Screen Tests

Andy Warhol's Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".

Production background

The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film at 24 frames per second. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in 'slow motion' at 16 frames per second.

Many of the Screen Tests were arranged in different compilations such as 13 Most Beautiful Women, 13 Most Beautiful Boys, and 50 Fantastics and 50 Personalities. This was done with the intention of pleasing certain audiences to whom Warhol was exhibiting his art.

Nearly 500 Screen Tests were made, but not all kept.^[1][2]

Notable subjects

Charles Aberg Paul America Eric Andersen John Ashbery Benedetta Barzini Marisa Berenson Brigid Berlin DeVeren Bookwalter International Velvet Ted Berrigan Joe Brainard Anne Buchanan[2] John Cale Ronnie Cutrone Salvador Dalí[2] Niki de Saint Phalle Diane di Prima Donovan Marcel Duchamp Bob Dylan Cass Elliott[2] Danny Fields Charles Henri Ford Henry Geldzahler Allen Ginsberg John Giorno Bibbe Hansen Piero Heliczer Helmut Freddy Herko Baby Jane Holzer[2] Dennis Hopper[2] Peter Hujar Kenneth King Sally Kirkland Kyōko Kishida Kenneth Jay Lane Naomi Levine Donyale Luna Willard Maas

Gerard Malanga[2] Taylor Mead Jonas Mekas Marie Menken Allen Midgette Mario Montez Sterling Morrison Paul Morrissey Billy Name Ivy Nicholson Nico Ondine Yoko Ono Peter Orlovsky Gino Piserchio Lou Reed René Ricard James Rosenquist Barbara Rubin Phoebe Russell Francesco Scavullo Edie Sedgwick Harry Smith Jack Smith Holly Solomon Susan Sontag[2] Bima Stagg Harold Stevenson Ingrid Superstar Amy Taubin Ronald Tavel Paul Thek Maureen Tucker Ultra Violet Viva Chuck Wein John Wieners Jane Wilson Mary Woronov Marian Zazeela

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Reception and legacy

Film critic Philip Dodd listed the Screen Tests among his favorite films in 2002 when he voted for the Sight and Sound poll.^[3]

In October 2008, the pop music group Dean and Britta in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum created 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a project where they performed self-written songs and covers while projecting thirteen of Warhol's most famous Screen Tests overhead.

See also

• Andy Warhol filmography

See also

• List of American films of 1964

References

1. Dargis, Manohla (October 21, 2007), "Unblinking Eye, Visual Diary: Warhol’s Films", The New York Times, retrieved 14 November 2014, ...a sampling of the 472 'Screen Tests' he shot...
2. Boxer, Sarah (May 23, 2003), "Andy Warhol's 'Screen Tests' Were 3-Minute Eternities", The New York Times, retrieved December 1, 2009, Of the 500 Warhol screen tests, representing some 34 hours of watching time, 277 have been restored by the department of film and media at the Museum of Modern Art.
3. BFI, Sight & Sound

External links

• Andy Warhol Screen Tests Inventory - MOMA
• Andy Warhol Superstars
• Unterberger, Richie, White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day, Jawbone Press, 2009, p. 126. ISBN 978-1-906002-22-0
• Video trailer: "13 Most Beautiful..." Warhol Screen Tests DVD