Electric Chair, 1971; Screenprint in colors on wove paper; Signed Andy Warhol and dated 71 in ink on the verso; Stamp-numbered 131/250 with the Copyright Factory Additions and Edition Bischofberger Zürich inkstamps verso; Published by Bruno Bischofberger, Zürich, Switzerland; Size - Sheet 35 1/2" x 48", Frame 41" x 53 1/4"; Framed floated on a white mat, black wood exterior frame, and plexiglass; Catalog Raisonne: Feldman/Schellmann: II.78.
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE
In 1962, Andy Warhol started a series of silkscreened paintings of death and disasters that were derived from source material taken from print media and included: photographs of suicides, plane and car crashes, and tragedy-stricken celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy. He depicted the Sing Sing electric chair in several groups of black paint silkscreen on white grounds throughout the 1960s. The first was in 1963; the same year that New York’s Sing Sing State Penetentiary performed its last two executions by electric chair (capital punishment was banned in the United States from 1963-1997). In many of the works the electric chair was screened multiple times onto a single canvas and according to Warhol, the replication of the image was intended to “empty” it of meaning.
Close up of the Andy Warhol signature and date, 71.
For Warhol's 1968 retrospective at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, he produced a series of prints whose subject again was the electric chair. However, in these prints he made some variations compared to those created earlier. He cropped the image to bring the electric chair to the foreground and it was screened in a variety of colors, other than just black. He occasionally printed off-register double images or in the case of this work listed for sale, the negative or after image.
Close up of the Copyright Factory Additions and Edition Bischofberger Zürich inkstamps and the edition number 131/250, verso.
This negative image of the electric chair is the most stark and the most dark of the series. The work suggests an alternate space and produces an after effect, that seems to relate back to the electric chair once it is activated. The colors chosen for this specific piece are a rich aubergine, pink, and silver; and the work is a very powerful and dynamic work by the famed Pop artist.
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