Mahatma Gandhi & Andy Warhol: Legacies of Influence

Mahatma Gandhi: Architect of Indian Independence

Mahatma Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. He also inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma was bestowed upon him in 1914 in South Africa.

Born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gandhi was raised in a Hindu merchant caste family. He trained in Law at the Inner Temple in London. Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as a lawyer in South Africa. When he returned to India in 1915, he organized peasants, farmers, and labourers against discrimination. He was elected to the Indian National Congress in 1921, from where he fought British domination. He was imprisoned for many years and on many occasions in both South Africa and India. Eventually, the British granted independence, but the British Indian Empire separated into two dominions: India and Pakistan.

Andy Warhol: Pop Art Icon and Cultural Innovator

Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as Pop Art. His works explored the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertisement, a style that flourished by the 1960s.

After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. His art utilized many types of media, including:

• Hand drawing
• Painting
• Printmaking
• Photography
• Silk screening
• Sculpture
• Film
• Music

His studio, The Factory, was a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. He managed and produced The Velvet Underground, a rock band which had a strong influence on the evolution of punk rock music. He founded Interview magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the Gay Liberation Movement, and he is credited with coining the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame."

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable.