- 164
Roy Lichtenstein
Estimate
800,000 - 1,200,000 USD
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Description
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Portrait
- signed and dated '86 on the reverse
- oil and Magna on canvas
- 56 by 36 in. 142.2 by 91.4 cm.
Provenance
Malmberg International Art, Malmö
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection
Christie's, New York, 9 November 1993, Lot 51
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection
Christie's, New York, 9 November 1993, Lot 51
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
New York, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, American Masters of the Sixties, May - June 1990
Condition
This work is in very good condition overall. There is light evidence of handling along the edges. Under very close inspection, a pinpoint brown spot accretion is visible in the upper right corner, a slightly larger-than-pinpoint brown horizontal accretion is visible in the lower right corner, a faint black accretion is visible in the brown smile and a faint black accretion is visible in the lower red brushstroke in the center. A light varnish has been applied to the tips of some of the light green paint at the right center edge and upper right edge, likely at the time of execution. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. This work is accompanied by a frame but exhibited unframed.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
"Well, everything is a brushstroke. It’s either real or it’s fake. That’s the idea. It gives me a certain freedom – if I make a mistake, I can correct it with a fake brushstroke. I like to work this way. It makes a nice textural difference. I think, between the two things. Maybe its my own art criticism."
Roy Lichtenstein Exploding on the canvas in a spectacle of bold primary colors, Roy Lichtenstein’s seminal 1986 Portrait is a milestone in the painter’s eternally evolving exploration of art-making, encapsulating his ultimate project of painting pictures about pictures. The canvas erupts into a panorama of Lichtenstein’s iconic bold lines, Ben-day dots, and deceptively expressionist brush strokes. These elements coalesce into a brilliant chaos that upon closer examination reveals itself as meticulously controlled spontaneity. Portrait, executed at the apex of Lichtenstein’s trailblazing career, reflects Pop art at its most sophisticated and self-aware. A symphony of painterly swooshes rip across the canvas framing the slender Ben-day dotted face of the unknown muse. Portrait is both intriguing and mysterious, her coy smirk and eye obscured by a painterly swoosh of flowing hair demand our attention, seduces our gaze and calls into question the revered status of painterly gesture.
Throughout Lichtenstein’s career, the brushstroke became as much a subject as his unnamed female muses, who stand as central protagonists to his diverse oeuvre. Although the initial Brushstroke paintings were restricted to 1965–1966, he worked with the motif – making other drawings and prints – until 1971 and would later return to it in more elaborate forms, including sculpture, well into the 1990s. Initially, Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke series was thought to be a sly comment on the artistic dominance of the Abstract Expressionist, whose passionate and emotive marks were often regarded as the ultimate demonstration of artistic prowess. With Portrait and earlier works, Lichtenstein began to challenge this hegemony, and by interpreting these spontaneous marks in a commercial, mass-produced style, he questioned the authority of these purportedly inimitable gestures. Lichtenstein explained, “it’s taking something that originally was supposed to mean immediacy and I’m tediously drawing something that looks like a brushstroke… I want it to look as though it were painstaking. It’s a picture of a picture and it’s a misconstrued picture of a picture” (the artist quoted in Exh. Cat., Roy Lichtenstein, Art Institute of Chicago, 2012, p. 50). Lichtenstein calls into question the revered status of the painterly mark by taking the essence of painting – the sanctity of the brushstroke – and opens the tradition of art-making to a whole new range of possibilities by framing it within the Pop idiom.
Portrait offers the viewer an intimate engagement with both art historical precedent and Lichtenstein’s own artistic past. Considering the relationship between art history and artist, Lichtenstein commented, “[a]ll painters take a personal attitude toward painting. What makes each object in the work is that it is organized by that artist’s vision. The style and the content are also different from anyone else’s. They are unified by the point of view – mine. This is the big tradition of art” (the artist in Calvin Tomkins, Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue Brushstroke, New York 1988, p. 42). Throughout his career, the giants of Modernism remained touchstones for Lichtenstein. Their investigation of the aesthetic quandaries of Modern art—namely the relationship between subject and artist, the temporal nature of reality, and the formal functions of line, light, and color— were mirrored within his own oeuvre. The present work is a paragon of conceptual sophistication, fusing the diverse vernaculars of Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Pop in a captivating dialogue between masterpieces both past and present. Testifying to the highly allusive nature of Portrait, and his body of work as a whole, Lichtenstein commented, “All my art is, in some way, about other art” (the artist in Janis Hendrickson, Roy Lichtenstein, Cologne 2000, n.p.).
Roy Lichtenstein Exploding on the canvas in a spectacle of bold primary colors, Roy Lichtenstein’s seminal 1986 Portrait is a milestone in the painter’s eternally evolving exploration of art-making, encapsulating his ultimate project of painting pictures about pictures. The canvas erupts into a panorama of Lichtenstein’s iconic bold lines, Ben-day dots, and deceptively expressionist brush strokes. These elements coalesce into a brilliant chaos that upon closer examination reveals itself as meticulously controlled spontaneity. Portrait, executed at the apex of Lichtenstein’s trailblazing career, reflects Pop art at its most sophisticated and self-aware. A symphony of painterly swooshes rip across the canvas framing the slender Ben-day dotted face of the unknown muse. Portrait is both intriguing and mysterious, her coy smirk and eye obscured by a painterly swoosh of flowing hair demand our attention, seduces our gaze and calls into question the revered status of painterly gesture.
Throughout Lichtenstein’s career, the brushstroke became as much a subject as his unnamed female muses, who stand as central protagonists to his diverse oeuvre. Although the initial Brushstroke paintings were restricted to 1965–1966, he worked with the motif – making other drawings and prints – until 1971 and would later return to it in more elaborate forms, including sculpture, well into the 1990s. Initially, Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke series was thought to be a sly comment on the artistic dominance of the Abstract Expressionist, whose passionate and emotive marks were often regarded as the ultimate demonstration of artistic prowess. With Portrait and earlier works, Lichtenstein began to challenge this hegemony, and by interpreting these spontaneous marks in a commercial, mass-produced style, he questioned the authority of these purportedly inimitable gestures. Lichtenstein explained, “it’s taking something that originally was supposed to mean immediacy and I’m tediously drawing something that looks like a brushstroke… I want it to look as though it were painstaking. It’s a picture of a picture and it’s a misconstrued picture of a picture” (the artist quoted in Exh. Cat., Roy Lichtenstein, Art Institute of Chicago, 2012, p. 50). Lichtenstein calls into question the revered status of the painterly mark by taking the essence of painting – the sanctity of the brushstroke – and opens the tradition of art-making to a whole new range of possibilities by framing it within the Pop idiom.
Portrait offers the viewer an intimate engagement with both art historical precedent and Lichtenstein’s own artistic past. Considering the relationship between art history and artist, Lichtenstein commented, “[a]ll painters take a personal attitude toward painting. What makes each object in the work is that it is organized by that artist’s vision. The style and the content are also different from anyone else’s. They are unified by the point of view – mine. This is the big tradition of art” (the artist in Calvin Tomkins, Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue Brushstroke, New York 1988, p. 42). Throughout his career, the giants of Modernism remained touchstones for Lichtenstein. Their investigation of the aesthetic quandaries of Modern art—namely the relationship between subject and artist, the temporal nature of reality, and the formal functions of line, light, and color— were mirrored within his own oeuvre. The present work is a paragon of conceptual sophistication, fusing the diverse vernaculars of Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Pop in a captivating dialogue between masterpieces both past and present. Testifying to the highly allusive nature of Portrait, and his body of work as a whole, Lichtenstein commented, “All my art is, in some way, about other art” (the artist in Janis Hendrickson, Roy Lichtenstein, Cologne 2000, n.p.).