ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Sea Turtle Day: Warhol’s sea turtle movie promo art

June 16th is World Sea Turtle Day!

**Sea Turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), 7 extant species, all of conservation concern**
infographic via Peppermint Narwhal Creative

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Andy Warhol used a photo of a Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) to create a series of prints in 1985:

Andy Warhol (American, 1928 – 1987)
*Sea Turtle*, 1985 [FS II.360A]
Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in (80 x 100 cm)
Numbered edition of 250, 50 artist proofs, 10 printer’s proofs, 2 bon à tirer.
Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, NY & published by CBS, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
image via 1st Dibs [All Andy Warhol artwork © The Andy Warhol Foundation]

Although Warhol’s Sea Turtle was a one-off work, it is certainly in the same style and spirit as the Endangered Animals series Warhol had done just two years earlier:

Andy Warhol, *Endangered Species* series, 1983. Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, Edition of 150, signed and numbered in pencil, portfolio of 10.
From top left: African Elephant, Giant Panda, Bald Eagle, Pine Barrens Tree Frog, Siberian Tiger, San Francisco Silverspot Butterfly, Orangutan, Grevy’s Zebra, Black Rhinoceros, Bighorn Ram.
image via Public Delivery [All Andy Warhol artwork © The Andy Warhol Foundation]

However, unlike the above series, which was printed to raise money for conservation causes, Sea Turtle print was commissioned as promotional art for a film. The movie was 1985’s Turtle Diary, directed by John Irvin and starring Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley:

**Turtle Diary promotional poster (vertical one-sheet), 1985**
image via Posteritati

*Turtle Diary* promotional poster (horizontal one-sheet), 1985
image via Vintage Movie Posters

Two separate people, a man and a woman, find something very stirring about the sea turtles in their tank at the London Zoo. They meet and form an odd, but sympathetic camaraderie as they plan to steal two of the turtles and free them into the ocean.
–IMDB synopsis