New book on Warhol's films in preparation

Associated media

(See also our article on Warhol's lost digital masterpieces.)

The Whitney Museum of American Art has brought together a team of esteemed film scholars to commence work on the second volume of the catalogue raisonné of Andy Warhol’s films, covering the period 1963 to 1968. John G. Hanhardt, consulting senior curator for film and media arts at the Smithsonian, is serving as general editor on the book, which is being written by Bill Horrigan, Curator at Large at the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Bruce Jenkins, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and former Stanley Cavell Curator at the Harvard Film Archive. The volume will be co-published and distributed worldwide by Yale University Press. The Whitney is planning a major retrospective of the work of Andy Warhol, curated by Donna De Salvo, the museum’s chief curator and a noted expert on the artist, to take place in our new downtown building in 2016.

The first volume, Andy Warhol Screen Tests: The Films of Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, was written by the late Callie Angell and appeared in 2006. It is widely regarded as a seminal work of film scholarship. Angell, an internationally acknowledged authority on Warhol’s films and adjunct curator of the Andy Warhol Film Project at the Whitney, was working on the second volume at the time of her death in 2010.

Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director, remarked, ‘We’re proud to have gathered this stellar team which commands a profound knowledge of film history and of Warhol’s place in it, as well as a deep understanding of the tremendous cultural importance of Warhol’s work as a whole. These are some of the most extraordinary scholars in the field, and their book is going to make a substantial and stimulating contribution.’

Hanhardt, who will act as general editor of the second volume, founded the Andy Warhol Film Project in the early 1980s after an agreement was reached with Warhol to release his films for study and preservation; he was Curator and Head of the Film and Video Department at the Whitney from 1974 to 1996. ‘Callie Angell’s detailed study and innovative analysis of Warhol’s working methods is a landmark in film studies, which deepens our understanding of the importance of film to Warhol’s art’, Hanhardt commented. ‘The completion of the film catalogue raisonné will be based on Callie’s extensive research and writings, and the project is being dedicated to her memory.’ Distinguished film scholars Bill Horrigan and Bruce Jenkins were selected by Hanhardt to contribute major essays on Warhol’s cinema. Horrigan and Jenkins bring knowledgeable perspectives to their reading of Warhol’s films, the network of participants in the films, the films’ exhibition histories, and the culture in which Warhol created his films.

‘The publication of the second volume of the catalogue raisonné of Warhol’s films will be immensely important, as it completes the analysis of a critical decade in this artist’s career’, said Donna De Salvo, the Whitney's Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs. ‘Callie Angell’s astute understanding of the relationship of film to every aspect of Warhol’s production has given us a lasting foundation upon which to build. We remain deeply committed to this project and to continuing the work that Callie began.’

The films Andy Warhol made in the 1960s are among the most significant works in the career of this prolific and mercurial American artist. In the short span of five years, from 1963 through 1968, Warhol produced nearly 650 films, including dozens of full-length movies, in styles ranging from minimalist avant-garde to commercial ‘sexploitation.’ Warhol’s films have been highly regarded for their radical explorations beyond the frontiers of conventional cinema. With works such as Empire (1964), his notorious eight-hour film of the Empire State Building, My Hustler (1965), a social comedy about gay life on Fire Island, and the double-screen The Chelsea Girls (1966), the first avant-garde film to achieve extensive commercial exhibition, Warhol redefined the film-going experience for a wide range of audiences and attracted serious critical attention as well as much publicity.

At the time of her death, Angell had completed wide-ranging research and left extensive notes. Claire K. Henry, who assisted Angell, will be facilitating the research process and contributing to the organization of the volume. Angell was preparing a massive master bibliography, in addition to bibliographies for each film represented in Volumes I and II. This bibliographic project will be continued by Henry and will be developed as an online resource, to be available at the time of the book’s publication.