Roy Lichtenstein

Robert Fraser Gallery, London
Sperone Gallery, Turin
Private Collection, Italy (acquired from the above in the late 1960s)
Thence by the descent to the present owner

Exhibition Catalogue, Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Roy Lichtenstein, 1998, p. 32, another example illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the yellow is more vibrant in the original. The catalogue illustration also fails to convey the glossy nature of the surface apparent in the original.
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In the early 60s, American mass consumerism had many icons and undoubtedly the hot dog is one of the most recognizable ones. Like Coca-Cola, the hot dog became associated with the great American Dream and was so heavily marketed through the United States it became impossible to think of a visual landscape without it. Delicious, easy to eat and inexpensive, it was only logical that it became a highly popular food for the masses and evidently a perfect subject for one of the most important Pop artists of the century, Roy Lichtenstein.

In the early 60s Lichtenstein used various mass produced and pre-packaged food products as inspiration for his drawings and canvasses, but none so iconic as the hot dog. He first used the hot dog in 1963 and continued to use it in various forms and media. Hot Dog was produced in 1964 as part of a small edition of ten, made with industrial materials, porcelain enamel and steel, fortifying one of his most famous dictums that ‘pop art is not “American” painting but actually industrial painting.’ (John Coplans 1972, Interviews, pp. 55, 30, 31). This work is his first ever work using porcelain enamel, inspired by the New York subway signs. The ultimate testament to the importance of this medium was his famous 1994 enamel-on-metal mural that now resides in the Times Square subway station in New York City.

Lichtenstein always favoured the graphic qualities of advertising campaigns and comic book illustrations.  He incorporated these two popular methods of visual narrative in his own distinct artistic production. In Hot Dog he reduces the commercial image to its bare minimal line and colour, and leaves just enough shadowing to give it depth. This simplification together with the use of his famous hallmark Benday dots culminates in a highly stylised technique.

Curator Isabelle Devreaux notes, “…In the picture, the form becomes a purely decorative abstract object which everybody instantly recognizes as a frankfurter. It becomes a very exaggerated, a very compelling symbol that has almost nothing to do with the original” (Isabelle Dervaux, ed.,  Roy Lichtenstein: The Black and White Drawings, exh. cat, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York. 2010, p. 164).

With at least three of the ten editions being housed in the most important international museums such as the Centre Pompidou, Museo di Arte Moderna Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto and the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the sale of the current work presents a unique opportunity to acquire an iconic image from Lichtenstein's celebrated early Pop oeuvre.