Partner John Mann, Andy Warhol
Edward
Fawcett "Ted" Carey (June 3, 1932 – August 3, 1985) was a painter, designer, collector, author, and teacher. Known to his friends as "Ted," he is best remembered as a prominent collaborator, studio assistant, shopping partner, and possible one-time lover of the famous American artist,
Andy Warhol.
Edward Fawcett Carey was born in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the son of Ruth and Paul J. Carey Sr. He was raised in Chester, Pennsylvania, first on North Chester Road and later at the property, Rupaca Farm. He attended the Church Farm School, an Episcopal all-boys private school, in Exton. He attained his bachelor of fine arts (BFA) at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts) and did so while serving in the United States Army Reserve during the Korean War. Carey got his first big industry connections from his relationship with NBC executive trainee, Bill Thompson Jr., in the early 1950s, which allowed him to do design work in the domains of fabrics, textiles, and advertising.
Carey had arrived in New York in 1954. According to the same Carey: "I think, I met Andy in the late 1950s. It was around 1957. I think it was around 1957... as I remember, I met Andy at an exhibition of drawings he had done. And the exhibition was at Serendipity... And this particular exhibition was an exhibition of drawings of cats. And I think that the title of the show was 'Cats with Hats'... And that was the first time I had met him, and then I saw him shortly after that in the zoo... in the cafeteria of the zoo. And he had remembered meeting me. And he said he would like me to pose for him. So, at that meeting we made a date, and he came by and did one or two drawings of me... At that time, I think I was working for N.B.C. And shortly after that I lost my job at N.B.C. I was unemployed."
After Carey met his lover, John Mann, at a party, Warhol also sketched Mann. Mann had moved to New York to work in advertising after graduating from Cambridge. After Mann met Carey at the party, they went home together and the next morning Carey suggested they visit Warhol. Warhol ended up sketching Mann's cock after Carey told him how big it was. According to Mann: "I remember thinking, 'this is sort of weird. But Ted said, 'Oh, it would be fun!' And Andy said, 'Please let me do it!' I thought, 'Oh well,' and before I knew it - we were all very young and silly - I was sitting with my pants down, with a daffodil wound around my dick. That was my first meeting with Andy."
Fairfield Porter - Portrait of Ted Carey and Andy Warhol
Boot Hill
Ted Carey
Category: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1982-85
Credit: Gift of Tito Spiga
Accession Number: 2002.3.1
63rd Street Columbus Avenue Lincoln Center, NYC
Ted Carey
Category: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1980-85
Credit: Gift of Tito Spiga
Accession Number: 2002.3.2
Carey also recalled that "one weekend we [he and Andy] were in Philadelphia at a friend's, and Cecil Beaton was there, and Andy did Cecil Beaton with a rose between his toes... The other things that he [Warhol] started to do [was] a whole group of cock drawings. Beautiful cock-penis drawings." Cecil Beaton apparently also sketched Mann and Carey in Carey's apartment. From Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol: "'It was such a laid-back, languid, campy environment we were all existing in,' said Mann. Nobody would have been surprised to find Noël Coward sipping a cocktail in the Careys' ratty East 88th Street kitchen (Ted shared the apartment with his younger brother Gary, a Columbia graduate student.) Indeed, something like this actually occurred. Getting back from school one night, Gary opened the door onto a remarkable tableau: Cecil Beaton absorbedly sketching Ted and John Mann in flagrante delicto (they were only miming, Mann insisted), while Andy, who was there too, kept trying to peer over the seated Beaton's shoulder. When the session was over, Andy asked for the drawings. Refusing, Beaton thanked his models and left."
There is not much easily-accessible information about Ted Carey, and as an artist, his legacy seems all but forgotten. However, as an early assistant and friend (and possible romantic partner) to Andy Warhol, he proved influential during the latter’s crucial transition from commercial illustrator to fine artist. Also, he provided personal anecdotes during this period that give incomparable insight into the thinking behind some of Warhol’s greatest pieces.
Ted Carey began working for Warhol around 1957, placing him with the artist at roughly the same time as assistant Nathan Gluck. The two were so close that they commissioned multiple portraits together from esteemed artists such as Fairfield Porter and Dudley Huppler. Carey credits himself with pushing Warhol in a Pop direction by suggesting that he emulate the new style after the two saw work by Robert Raushenberg. Additionally, in an often-shared quote, it is Carey who credits gallerist Murial Latow with giving Warhol the idea to paint his iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans in exchange for a $50 check.
In 1960, the artist Fairfield Porter painted a picture of Carey and Andy Warhol. According to Warhol: "I used to go around to all the galleries in the late fifties, usually with a good friend of mine named Ted Carey. Ted and I both had wanted to have our portraits done by Fairfield Porter, and we'd thought that it would be cheaper if he painted us in tandem and then we could cut it apart and each take half. But when he'd posed us, he sat us so close together on the couch that we couldn't slice a straight line between us and I'd had to buy Ted out. Anyway, Ted and I followed the art scene together, keeping up with what was going on."
Carey continued to paint after his assistantship with Wharol, dividing time between NYC and Long Island, often depicting architectural features like the homes of the East Hampton neighborhood in which he resided. His works remain almost exclusively in private collections.
Ted Carey died on August 3rd, 1985 from complications from AIDS. The University of the Arts’ Ted Carey Prize is named in his honor.
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