Andy Warhol

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Received with vast acclaim when it aired in September 2006 on US public television (scoring a staggering 100% positive rating on www.rottentomatoes. com), Ric Burns' four-hour Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film will stand for a long time as the artist's most satisfying film biography. Opening with a stream of hyberbolic testimonies to the artist's greatness, from Dave Hickey ('he changed the world') to filmographer Stephen Koch (whom I would credit with the film's most lasting insights), Burns' documentary makes utterly explicit its position regarding the artist's monumental place in history: the first half of the 20th Century belonged to Picasso, the second half to Warhol, the film concludes. But even before the opening credits roll, the viewer well understands that we are not here to question Warhol's achievement, only to watch the myth unfold. Burns, in sum, is a believer.

Yet Burns--brother of the famed documentarian Ken Burns, and whose previous film …