|
Archie Warhol
Archie Warhol was a dachshund owned by pop artist Andy Warhol and interior designer Jed Johnson. Archie was featured in Warhol's works and depicted in paintings with him. He became a socialite, joining Warhol at parties and on European trips. A few years after they adopted Archie, Warhol and Johnson got him a playmate, a dachshund named Amos. LifeAfter owning dozens of cats in the 1950s and 1960s, Andy Warhol's partner, Jed Johnson, convinced him they should adopt a dog in November 1972.[1] Johnson settled on a black and tan shorthaired dachshund puppy which they named Archie. He was named after the wisecracking character Archie Bunker in the popular TV series All in the Family.[2][3] Warhol and Johnson doted on Archie.[4] Warhol fed him caviar, and he wore a Tiffany's dog tag and a Hermès leash.[5][6] Warhol would always carry him around and urge him to speak.[3][2] Archie accompanied Warhol to his studio, art openings, parties, and restaurants.[7][6] Warhol would also bring him to press conferences as his "alter ego" and "would deflect questions to [Archie] that he did not want to answer."[7] In the Spring of 1973, Warhol and Archie traveled to Rome where Johnson was working with director Paul Morrissey on the films Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974) at Cinecittà Studios.[8] In October 1973, they returned to Rome to shoot Warhol's scene in the film The Driver's Seat (1974).[9][10] Archie gained fame as Warhol's companion, and people recognized him on the street.[11] As a result, he had a high modeling fee.[2] Warhol was a self-proclaimed stage mother and took Archie to photoshoots.[2] They appeared in various publications such the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Associated Press, L'Uomo Vogue, and Esquire.[12][11][13] He also appeared with him in a Pioneer Electronics advertisement in 1974.[14]  In 1974, Warhol and Johnson decided to expand their family, adopting a light brown shorthaired dachshund they named Amos.[2] Warhol said Amos was a Christmas present for Archie, and he would call him Archie's puppy.[15][2] "Unlike Archie who enjoyed the company of people and was very social, Amos was more like a regular dog," said Vincent Fremont, a member of Warhol's inner circle.[7] Amos was photographed with Johnson and Warhol superstar Geraldine Smith in the February 1976 issue of Interview magazine.[16] Warhol painted silkscreen portraits of Johnson and their dachshunds.[17] Eventually, Warhol stopped taking Archie to events, certain that he would be entertained with Amos at home.[7] They lived at 57 E 66th St on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and Johnson managed his decorating business from the fourth floor.[18][4] Archie and Amos would use the elevator in the townhouse.[4][18] On August 3, 1980, Warhol told his diary: "It was Archie's birthday and he's eight or nine or even older. I gave him a box of Hartz Mountain treats."[19] When Johnson moved out of Warhol's townhouse in December 1980, the two shared custody of Archie and Amos.[20] Johnson would take them for the weekend to his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[21] In a December 1986 diary entry, Warhol said:
In February 1987, Warhol died following gallbladder surgery.[23] Archie and Amos survived him, and they lived with Johnson until their deaths years later. According to Warhol's friend Paige Powell, they "lived to be about 21 years old."[24] In pop cultureIn 1974, artist Martin Hoffman painted a portrait of Archie and Warhol at the Factory.[25] Archie was depicted in paintings and drawings by artist Jamie Wyeth in the exhibition "Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth Portraits of Each Other" at New York's Coe Kerr Gallery in 1976.[26][27] A photo of Archie dressed as the Pope was published in Warhol's book Exposures (1979).[28] A photo of Archie taken by Peter Hujar in 1975 was published in the book Black and White Dogs (1992) by Jean-Claude Suarès.[29] In 2022, a mixed media image by Warhol titled "Archie, the Dachshund" was included in the exhibition "A Thousand Hounds: A Walk with Dogs Through the History of Photography" at the UBS Paine Webber Art Gallery in New York.[30] Bibliography
References
|
||||||||||||||||
