Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein, catalogue for an exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum, April 18 - May 28, 1967, no. 54, illustrated page 54 (another copy)

Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, New York, 1969, catalogue for an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, September 19 - November 16, 1969, no. 106, illustrated p.91 (another copy)

Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, New York, 1971, illustrated plate 131 (another copy)

Roy Lichtenstein, catalogue for an exhibition at Galerie Beyeler, Basel, June - September 1973 (illustration of another copy)

 

Not examined out of frame. Work is rolled on two metal bars - one along top, the other along bottom. Bars are mounted to backing. Banner width narrows slightly at center compared to top and bottom widths. Scattered area of rippling; overall discoloration to felt material. Minute areas of loss along lower edge right and lower center. Also minor loss in upper center above pistol, upper right at edge and upper left areas (loss most likely caused by vermin).
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.
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Pop Art has been so triumphant as a modern art movement since the late 1960s that it is hard nowadays to appreciate the hostility it received at first.  In January 1963 Dorothy Seiberling published a story about Roy Lichtenstein in Life magazine under the title 'Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?'[1]

Roy Lichtenstein's content in the early 1960s was direct, vigorous and obvious in its meaning.  He selected images from mass-culture sources which were eye-catching and straightforward; these he further refined, then enlarged, by a calculus-like integration process, transforming a banal subject into one worthy of aesthetic review.  The 1963 painting Fastest Gun  (Private Collection) has been likened to a climactic moment in a western movie, the camera zooming in on the essence of the drama.[2]  Lichtenstein distilled this iconography further, perhaps to its ultimate integration, the following year in Pistol.

The power of Pistol as an image is undeniable.  The myth of the Wild West and the central role in American culture on which this myth depends, is utterly elucidated with it; Lichtenstein  has intensified the drama of the pointed gun, implied in Fastest Gun, even further,  because it is now, literally, 'in your face'.

In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein was already obliterating gesture in his paintings, using magna, an early acrylic pigment, to paint areas of color smoothly.  In 1964 he was among a group of artists asked to furnish designs for a felt banner.  The request came from the dealer Robert Graham who had hung banners outside his Madison Avenue gallery in 1963 to promote an exhibition.  The reaction was so positive that Graham, in partnership with framer Barbara Kulicke, formed a banner-making workshop called the Betsy Ross Flag and Banner Company. 

For Lichtenstein, the banner superbly addressed three vital issues: the process stretched the 'steps' between the original motif and the finished work; the technique ensured a gesture-free surface; and, being a multiple, the purchase price was low enough that more people could buy one of the copies in the edition.  Lichtenstein was always interested in pushing the boundaries of his art, exploring different media such as ceramic, steel sculpture and - as here - felt; as well as issuing works in small editions.

One of the most wrenching issues in America in the 1960s was the debate over gun ownership. The issue became red-hot in early June 1968 after the assassination of Robert Kennedy, just months after the same tragedy befell Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Time magazine rolled out an issue on June 21 titled 'The Gun in America'; in place of the customary portrait, the cover featured a painting by Roy Lichtenstein of a pistol pointing straight at the viewer which is clearly derived from the 1964 banner.  The Time cover's gun has a wisp of smoke coming out of the barrel, implying that the weapon has been fired and perhaps addressing the topicality of the subject.  Though powerful in its own way, it falls short of the awesome latent potency implied by Pistol, surely one of the masterpieces of the era and one of the most important works of Pop Art.

[1] Life, Jan 31, 1964, 79-83

[2] Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, catalogue for an exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, Jan. 6 – Feb. 4, 1968, p. 16 (the author's actual comparison is to 'a TV Camera').