Today in 1928, the birthday of Andy Warhol.
The very prolific and often provocative artist got a lot of people to think about art and what counts as art, including a certain soup company that wasn’t immediately thrilled with his work.
Warhol had worked as a commercial artist for years.
So it’s interesting that his first famous work of fine art also had commercial ties: it was a series of paintings of soup cans.
The artist took images of Campbell’s soup cans and projected them onto a wall in his studio so he could trace them.
Then he’d paint in the details of each individual can.
The first showing of these works was a bit of a puzzle for art lovers.
They tried to figure out exactly what this pop artist Andy Warhol was trying to say.
Were the 32 soup cans a commentary on mass production and consumerism? Or maybe individualism?
Was Warhol shining a light on household objects that were often overlooked but important parts of people’s lives?
Or was the artist trying to get people to look beyond the similarities and spot the unique touches in each painting?
Warhol was coy, saying merely that he’d drank Campbell’s soup for lunch every day for like 20 years.
But the artist’s motivations and message were not the top interests for at least one part of the audience: executives with Campbell’s Soup.
The company was not sure it wanted artists selling paintings that featured their logos and designs and intellectual property.
Campbell’s did have a lawyer visit the gallery, but it didn’t take any legal action to protect its trademarks.
That might have led to more publicity, in classic Streisand Effect fashion.
Plus, the chair of the company was a fine art lover.
So, no lawsuit.
But, a few years later, when Warhol’s work started getting more attention, Campbell’s reached out to send him a few cases of tomato soup.
Later, the soupmaker would sponsor a Warhol exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
And at one point, Campbell’s used a Warhol design for its own art project: for a couple labels and a dollar, consumers could get a paper dress with a Campbell’s soup logo.
Starting tomorrow in Indiana, it’s the Van Buren Popcorn Festival.
The community has long been home to a big popcorn producer, so they celebrate each year with parades, live music, fireworks and a race they call the Kernel 5K.
Talk about an event that pops!
Why Campbell Soup hated, then embraced, Andy Warhol’s soup can paintings (CNN)
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