Rare Flyer for Andy Warhol’s Most Important Underground Film

Warhol, Andy. Empire flyer. 1965.

Oblong 4to.; offset lithograph; recto only. 

Original flyer, mailed to announce the world premier of Warhol’s eight-hour epic film, Empire, in which the Empire State Building was filmed in a single stationary shot for 8 consecutive hours from dusk on the night of June 25th, 1964 until dawn the next morning. Filmed from the 44th floor office of the Rockefeller Foundation in the Time Life Building, Empire eschews traditional narrative or character structure. Instead, the building, a bastion of the New York City skyline, becomes the protagonist and the passage of time assumes narrative significance. According to Warhol assistant, Gerard Malanga, “It was John Palmer who came up with the idea for Empire. John, Jonas Mekas, and I changed the reels for Andy. He barely touched the camera during the whole time it was being made. He wanted the machine to make the art for him.” Lacking a traditional narrative or characters, the film—Warhol’s most famous cinematic achievement—reflects the then-emerging minimalist movement which is embodied in the music of La Monte Young and John Cage, among others. Young’s durational works in particular function as a precedent for Warhol’s static-roll films.