Roy Lichtenstein

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Galerie Beyeler, Basel
James Goodman Gallery, New York
Waddington Galleries, London
Sale: Christie's, London, Contemporary Art, 4 May 1993, Lot 55
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Depicting reproductions of three modern masters—Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and Roy Lichtenstein himself— LE supports the artist’s tenet that, ‘Reproduction was really the subject of my work’ (the artist cited in Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, London, 1971, p. 25).  In a stunning abstract sill life, LE recreates the varied texture of Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism through variations in pattern, most prominently through the inclusion of Lichtenstein’s version of faux wood grain and guitar motif; the composition echoes Mondrian’s abstract structures with bold black dividing lines and emphasis on bold colour.  Finally, although both these masters are instantly recognizable, it is Lichtenstein’s unmistakable graphic style that provides the painting with its eye-catching individuality.

In the 1960s, Lichtenstein garnered fame for his adaptations of comics and other forms of ‘low’ art, placing them into the ‘high’ art context of the gallery and museum.  These paintings reproduce the language of reproductions. They use the artist’s hand, along with the traditional media of oil and canvas, to create a unique work of art that matches the bold lines, vivid colour and simplistic design employed by graphic artists; a style which enables printing presses to produce innumerable copies from an original.  From the beginning of his career, Lichtenstein was aware that the hard edges and varied patterns of graphics echo the same basic formal elements found in Cubism.  Similarly, the primary colours and sharp angles of Mondrian and the De Stijl movement are also evident in ‘low’ art. Speaking about the inspiration for his paintings, the artist states, ‘I think the aesthetic influence on me is probably more Cubism than anything.  I think even the cartoons themselves are influenced by Cubism, because the hard-edged character which is brought about by the printing creates a kind of cubist look that perhaps wasn’t intended’ (Anthony d’Offay, Ed., Some Kind of Reality: Roy Lichtenstein interviewed by David Sylvester in 1966 and 1997, London 1997, p. 7).

It is therefore no surprise that in addition to his early cartoon images, Lichtenstein painted his own versions of ‘high’ art, replacing Popeye and Mickey Mouse with Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian. He equates these two disparate subjects in order to highlight the role of mechanical reproduction in cementing Picasso and Mondrian into popular consciousness.  As with the cartoon paintings, LE reproduces reproductions. Lichtenstein utilized books, postcards and calendars as source materials, rather than copying the original work of art itself.  He simplifies the images, transforming them through his trademark benday dots and reduced colour palate. Lawrence Alloway explains, Lichtenstein ‘takes routine Picassos and shows how well they fit into the culture of reproductions…Lichtenstein is calling on our experience of books by Skira and Harry Abrams and all that lies between’ (Lichtenstein, Abbeville Press, New York, 1983, p. 46).

With LE, the artist reminds us that without these reproductions, Picasso’s myriad viewpoints and Mondrian’s compositional dexterity would not be recognizable to the general public. The majority of people know fine art from bookshops and popular media, as opposed to first-hand experience of the unique work. For this reason, fine artists are just as dependent on mechanical reproduction for the proliferation of their images and public recognition as advertisers promoting new products.

In the case of Picasso and Mondrian, recognition through reproduction inevitably leads to cliché.  Their trademarks as so unmistakable that they come across as hackneyed or banal.  It is this byproduct of reproduction that Lichtenstein takes up as a theme in LE. The clichés are common currency in the public domain, allowing him to portray a general impression of an artistic movement without copying any specific work. The result is the generic impression of Picasso and Mondrian found in LE. In his own words, ‘I was interested in doing other artists’ works not so much as they appear but as they might be understood—the idea of them, or as they might be described verbally’ (the artist cited in Diane Waldman, op. cit., p. 27). 

The idea of Picasso and Synthetic Cubism are found throughout LE: in the central image of an abstracted guitar, the faux wood grain patterns, and the lettering in the upper right-hand corner of the work.  The word, LE, not only provides the title of the piece, but also recalls the French newspaper Le Figaro, scraps of which were frequently collaged into Cubist works.  However, these components in this arrangement cannot be traced back to a particular Picasso.  Instead they are prominent features in a plethora of Picassos, as well as the works of Juan Gris and Georges Braque.  

Mondrian’s influence lies in the composition of the painting, which is based on distinctive black lines forming sharp angles and delineating segments of colour.  The most significant use of Mondrian’s influence is the flatness of the picture plane.  Lichtenstein’s work is heavily surface-oriented, opting to follow Mondrian’s reductive example instead of than Picasso’s use of multiple viewpoints to create the illusion of depth on the two-dimensional canvas. 

Finally, Lichtenstein collages elements of his own work into LE. In addition to recalling his 1960s versions of Picasso and Mondrian, he includes architectural motifs and metallic pigment as reminders his Entablatures series of 1971-72.  But it is the overall impression the work gives that allows it to be immediately read as a Lichtenstein.  As much as the colour schemes, components, and designs originate in De Stijl, Synthetic Cubism and graphic art, they have been subsumed into Lichtenstein’s practice and now indicate his hand through their presentation.

Lichtenstein’s retrospective view of his oeuvre in LE is the culmination of fifteen years of artistic development.  Spanning established Lichtenstein subjects from fine art to architecture, the painting takes the theme of reproduction and treats it with Lichtenstein’s characteristic irony and wit; this is postmodernism at its very best.  As the artist describes his style of appropriation, ‘It’s like a five-and-dime-store Picasso or Mondrian.  But at the same time it isn’t supposed to be non-art.  It’s a way of saying that Picasso is really a cartoonist and Mondrian is too, maybe…I think that it’s a way of making clichés that occur in Picasso more clichéd—a way of re-establishing them but also making them not a cliché.  I think that it does just that’ (op. cit., Some Kind of Reality, p. 15). Lichtenstein brings these important artists, including himself, down from their fine art plinths. He displays their clichés in all their commonly reproduced glory, only to breathe new life into them by placing them lovingly back on the rarefied museum walls.