Andy Warhol’s ‘The Chelsea Girls’ 1966

ANDY WARHOL: (1928-1987) ANDY WARHOL’S ‘THE CHELSEA GIRLS.’ 1966. 29 3/8 x 22 1/2 inches. Poster grade of abput 7-9 with large crease at poster bottom, some light edge wear on top left edge, crease near bottom left corner, and a light scrape along right side about 3-4″ from edge. This poster has not been restored or backed but would be easy to bring up to a near mint grade. Has a foam core backing and some loose cellophane shrink wrap as seen in photos. Will be shipped priority mail, rolled in a tube with insurance.

“The Chelsea Girls” was Warhol’s first commercial success, although it was not exactly critically well-acclaimed (with the seeming exception of the two reviews used on the poster). Centered around the Chelsea Hotel and the women who live there, the movie was a split screen project where one side of the screen was black and white and the other color. It was first screened at New York’s Cinematheque but was then picked up by the Film-Maker’s Distribution Center and shown in several prominent art theatres, including Cinema Rendezvous, the Regency Theatre and the York Cinema. The image for the poster was adapted from a photograph by Billy Name, the archivist and photographer for The Factory from 1964-1970. It shows Andy Warhol, Mary Woronov, Nico, and Susan Bottomly (aka International Velvet). Although Warhol doesn’t appear in the film, using his recognizable image on the poster was intended to capitalize on his celebrity to ensure an added dimension of success to the film. When the movie first screened in Great Britain, in 1967, Alan Aldridge designed the poster and the movie title was shortened to, simply, “Chelsea Girls.”

$ 3,750.00