Why Andy Warhol’s Trial Proofs Are Attracting Collectors

It’s estimated that Andy Warhol produced more than 9,000 paintings and sculptures, almost 12,000 drawings, and more than 19,000 prints over the course of his career, from the late 1940s to his passing in 1987. It’s an output that ranks the artist as among the most prolific of his generation, as well as one of the most influential of all time.

Warhol’s presence in the art market remains as ubiquitous and prominent as ever: His iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964), was the most expensive artwork to sell at auction in 2022, for $195 million (a new auction record for the artist)—more than prices achieved for remarkable works from the likes of Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. It’s difficult, these days, to find a blue-chip post-war and contemporary sale where Warhol isn’t featured in some capacity.

With such a varied catalog and an active presence between auctions and private sales, Warhol’s work is almost a market of its own. Prices can range widely for different works, as well as from across different media and subjects.

One part of Warhol’s oeuvre with growing interest from collectors is his trial proofs, which are unique prints that were used as “steps” or “experiments” in the process of developing final prints.

“The artist and printer create the matrix (screens, plate, blocks, etc.), but first they need to print an example to see how the work appears printed,” explained Adam McCoy, head of prints and multiples at Artsy. “Some trial proofs are very close to the final work, and others can be radically different in color and composition. Each artist, printer, and publisher has their own method of working.”

Between 1980 and 1987, Warhol produced a number of trial proofs. In these unique prints, he worked out his ideas that would eventually become the final print, and later the subjects of his canvas works.

Warhol was a renowned printmaker. As well as finding subjects that were relevant to contemporary conversations (from Marilyn Monroe to Mao Zedong, for example), he worked closely with his printer Ruper Jasent Smith to experiment with the colors of their depictions. Different variations for backgrounds, figures, and details would be attempted. “Warhol loved these variations, though, and insisted that his publisher, Ronald Feldman, not destroy these works,” added McCoy. “Therefore, these unique variants became a smaller group aside from the edition.”

The advent of the 1980s was a strange period for the artist; he faced criticism for the stale, repetitive nature of his work. While he experienced early success with subjects like Marilyn, flowers, and Mao, critics felt that the artist had become too focused on society portraits. This was also the period when Warhol created some of his most iconic series such as “Myths,” “Ads,” and “Cowboys and Indians.”

It was within this context that Warhol was commissioned in 1983 by Feldman to create the “Endangered Species” portfolio. The series emerged after conversations between Feldman and Warhol about ecological and environmental issues. Warhol created 10 screenprints in total, featuring animals listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973: A silverspot butterfly, an orangutan, an elephant, a bald eagle, a bighorn ram, a Pine Barrens tree frog, a giant panda, a Siberian tiger, Grévy’s zebra, and a black rhinoceros. He came to refer to this series, which was printed in a range of vibrant hues, as “animals in makeup.”