With his unique, complex multimedia work in the field of Pop Art, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) can be regarded as one of the most important and influential artists in contemporary art. His works from the 1960s onwards refer to notions of American civilization, while merging the distinctions between fine art and popular culture. He focussed on public icons of the consumer society, such as advertising images of Brillo, Campbell or Coca Cola and also on modern legendary film stars, amongst them Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor and Grace Kelly.

In his "death and disaster" pictures Warhol incorporated disastrous issues in the media world, using images of a plane crashes and suicides, or the death penalty as reflected in works like Electric Chair. Later on in his career, he also referred to icons of European and worldwide culture, reinterpreting famous Renaissance paintings or producing silkscreen portraits of politicians and other people of historical importance.

In 1962, Warhol started to employ mass-production techniques, and the use of silkscreen printing became his individual "trademark". Cagney in The UBS Art Collection is a unique and important early work from this period. It was printed in 1962 and is based on a still from the film The Public Enemy (1931), starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell and Mae Clark. In the fragmentary scene, Cagney is shown with his back against a wall, moments before his violent death. Later on, Warhol’s Factory produced a large number of silkscreen works, including subtle variations and permutations of the same images. The black and white silkscreen Cagney, with its obvious traces of appropriation was made by Warhol himself, revealing both the public fascination with celebrity and anti-hero, and the dark appeal of crime in American culture.

Reference:

Andy Warhol Prints, Catalogue Raisonnée 1962 – 1987, by Warhol/Feldman/Schellmann. Published by Schirmer/Mosel, 1997