The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol (ISBN 978-0-9706126-1-8) is a 1971 book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

 by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 journalist John Wilcock

John Wilcock

John Wilcock is a British journalist known for his work in the underground press, as well as his travel guide books....

. It was republished in June 2010 by Trela Media.

The book is a collection of oral interviews with some of Warhol's closest associates and superstars

Warhol superstar

Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...

, including Leo Castelli

Leo Castelli

Leo Castelli was an American art dealer. He was best known to the public as an art dealer whose gallery showcased cutting edge Contemporary art for five decades...

, Charles Henri Ford

Charles Henri Ford

Charles Henri Ford was an American poet, novelist, filmmaker, photographer, and collage artist best known for his editorship of the Surrealist magazine View in New York City, and as the partner of the artist Pavel Tchelitchew...

, Henry Geldzahler

Henry Geldzahler

Henry Geldzahler was a curator of contemporary art in the late 20th century, as well as a modern art art historian and art critic...

, Gerard Malanga

Gerard Malanga

Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...

, Nico

Nico

Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...

, Ultra Violet

Ultra Violet (Isabelle Collin Dufresne)

Isabelle Collin Dufresne is a French artist, author and former colleague and superstar of Andy Warhol.-Early life:...

, Viva

Viva (Warhol superstar)

Viva is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.-Career:She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name . She appeared in several of Warhol's films...

, Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

, and Mario Amaya

Mario Amaya

Mario Amaya was an American art critic, museum director, magazine editor and former director of the New York Cultural Center and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia . He was also the chief curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the founding editor of London’s Art and Artists...

.

History

John Wilcock was introduced to Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 through filmmaker Jonas Mekas

Jonas Mekas

Jonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...

, assisting on some of Warhol's early films, hanging out at his parties and quickly becoming a regular at The Factory

The Factory

The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...

. “About six months after I started hanging out at the old, silvery Factory on West 47th Street,” Wilcock later reflected, “[Gerard] Malanga came up to me and asked, ‘When are you going to write something about us?'” The book's title, originally suggested to Wilcock by Paul Morrissey

Paul Morrissey

Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...

, is misleading; the book is neither an autobiography nor a sexual exposé. Despite its small initial printing, the book was sold for upwards of $75 at some of the world's top art museums.

A review by Branden W. Joseph of Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

credited the “virtually self-published” volume as a trendsetter in Warhol studies, praising the “unassuming, slightly irreverent” tribute for the way it “cleverly engaged with Warhol’s self-fashioned image, reinforcing the impression that Warhol had nothing to say on his own behalf.”