Mother of Andy Warhol
Julia Warhola |
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| Born | Juliana Justina Zavaczki
(1891-11-20)November 20, 1891
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| Died | November 22, 1972(1972-11-22) (aged 81)
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| Resting place | Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Spouse |
Ondrej Warhola
( m. 1909; died 1942) |
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| Children | 4, including John and Andy |
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| Relatives | James Warhola (grandson) |
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| Website | warhola.com |
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Julia Warhola (Rusyn: Юлія Вархола; born Juliana Justina Zavaczki (Rusyn: Юлія Юстінія Завацка; Slovak: Júlia Justína Zavacká); November 20, 1891, village of Mikó, Austria-Hungary (now Miková, Slovakia[1]) – November 22, 1972, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.) was the mother of the American artist Andy Warhol.
Life
Julia Warhola was born Juliana Justina Zavaczki to a peasant family in the Rusyn village of Mikó, Austria-Hungary (now Miková in northeast Slovakia) and married Slovak: Andrej Varchola (Americanized as Andrew Warhola) there in 1909. He emigrated to the United States soon after, and in 1921 she followed him to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The couple had four children: Mary (1912; she only lived 33 days),[2] Paul (1922–2014), John (1925–2010), and Andy (1928–1987) . The family lived at several Pittsburgh addresses, beginning in 1932 at 3252 Dawson Street in the Oakland neighborhood of the city. The family was Byzantine Catholic and attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. Her husband Andrew was born in 1889 and died in 1942.
Julia enjoyed singing traditional Rusyn folk songs and was artistic. She loved to draw, and her favorite subjects were angels and cats. She also did embroidery and other crafts, such as bouquets of flowers made from tin cans and crepe paper. During the Easter season she decorated eggs in the Pysanka tradition.
As a widow, she moved to New York City in 1951 to be near her son Andy. He often used her decorative handwriting to accompany his illustrations. She won awards for her lettering, including one from the American Institute of Graphic Arts for an album cover for The Story of Moondog, featuring the musician Louis Thomas Hardin in 1958. In 1957 she illustrated a small book called Holy Cats[3] and she also worked on 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy.[4]
In 1966, Andy made a movie called Mrs. Warhol (it was filmed in color and played for 66 minutes). The film featured Julia in her basement apartment in Andy's house playing "an aging peroxide movie star with a lot of husbands," including the most current spouse, played by Richard Rheem. Andy follows her with his camera as she goes about her daily domestic routines.
Julia Warhol returned to Pittsburgh in 1971, where she died the following year; she is buried with her husband Andrew, near their son Andy (who would be buried there in 1987), in the St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a south suburb of Pittsburgh.[5]
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