Andy Warhol

The Estate of Andy Warhol
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Sotheby's, New York, May 6, 1997, lot 36
Private Collection, Pittsburgh
Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 2002, lot 246
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Private Collection
Christie's, New York, November 13, 2007, lot 60
Private Collection, New York

New York, L & M Arts, Beyond Black, White and Gray, September - October 2009

This work is in very good condition overall. There is a slight undulation to the sheet, inherent to the artist’s working method. There is some slight yellowing along the extreme edges as well as some minor scattered surface abrasions. There is a ½ inch repaired tear along the top edge. The sheet is hinged verso to the matte intermittently along the top edge. Framed under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Andy Warhol's ability to transform artistic creation into something more immediate and commercial forever altered the landscape of Contemporary art.  Having begun his career as a commercial draftsmen, his eye was constantly attuned to imagery which would readily capture the attention and focus of the viewer.  He did not, however, confine himself to such saccharine sentimentality so often found in mass media, and his Death and Disaster works stand as a testament to confront such darkness in his work.

Ambulance Disaster is a prime example of Warhol's work which would confront the nature of death, its simultaneous aspects of anonymity and fame, and the ability of the popular press to generalize a very specific and unique occurrence in the life of that (former) person.  The "disaster" in question here occurred when two ambulances rushing from the scene of an accident collided en route to the hospital.  Warhol's use of the silkscreen, an easily reproduced medium, takes the dehumanization of the original news photograph one step further.  Both his choice of subject material and his technique inform the viewer of this quality of contemporary media which provides a brief fifteen minutes of fame, but too late for the deceased who has had to pay with her life.  

For Warhol, death represented something that was at once a very individual experience but it became something of a genre when manifested in so gruesome a fashion as to make the headlines.  Each car crash is a very particular occurrence even while it is itself only once.  Similarly, the silkscreen technique allows many similar variations to be made of a work but no two are identical.  This work in particular, with its close cropping, is a variation of an earlier larger work of the same image.  This smaller and more immediate treatment lends a poignant and arresting graphic quality which transforms this tragedy/genre painting into the contemporary high-art which Warhol popularized so determinedly.