Amanda J. Purcell

Poughkeepsie Journal

Poughkeepsie-born photographer and sculptor Billy Name, who inspired Andy Warhol’s “silver” period at The Factory in the '60s, has died.

Name, who suffered from an unknown illness, died Monday at age 76.

Name, who was born William Linich Jr. in 1940, is perhaps best known as the “official photographer” for Andy Warhol’s Factory, capturing still-life portraits of the pop-art era. He took photographs of many iconic artists, including poet Allen Ginsberg and singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. He chronicled his experiences in a book called, “Billy Name, Stills from the Warhol Films.”

Name continued his work in photography and film at his Albany Street home in Poughkeepsie up until his death, according to Arts Mid-Hudson President Linda Marston-Reid.



Name was a fixture in the Hudson Valley arts scene. In 2012, he was awarded the Dutchess County Executive’s Individual Artist Award. Marston-Reid remembers meeting with Name at the now-closed Cafe Bocca, 14 Mount Carmel Place, to tell him about the honor.

“He was so moved," she said. "He was delighted like a little kid that he was getting this award. He was really just thrilled. And if you looked at his life and the impact he had on the global art scene, he still had a very humble heart. He was also extremely talented."

Name influenced Warhol’s “silver” period at the Factory in the late '60s. In 1989, local celebrities gathered at Vassar College to view "The Billy Name Collection from the Warhol Factory: The Silver Era." The show was reminiscent of the pop art scene of the 1960s, according to the Journal archives.

“One day I was with Andy Warhol and we went to Billy’s apartment,” art critic David Bourdon said at the event. “The apartment was covered with aluminum foil. I said isn’t that great and Andy said yes. A year later he got Billy to do the Factory (Andy’s work and living space) in silver. Andy wanted Billy to design it like his apartment.”

The walls, the pay telephone, the file cabinets and even the elevator were silver.

“He was obsessed,” Bourdon said.

Name began his career in 1960 as a lighting designer. He worked in lighting design at New York Poets Theater, American Poets Theater and the Judson Dance Company in New York City. He did Concrete Poetry in San Francisco and returned to his native Poughkeepsie in the 1980s, according to Journal archives.

He counted among his influences, John Cage, Zen and Existentialism.

“The first time I met John Cage, I was aware I was in the presence of a master,” Name said in an article published in the Journal in 1994.

Name himself eventually became an icon to many who knew him around the world and in the Queen City.

Name is mentioned in the Velvet Underground's song "The Story of My Life," written by Lou Reed in 1969, in Lloyd Cole's song "Cut Me Down," and in two songs "Hello It's Me" and "Slip Away (A Warning)."

Marston-Reid said if there was an art show opening in Poughkeepsie, Name would be there.

"One time we invited him and a lot of other artists to our loft," she said. "Billy got the time wrong and was there an hour early. But he sat down on the counter and spent an hour telling me stories of what it was like in the Factory. It was the most amazing hour."

Amanda J. Purcell: apurcell@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4807; Twitter: @amandajpurcell