It’s a universally accepted truth that the pop culture fan who has even the slightest notion of history must like Interview Magazine. The most legendary pop publication in the West was founded by Andy Warhol in New York in 1969, under the name Interview. It began as a fanzine in the strictest sense, focusing on friends of Andy Warhol, mostly filmmakers and artists. Warhold believed in fame (ephemeral) and repetition (eternal). His legend reflects that today.
By 1972, Warhol’s popularity had skyrocketed, to the point that Interview‘s publishing company proposed opening the magazine to the general public and competing with giants such as Time, Newsweek and New York Magazine. It would be called Interview Magazine, to be made up of interviews with celebrities done by other celebrities. And, to enhance the Warhol brand, it was proposed that he do all the covers. In the end, however, I have accepted everything except for this.
In his memoirs, Bob Colacell, the editor of the magazine during its second stage, recalls his partner saying that “it would never turn out well and I would go crazy.” An alternative option was agreed upon, very much in the vein of the artist: that each cover, according to Colacello, “looked like a portrait made by Andy Warhol and was signed by Andy Warhol… without Andy’s hand ever having touched the page .”
The mission fell to designer Richard Bernstein (1939-2002), a New Yorker who was raised between museums and nightclubs, like Max’s Kansas City. It was he who decided to reinvent the logo with more art deco letters, but as if drawn with lipstick. He also proposed hand-coloring the cover photographs, with a mixture of gouache, pencil, airbrushing and collages, very much in the style of Warhol’s lithographs. In short, I have put together some of the most iconic prints of the 20th century press. Over the next 20 years, Bernstein would paint supernovas from the Warholian universe, including the likes of Cher, Faye Dunaway, Diana Ross, Fran Lebowitz, Grace Jones, Isabella Rossellini, Patti LuPone, Molly Ringwald and Mick Jagger.
By September of 1976, the formula had reached such refinement that the cover for that month, featuring Diana Ross, was the best-selling in the magazine’s history. Warhol never knew if it was because of the singer’s fame or because of the color combination that Bernstein used in the background (he used mostly pink, a color that was popular at the time. Following his repetitive logic, Warhol asked that Bernstein use “either black or pink backgrounds” for the next six months. However, Bolacello flatly refused this.
Seen from the present, which can now be done in the exhibition dedicated to him at the NeueHouse Madison Square in New York City, until June 30, Bernstein’s work is archetypal of a way of understanding fame, communication and fashion. “It reflects his very iconic confluence of art, fashion, celebrity culture and graphic design,” says Rory Trifon, Bernstein’s nephew and the manager of his estate, in an interview with EL PAÍS. “It’s hard to believe that Richard only had a couple of weeks to finish each portrait, including Warhol’s revisions,” he adds.
Every time Bernstein finished a cover, Warhol always asked him to embellish the protagonist more. His initial reactions included comments such as: “The nose looks too big, tell Richard to trim the tip with scissors and airbrush it to make it look straighter.” Or: “This is a perfect cover, [the person portrayed] “It doesn’t even look like her.” Warhol knew that people liked to see their words reflected, but not so much their appearance. As he used to say: “Interviews can be fun, but photos aren’t.” Hence his attachment to Bernstein: “Richard makes everyone look so famous,” Warhol once quoted.
Today, questioning the success of Interview Magazine It’s absurd. Even in 2024, in the era of instant celebrity and the prevalence of social media, the magazine is going through a new golden age (how many can say the same?) under the unmatched direction of Mel Ottenberg. But questioning Interview‘s success is what makes its virtues flourish. In 1976, New York Magazine accused Warhol of continuing to make a fanzine: “Friends who write about friends in articles that look like advertisements,” the article scoffed, asking who on Earth was going to read it? “Our friends and whoever appears on the cover,” the founder replied.
Even back then, Interview Magazine was a bestseller and a much-sought space for advertisers. But Warhol was right: every reader was so flattered by the editor that they felt like his friend. That’s what making a magazine is all about.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition
#identical #alike #Andy #Warhols #formula #instant #fame #hallmark #20thcentury #media
