Roy Lichtenstein

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in November 1981

Dallas, NorthPark Center, Sculpture: A Celebration of Contemporary Art, June 1985, no 6, illustrated

Cate Brennan, "Dallas Dynamics," Go-The Authentic Guide to Dallas, May, 1986, pp. 68-70

This work is in very good and sound condition. The surface is clean and the colors are vivid. There are very faint scuff marks to the un-painted bronze areas. Where the apple-form joins the base there is faint evidence of faint horizontal cracks to the paint on both lateral sides only visible on the front and not the back. This area, however, appears structurally sound.
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.

Throughout his career, Lichtenstein made a complex body of sculpture, producing a number of works that were, for the most part, based on images one finds in the artist's paintings. If Lichtenstein's paintings engage the viewer in questions of visual perception, of subverting the illusion of representation, then his sculptures continue this investigation, but now in three dimensions. The challenge thus became a little more difficult to achieve. Certainly, Lichtenstein's sculpture has extended and played on his fascination with various conventions of commercial art and high art, both the painting and the sculpture are brightly colored and often built up out of familiar themes. Thus, the mechanical perfection of the slickly painted bronze can be seen to echo the perfect blocks of oil and magna on the canvases. Interestingly, the sculpture also serves to reinforce the role of the two-dimensional image as object. Much of Lichtenstein's sculpture sees forms that look as flat as the paintings which inspired them. These plastic commentaries on visual perception may be seen as concrete versions of the artist's basic graphic painting techniques. Ironies abound, Lichtenstein's signature lines become three-dimensional and concrete, and the painted and patinated bronze sculptures are as inescapably pictorial as the paintings. The crucial difference is that the spaces we read on canvases are real in the sculptures.  But with both the concrete and the insubstantial, everything depends on the precision of the image, and here Lichtenstein is the master (Nancy Spector, Plane Talk: Notes on Roy Lichtenstein's Sculptures, in Exh. Cat., Washington D.C., National Gallery, Lichtenstein: Sculpture and Drawings, 1999, p. 33).

The artist's technique when making sculpture was rigorous. He would begin by making small sketches -- visual ideas -- which were either borrowed or imagined forms. He would then make a paper collage which would, with the help of studio assistants, soon become a small working model. This was adjusted before he and the assistants went on to create a full-scale maquette that was used to create sand or lost-wax molds for casting in bronze. The work would then be painted at a later stage with weather-resistant colors.

The present work incorporates much of the spirit of Lichtenstein's bathos-laden early painting.  The illusion and notion of the symbol are addressed in this seemingly simple sculpture, while at the same time clearly representing a wonderfully delicious fruit, of late 20th century art.