Dedicated to Andy Warhol?s portraits of women from the early 1960s through the 1980s, 'Warhol Women' considers the artist?s feminine subjects as a means to examining his prescient understanding of the myths and ideals inherent to constructions of gender, aesthetics, and power. Fully illustrated and featuring five trifolds and a tipped-on cover, the catalogue includes Brett Gorvy?s interview with Corice Arman, wherein she discusses her experiences sitting for two portraits by Warhol; poetry by Warhol Superstar John Giorno; and a comprehensive selection of the source images and Polaroids Warhol used to create each portrait. In a series of newly commissioned essays, Blake Gopnik discusses the women essential to Warhol's development as an artist, Lynne Tillman examines his complicated relationship with his doting mother, and Alison M. Gingeras writes on women that held diverse and vital roles throughout Warhol's career, from Ethel Scull and Edie Sedgwick, to Brigid Berlin, Pat Hackett, and more.

Classic radical feminist statement from the woman who shot Andy Warhol “Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex.” Outrageous and violent, SCUM Manifesto was widely lambasted when it first appeared in 1968. Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol, self-published the book just before she became a notorious household name and was confined to a mental institution. But for all its vitriol, it is impossible to dismiss as the mere rantings of a lesbian lunatic. In fact, the work has proved prescient, not only as a radical feminist analysis light years ahead of its time—predicting artificial insemination, ATMs, a feminist uprising against underrepresentation in the arts—but also as a stunning testament to the rage of an abused and destitute woman. In this edition, philosopher Avital Ronell’s introduction reconsiders the evocative exuberance of this infamous text.

In conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The authoritative biography of the 60s countercultural icon who wrote SCUM Manifesto, shot Andy Warhol, and made an unforgettable mark on feminist history. Valerie Solanas is one of the most polarizing figures of 1960s counterculture. A cult hero to some and vehemently denounced by others, she has been dismissed but never forgotten. Known for shooting Andy Warhol in 1968 and for writing the infamous SCUM Manifesto, Solanas became one of the most famous women of her era. But she was also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and spent much of her life homeless or in mental hospitals. Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto, a sui generis vision of radical gender dystopia, predicted ATMs, test-tube babies, the Internet, and artificial insemination long before they existed. It has sold more copies and been translated into more languages than nearly all other feminist texts of its time. And yet, shockingly little work has investigated the life of its author. This book is the first biography about Solanas, including original interviews with family, friends (and enemies), and numerous living Warhol associates. It reveals surprising details about Solanas’s life: the children nearly no one knew she had, her drive for control over her own writing, and her elusive personal and professional relationships. Valerie Solanas reveals the tragic, remarkable life of an iconic figure. It is “not only a remarkable biographical feat but also a delicate navigation of an unwieldy, demanding, and complex life story” (BOMB Magazine).

Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at Gagosian Gallery, London, Oct. 10-Nov. 12, 2011.