Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928, and received a B.F.A. from Carnegie Institute of Tech in 1949, before moving to New York City to pursue work as a commercial artist. During the 1950s he became one of the most successful illustrators in the city, producing commercial work that would influence his later career. In the early 1960s, Warhol transitioned into the fine art world, and established himself as one of the leading figures of the Pop-Art movement. Warhol used his background in commercialism to depict everyday commodities, celebrities and celebrity death, disaster, and religious motifs as metaphors for American culture.