Nude
Nude
Signed Print
Roy Lichtenstein
Price data unavailable
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Medium: Planographic print
Edition size: 60
Year: 1989
Size: H 143cm x W 86cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2019 | Ketterer Kunst Hamburg | Germany | |||
| July 2018 | Sotheby's London | United Kingdom | |||
| June 2017 | Phillips London | United Kingdom | |||
| October 2016 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| November 2015 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| May 2015 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| October 2011 | Sotheby's London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Roy Lichtenstein’s Nude belongs to the iconic pop artist’s Brushstroke Faces series from the late 1980s. Lichtenstein in this series presents the brushstrokes themselves as his main composition. Nude seeks to recode the act of touching brush against canvas, as idolised by the abstract expressionists in the 1940s and 1950s.
By bringing the exact moment paint is applied to a surface to the foreground of each work, the artist questions the conceptual premise of the creative gesture. Brushstrokes become vehicles, with which Lichtenstein comments on the formal qualities of artworks and the art historical conventions lurking behind these.
Interestingly enough, Nude does not set out to commodify brushwork according to Lichtenstein’s signature commercial style. On the one hand, Nude’s larger than life strokes are situated on a printed comic background. The familiar burgundy stripes and Ben Day dots speak for themselves. There are however no black outlines or block colouring present in this work.
Occupying the very middle of Nude are emotive energetic sweeps of salmon, silver, dark red, blush and yellow coloured marks. These expressive brushstrokes represent the complete opposite of the artistic approach Lichtenstein became famous for. The work keenly embraces the technical finesse with which he engaged in the process of painting itself, in order to expose the authority given to this artistic gesture in the past.
Roy Lichtenstein, born in New York, 1923, is a seminal figure in the Pop Art movement, renowned for his comic book and advertisement-inspired artworks. His transformative journey from classical painter to Pop Art pioneer began with his iconic piece, Look Mickey, marking the fusion of painting with pop culture. Lichtenstein’s works, including Whaam!, Drowning Girl, and Crying Girl, blend parody and satire, challenging the boundaries between popular culture and ‘high art’. With over 5,000 pieces to his name, Lichtenstein’s enduring influence resonates in contemporary art, his works celebrated in prestigious institutions worldwide.
