Christie’s to Mount Exhibition of Andy Warhol’s ‘Screen Tests’ During Frieze Los Angeles

During the forthcoming Frieze Los Angeles art fair later this month, Christie’s will team up with the Andy Warhol Museum to mount a small show of eight of the Pop artist’s famed “Screen Test” films.

Set to go on view at Christie’s Beverly Hills space are films featuring model Edie Sedgwick, collector Jane Holzer, filmmaker and actor Dennis Hopper, Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed, and others. The exhibition will run from February 27 to March 14.

The “Screen Tests” are among Warhol’s most famous works. In each, one person steps before Warhol’s camera and remains there for minutes on end, staring back into his lens. Most of the people Warhol shot for them were members of his inner circle.

While there are occasionally moments of drama—poet Ann Buchanan cried during hers, in a work that is not going to be presented here—the “Screen Tests” are largely plain, and that, for many, has been part of their charm.

Patrick Moore, executive director of the Andy Warhol Museum, said in a statement, “Hollywood was a source of endless fascination and inspiration for Warhol so it’s fitting that his films would now serve to inspire new generations of artists and filmmakers.”

Sonya Roth, deputy chairman of Christie’s, said the show marked a “convergence of film, art, and history.”