Andy Warhol's Big Electric Chair
While his paintings of celebrities and Campbell's soup cans are more widely known, Andy Warhol's Death and Disaster series — and specifically his electric chair pieces — are among his most introspective and influential works. Big Electric Chair stands apart from the 13 other pieces in the series as a sole example that features black silkscreen against a single-color ground. In addition, it's a closer crop than most, removing ancillary details like pipes and signage to put a further highlight on the death apparatus. Originally shown at Warhol's first major European retrospective at Stockholm's Moderna Museet in 1968, it was purchased by noted Belgian collectors Roger Matthys and Hilda Colle, and will be sold at auction for the first time from their collection during Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in New York on May 12th.
Photos: Christie’s
