Andy Warhol silkscreened the Mona Lisa on canvas thirty times and casually titled it Thirty Are Better Than One; his ten-pack portfolio of Marilyn Monroe enjoyed wide circulation. Yet, over the course of his career he also developed a surprisingly contradictory strategy. Before producing his silkscreen editions, Warhol made numerous trial proofs, trying out different color combinations, so that every print is unique. The special value of these prints, which are actually “originals,” has yet to be fully recognized and appreciated by the art market.

With this volume Jörg Schellmann presents a catalogue of Warhol’s more than one hundred trial proofs that were produced under the aegis of the Edition Schellmann from 1980 to 1986, illuminating the significance of these unique prints in the artist’s graphics oeuvre.