After The Party

A portrait of Warhol’s nightlife

Warhol’s Factory was both a studio and a stage for New York’s avant-garde. After The Party distills the scene into objects left behind: scattered glassware, overflowing ashtrays, plates of food abandoned mid-conversation. It is at once exuberant and melancholy — a reminder that every glittering night yields to silence.

Gluttony and glamour

The imagery underscores the decadence of Warhol’s circle. The sheer volume of untouched glasses suggests not hospitality but excess, a visual metaphor for overindulgence. This duality — abundance teetering into emptiness — mirrors Warhol’s fascination with the thin line between surface and substance.

Warhol’s palette of intoxication

Each print is outlined in vivid, offset colors: pinks, blues, yellows. These layered screens create a dizzying effect, evoking the blurred edges of a night spent under the influence. No two impressions are identical — the technical process ensured variation, making each print distinct and highly collectible.

The celebrity backdrop

Though the work shows only objects, its spirit is populated by the icons who filled Warhol’s nights — from Mick Jagger to Debbie Harry. Studio 54 was Warhol’s playground; the Factory his laboratory. After The Party reflects both worlds: exclusive, excessive, and charged with the energy of fame.

A commentary on consumption

From Brillo Boxes to Campbell’s Soup Cans, Warhol consistently interrogated consumer culture. Here, consumption is literal — food, drink, cigarettes — yet staged as art. The table becomes a commercial still-life, reminding us that for Warhol, even indulgence could be commodified.

Autobiographical undertones

More than a social snapshot, the series reflects Warhol’s own lifestyle: the tension between performance and vulnerability. With its photographic quality, After The Party feels almost diaristic, freezing not the party itself but the morning after — when glamour gives way to residue.

10 Facts About Andy Warhol’s After The Party (1979)

1. It captures the morning after.

Empty glasses, scattered ashtrays, half-eaten food — Warhol freezes the debris of a night in full swing. The result is both glamorous and slightly melancholic.

2. The Factory was its backdrop.

Created at the height of Warhol’s Factory years, After The Party reflects the studio’s double life: a site of serious art-making and legendary nightlife.

3. It’s a signed, large-scale screenprint.

Produced in 1979, the work was printed on Arches 88 wove paper by Rupert Jasen Smith and published by Grosset and Dunlap, Inc. Editions were capped at 1000, plus 30 artist proofs — each with subtle variations.

4. Warhol’s palette mirrors intoxication.

Off-register outlines in vivid colors give the composition a dizzying quality, as though the viewer were seeing through the haze of a late night.

5. Each impression is unique.

Though based on the same photograph, no two prints are identical. Warhol’s multi-screen technique ensured variation, making each impression collectible in its own right.

6. The subject is consumption itself.

Like his Campbell’s Soup Cans or Brillo Boxes, After The Party turns everyday objects into icons. Here, the excesses of food, drink, and cigarettes become a meditation on glamour and gluttony.

7. It draws from Warhol’s Polaroid process.

Warhol often began with photographs taken on his Polaroid Big Shot camera. After The Party reflects this approach, resembling an exposure frozen mid-flash.

8. Celebrity lingers in the absence.

Though no figures appear, the work conjures Warhol’s social world — a circle that included Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, and countless icons who passed through Studio 54.

9. Studio 54 echoes through the print.

The nightclub’s energy — exclusivity at the door, democracy on the dance floor — parallels the atmosphere of After The Party. Both celebrate the fleeting thrill of indulgence.

10. It’s both documentary and self-portrait.

Part social record, part autobiographical confession, the print speaks to Warhol’s own lifestyle. It immortalizes the decadence of his circle while quietly acknowledging its emptiness the next morning.

Inquiry

This work is available through the Art Advisory at Atelier Modern. Please contact us to arrange a viewing in the gallery or to discuss acquisition.