Roy Lichtenstein

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York (LC# 200)
Private Collection, Massachusetts (acquired in January 1965)
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1985

New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein: Landscapes, October - November 1964
New York, Museum of Modern Art; Spoleto, Palazzo Collicola, Recent Landscapes by Nine Americans, 1965, cat. no. 29
Venice, Galeria L'Elefanta, Dine, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Rosenquist, Warhol, Wesselmann, May - July 1966 (another example exhibited)
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum (and travelling), Roy Lichtenstein, November 1967 - May 1968 (another example exhibited)
London, The Tate Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein, January - February 1968, cat. no. 49, p. 40, illustrated (another example exhibited)

Maurizio Fagiolo, La ragion pura-pratica di Lichtenstein, 1965, pl. 3, illustrated
Bruno Alfieri, "The Arts Condition - Pop Means 'Not Popular'," Metro 9, April 1965, cat. no. 9, illustrated in color
Alberto Boatto and Giordano Falzoni, eds., Lichtenstein, Rome, 1966, p. 59, illustrated
Edward Fry, "Roy Lichtenstein's Recent Landscapes," Art and Literature, Spring 1966, cat. no. 8, illustrated
Ugo Mulas and Alan R. Solomon, New York: The New Art Scene, New York, 1967, pp. 170-171
Jean-Christophe Ammann and Wim Beeren, Roy Lichtenstein, Bern, 1968, cat. no. 44, n.p. illustrated
Maria Netter, Comics und Abstraktion, Bern, 1968, no. 1790, p. 29, illustrated in color
Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, New York, 1971, p. 82, illustrated in color
Phyllis Tuchman, "American Art in Germany: The History of a Phenomenon," Artforum 9, November 1970, cat. no. 3, p. 29, illustrated
Jean-Claude Meyer, "Les illusions optiques de Roy Lichtenstein," XXe siècle, n.s., December 1973, cat. no. 41, p. 88, illustrated
Exh. Cat., Valencia, California Institute of the Arts, Drawings and Collages from the Artist's Collection, April - May 1977, cat. no. 9, p. 12 illustrated
Museum Ludwig and Siegfried Gohr, Paintings, Sculptures, Environments from Expressionism to the Present Day, Munich, 1986. cat. no. 152, p. 192, illustrated in color
Janis Hendrickson and Roy Lichtenstein, Roy Lichtenstein, Cologne, 1994, p. 17, illustrated in color

This work is very good condition overall. There are vertical striations in the red and yellow areas which appear to be inherent to the application of the enamel. 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.

Renowned for his comic strip-inspired paintings, Roy Lichtenstein derived his images from everyday common sources, and his paintings are now themselves cultural talismans of the 20th century. His borrowings from commercial printing techniques were prescient harbingers of the increasing influence of our media-saturated times. On the most fundamental level, Lichtenstein's pictorial vocabulary was predetermined by a reliance on source imagery and his aesthetics were expressed by the vernacular style of mechanical reproduction. As he asserted in 1967, "I want my painting to look as if it has been programmed. I want to hide the record of my hand." (Roy Lichtenstein interviewed by John Coplans in Exh. Cat., Pasadena Art Museum, Roy Lichtenstein, 1967, p. 12).

The present Cloud and Sea, arranged by Platonic proportion, proved that Lichtenstein was not only exceptionally proficient at composition, but also profoundly insightful about the nature of perception. The composition is seductive to the eye but also a testament to the power of the visual. By removing his chosen image – often a cliché – from its source, Lichtenstein ultimately turns the painting into a receptor of perception rather than a conveyer of information. Critics often ridiculed Lichtenstein as being merely an appropriator, or like the ironic title of his 1963 painting, an "Image Duplicator," who copied arbitrarily gleaned trite imagery. But in fact, any study of the artist's copious sourcebooks of clippings will reveal the extent to which he manipulated his chosen image with as keen an eye for composition and effect as any Old Master painter. It is, in fact, the subtle manipulation of the images that Lichtenstein's true genius lies. As Lichtenstein himself has noted, the difference is often not great but it is crucial: "It becomes a very exaggerated, a very compelling symbol that has almost nothing to do with the
original." (Roy Lichtenstein by G. R. Swenson in Exh. Cat. London, Tate Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein, 1968, p. 12).