did get to witness some of the strange on-goings in there.
One thing that bothered me is that she hardly mentioned Edie. No, a chapter on how she pities her for her drug addiction doesn't count. I wanted to read about Edie in context, in the Factory, interacting with everyone. But that would coincide with Ultra being Warhol's "main woman" of sorts, something she desperately tries to coin herself as throughout this book.
I agree with Kristine P. bellow, this book is for Factory completists only. Wouldn't really recommend.
One thing that bothered me is that she hardly mentioned Edie. No, a chapter on how she pities her for her drug addiction doesn't count. I wanted to read about Edie in context, in the Factory, interacting with everyone. But that would coincide with Ultra being Warhol's "main woman" of sorts, something she desperately tries to coin herself as throughout this book.
I agree with Kristine P. bellow, this book is for Factory completists only. Wouldn't really recommend.
May 11, 2008
This is certainly not the most well-written book in all of creation, but it's on an interesting topic and written from a truly narcissistic point of view. It's Ultra Violet's perspective on the high times at the Factory -- Andy Warhol's popularity and her role in it. Full of groovy pictures for those who like to put faces with names and names with faces in creative nonfiction.
October 4, 2016
This was a very cool look into the inner circle of friends with Andy Warhol and Dali. It gives some first hand accounts of that time and how life was spent in New York with people that shaped the art world.
She does seem to take a little too much credit at times...then again, the stories are so odd I can't help but to believe them.
She does seem to take a little too much credit at times...then again, the stories are so odd I can't help but to believe them.
May 19, 2010
Fascinating subject matter, told in an occasionally too-flowery manner by an unreliable, press-obsessed narrator. If you're interested in Andy Warhol's Factory, definitely check it out. Paints a really incredible portrait of the Pop art movement and New York in fashionable circles in the 1960s.
March 31, 2016
This book was a 3.5. I felt the author was, at times, unnecessarily mean about certain women and Warhol Superstars. She also got deep into her personal life, which is to be expected, but it wasn't all that interesting. We just want to know about Andy and The Factory!
August 10, 2016
This started off very interesting and continued to be, but it was a bit long and I lost interest periodically (which is why it took me so long to finish). But, if you're a fan of the era, you'll enjoy being a fly on the wall reading about the parade of eccentric characters in Warhol's menagerie.
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