Andy Warhol's Time Capsule 21

by Udo Kittelmann

Beginning in the 1970s, Andy Warhol collected and stored the remains of his most unusual life in 612 brown cardboard boxes, the so-called Time Capsules . To date, only 100 of these boxes have been opened and examined. Everything Warhol deemed interesting and worth keeping--from precious objects to the most quotidian of souvenirs--was gathered together in these prosaic containers. The collecting strategy was straightforward Warhol would keep an open box beside his desk, dropping in the daily flood of correspondence, magazines and newspapers, gifts, photographs, business records, collectibles, and ephemera that passed through his hands. This Time Capsule in progress would be taped shut and dated by an assistant when Warhol deemed it complete. Today, Warhol's leftovers provide us with the possibility for entering the atmosphere and curious cosmos of a life whose 15 minutes of fame may never really end, despite its physical end having long since passed. This first publication of Warhol's most personal diary will help the careful reader to reconstruct the artist's personality. Each and every item contained in Time Capsule 21 is meticulously revealed. This particular box was chosen because it contains a phenomenal amount of Warhol's art from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as common documents that have turned out to reveal facts about Warhol's life and work--that have, for instance, led to the dating of the drawing Dead Stop (1954) and the establishment of an approximate date for Warhol's first meeting with Leo Castelli. Also included are many images that Warhol used for source material. Leafing through Time Capsule 21 , the reader has only to let each object take him or her on a journey into the murky past of The Factory, Studio 54, and Warhol's other haunts.

Genres: Art

304 pages, Board Book

First published March 15, 2004

Reviews

[Eric Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes a couple of essays about the importance of warhols time capsules and 200+ pages showing the contents of Time Capsule 21.

Below each photograph is a corresponding number (ex tc21.17) that you can look up in the back of the book for more information about the item and its condition.

The majority of the objects are important to understanding warhol, his influences, and the time period in which he lived, (photobooth strips, magazine clippings) but quite a few don't seem to have much importance at all (page after page of blank envelopes).

This is probably one for the more hard-core of the warhol fans, covering an aspect of warhols mythos that doesn't get as much coverage as his more traditional art.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one knows Warhol put things in boxes (time capsule) and had his assistants store them away. There seems to be tons of these time capsules and this book only covers one box or year (1967?). What we have are receipts (Warhol was a big receipt collector), mag articles, photos, letters, match boxes from restaurants, and shudder, an image of him being taking out to the hospital after being shot. All things are equal in the world of Warhol, and this maybe my favorite book with respect to Andy's world.