Warhol originally conceived the Thirteen Most Wanted Men series in response to a commission to create a public artwork for the 1964 New York World's Fair, his first such work. Architect Philip Johnson was responsible for designing the New York State Pavilion, inviting ten artists to produce a new piece of work to adorn the outside. The invited artists were Peter Agostini, John Chamberlain, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Lieberman, Robert Mallary, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol. Warhol produced a 20 x 20-foot mural which reproduced mugshots from The Thirteen Most Wanted, a 1962 booklet produced by the New York Police Department for internal distribution to aid the capture of thirteen fugitives.

Warhol finished installing the mural on April 15, 1964, and after triggering objections at the highest level, New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered its removal. Warhol initially refused, then proposed that a series of portraits of Robert Moses, the head of the World's Fair, replace the original mural. This idea did not meet Philip Johnson's approval; instead, Warhol painted over the mural with silver paint. When the Fair opened to the public on April 22, all that was visible was a 20 x 20-foot silver square. Later that year, Warhol used the same silkscreens to make a series of smaller paintings on canvas, which he sent to Ileana Sonnabend to exhibit at her Paris gallery.

This exhibition catalogue includes a print of Most Wanted Man #11, John Joseph H[enehan]., Jr., whose mugshot photograph appeared on page 13 of the New York Police Department booklet.

First edition, exhibition catalogue; 4to (265 x 180 mm, 10½ x 7 in); 6 text leaves and 1 black-and-white print, essay by Otto Hahn; contents stapled as issued at the top inner corner into the publishers white printed card covers, text in black, light toning to edges, creasing to top edge and top outer corner with small mark on upper and lower side, very good.