Same Chair Different Person
Andy Warhol is one of the most infamous individuals of the 20th century. He grew up during the Great Depression and had a series of health problems throughout his life. Since he developed a disease at such a young age, he was forced to stay at home often with his mother to take care of him. While in her company, his mother gave Andy drawing lessons and, through this, Andy developed his love for art. His mother brought him a camera, and during his sickness, he developed his passion for photography. Andy Warhol claimed that he had no political views, but according to Bennett Capers, Warhol’s peers disagreed. Warhol claimed that all of his work had no meaning, but Caper believes his work had meaning and motive (Capers 244). In his infamous picture, The Electric Chair, he sent a message about the abusive nature of mental health treatment and hospitalization and the problems in the U.S. criminal justice system, by displaying an image of an electric chair in a New York corrections facility.
Warhol was diagnosed with chorea disease at the age of 8 (“Andy Warhol Biography”). This led to Andy Warhol having to spend most of his time at home and eventually led to depression. At first, the room looks like a torture room. In the photo, there is an electric chair in the middle of an empty, windowless room. This highlights what it was like in a mental health facility in the 1960’s when mental health patients were often abused and neglected. There are restraints on the chair so that someone in the chair can remain still during use. Warhol uses a black and white photo, that is kind of blurry, to show the loneliness and the scary idea of being mentally ill and depressed.
Warhol is trying to shed light to the general public on the problems of the mental health facilities in the U.S., showing the inhumane and unnecessary methods used during treatment. By showing a picture of an electric chair with restraints, Warhol uses this photo to make the audience imagine themselves in a mental ward and without proper consent, to be punished through ECT. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was a conventional and misunderstood method of treatment for various mental health problems during the time this photo was taken. ECT, prior to 1963, was often used as a form of mental abuse to control or even punish patients in mental hospitals. In the year this photo was taken, 1963, the Community Mental Health Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy. This act eliminated the ineffective and inhumane methods of psychotherapy. One of the inhumane and often ineffective methods of psychotherapy that was eliminated as a result of this act was, electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.
The photo, of the electric chair, was taken in New York at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility (Capers 246). Warhol chose this location after two recent executions, at the time the photo was taken. Warhol likely decided to take this photo after the two executions to indirectly show his disagreement with the electric chair as a means for executions. Warhol decided to include the tag on the door that says “SILENCE” to show the irony of an execution room. Death by electric chair is excruciatingly painful, and anyone would be the opposite of silent during an electrocution. Death by electric chair is considered inhumane in today’s world, but during the time the photo was taken it was a common method in most states and relatively inefficient, people would often be shocked multiple times before dying because of the inconsistency of the electric chair. Warhol is trying to send a message to the general public and lawmakers to inspire change.
Gary James describes the problems with electric chair executions in “The Electric Chair and the US Constitution” when he discusses the autopsy exam of a recent electric chair execution, “The protocol was, therefore, the definitive guide for executions at the time of the Davis execution. When it was subsequently followed, and again the numbers on the recording charts did not match those in the protocol, an explanation was required” (201). James is discussing how the electric chair is often not painless and that the standards of an electric execution are not consistently applied correctly since the resistance of an electric current varies from person to person. Warhol shows an empty electric chair to make the audience imagine themselves in a death penalty situation moments before an execution would occur. The chair looks uncomfortable with all different sorts of restraints. People often die of multiple factors when in an electric chair. For example, in the 1999 Allen Lee Davis execution, in Florida, the autopsy said that he died of asphyxiation and electrocution (James 200). This means that Davis suffered in multiple ways before his death, meaning his execution was inhumane and under the Bill of Rights cruel and unusual punishment.
The Big Electric Chair represents change. Whether the chair is being used to treat mental illness or an execution, the person, that sat in the chair, is not the same because they are either dead or changed mentally forever. Warhol had a personal connection to this photo because of his diagnosis of mental illness. However, there is no record of Warhol being checked into a psychiatric facility, he likely knew of the procedures and experiences in a mental ward. During the time this photo was taken mental health was a topic of national discussion. Warhol may have taken this photo in a correctional facility, but his message was not only about the cruel death penalty methods in the United States. Since Warhol had a mental illness, the photo of the chair represents his opinion on the cruelty of psychotherapy. Warhol was a popular public figure during his lifetime, so his artwork influenced the public. However, no words are explaining the meaning in his photo. Warhol’s unique elements of representing the picture and choosing to take a picture of an electric chair leaves it to the individual to interpret the photo.
Works Cited
“Andy Warhol Biography.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 June 2018, www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875.
Capers, Bennett. “On Andy Warhol’s Electric Chair,” California Law Review vol. 94, no. 1 (January 2006): p. 243–260. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/calr94&i=257.
“Community Mental Health Act.” National Council, www.thenationalcouncil.org/about/national-mental-health- association/overview/community-mental-health-act/.
Gray, James. “The Electric Chair and the US Constitution — Recent Developments,”Journal of Civil Liberties vol. 6, no. 3 (2001): p. 197–213. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/jcivl6&i=205.
Pollack, David, and Jacqueline Maus Feldman. “Introduction to the Special Issue of Community Mental Health Journal Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of The Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963.” Community Mental Health Journal, vol. 39, no. 5, Oct. 2003, pp. 377–379. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1023/A:1025829101530.