Roy Lichtenstein - Evening Editions New York Wednesday, October 26, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Mary Lee Corlett 282

  • Catalogue Essay

    Roy Lichtenstein did not draw from live models when he created his Nudes. Rather, he worked from 1960s comic book caricatures of women, removing their outfits and adding references to earlier works he has done such as the Reflections, Imperfect, Water Lily, and Interiors Series. These are Lichtenstein's first comic book style, full-body nudes. They are purposefully bland, stripped of corporeal attributes, bearing little relation to nature. Nonetheless, they are adorned in Lichtenstein's witty language, unabashedly flaunting bright color patterns and bold lines.
    With masterful jest, Lichtenstein depicts this classical theme using his sardonic vernacular. The Nudes pulsate with dots and stripes, accentuated with color fields of pastel tones that are reminiscent of a 1930s Art Deco palette. The white wove papers hold rich printings of ink which were offset from relief plates. This form of printing deposits voluptuous layers of pigment to paper, defining printed elements with crisp edges. By employing a vocabulary of Benday dot patterns and stripes as modeling devices, Lichtenstein develops a fanciful Pop chiaroscuro that in one instance lends depth and solidity to a shape and in another simply adds two dimensional color and texture.
    The Nudes reveal more about the artist's visual language than female form, expressing more about composition than subject matter. Lichtenstein describes the nude figures in this suite of prints as a good excuse to contrast undulating and volumetric form with rigid geometry. The resemblance to cartoon Lolitas only addresses the amusing, slightly kitsch veneer of these elegant arabesques.
    -Marabeth Cohen-Tyler, Tyler Graphics Ltd., 1994

53

Roommates, from Nude Series

1994
Relief print in colors, on wove paper, with full margins,
I. 58 x 45 in. (147.3 x 114.3 cm);
S. 64 x 51 in. (162.6 x 129.5 cm)

signed, dated `94' and numbered 24/40 in pencil (there were also 10 artist's proofs), published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York (with their blindstamp), in very good condition, framed.

Estimate
$120,000 - 180,000 

Sold for $122,500

Evening Editions

26 October 2011
New York