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Lot 377 PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE ITALIAN COLLECTOR
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997)
Seascape #14
Closed19 October 2013
Price Realised
GBP 74,500
More Information
Specialist note
'There is something humorous about doing a sunset in a solidified way, especially the rays, because a sunset has little or no specific form. It is like the explosionsthey are never really perceived as defined shapes'
(R. Lichtenstein, quoted in J. Coplans, 'Talking with Roy Lichtenstein', Artforum, 5, no. 9, May 1967, pp. 34-39).
Roy Lichtenstein started his landscapes in 1964, taking his imagery from the backgrounds of cartoons. It was during this period that the artist created Seascape #14, featuring the artist's characteristic motif of a rising sun, another example of which was recently exhibited at the artist's critically acclaimed retrospective at the Tate Modern, London, and is unusually rendered on a Rowlux ground. Lichtenstein favoured this material for the depiction of the constantly moving appearances of sky and water because the Rowlux appears to move too - the perfect quotidian way to bring illusion and reality into dialogue. Unlike many of the artist's other works, Seascape #14 is a wholly unique rendering of the sunrise emblem in this medium.
Throughout its compelling trajectory, Roy Lichtenstein's art remained anchored to art historical sensibilities and his rich and expansive practice spans a wide range of materials and practices, including paintings on Rowlux and Steel. Executed in a pivotal and early moment in the artist's career, only a few years after Lichtenstein had begun his now iconic Benday dot renderings of comic strips, Seascape #14 reflects this experimental and exciting period in Lichtenstein's oeuvre.
(R. Lichtenstein, quoted in J. Coplans, 'Talking with Roy Lichtenstein', Artforum, 5, no. 9, May 1967, pp. 34-39).
Roy Lichtenstein started his landscapes in 1964, taking his imagery from the backgrounds of cartoons. It was during this period that the artist created Seascape #14, featuring the artist's characteristic motif of a rising sun, another example of which was recently exhibited at the artist's critically acclaimed retrospective at the Tate Modern, London, and is unusually rendered on a Rowlux ground. Lichtenstein favoured this material for the depiction of the constantly moving appearances of sky and water because the Rowlux appears to move too - the perfect quotidian way to bring illusion and reality into dialogue. Unlike many of the artist's other works, Seascape #14 is a wholly unique rendering of the sunrise emblem in this medium.
Throughout its compelling trajectory, Roy Lichtenstein's art remained anchored to art historical sensibilities and his rich and expansive practice spans a wide range of materials and practices, including paintings on Rowlux and Steel. Executed in a pivotal and early moment in the artist's career, only a few years after Lichtenstein had begun his now iconic Benday dot renderings of comic strips, Seascape #14 reflects this experimental and exciting period in Lichtenstein's oeuvre.