Illustration For Amérique
Illustration For Amérique
Signed Print
Roy Lichtenstein
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Medium: Aquatint
Edition size: 42
Year: 1992
Size: H 48cm x W 35cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2021 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| October 2021 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| October 2012 | Christie's New York | United States | |||
| November 2007 | Sotheby's New York | United States | |||
| April 2005 | Bonhams San Francisco | United States |
Meaning & Analysis
Roy Lichtenstein’s The New Fall Of America is a ten-part suite executed in 1992. The series is based on a selection of poems from Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection of the early 1970s. This etching and aquatint in colours is part of a signed and limited edition of 42 prints.
Two decades after the publication of Allen Ginsberg’s 1972 poetry collection, The Fall Of America, Roy Lichtenstein was entrusted with illustrating a selection of poems from the book. Ginsberg was a central member of the Beat Generation, a literary movement responding to changes in American culture and politics in the post-war era.
Illustration for ‘Amérique’ is predicated on Ginsberg’s original poem titled “America”, which is inherently a call for national introspection. “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world. I’m addressing you”, writes the poet. “It occurs to me that I am America. I am talking to myself again.”
Similar to Forms In Space from 1985, Illustration For Amérique breaks down the American flag’s elemental features into enlarged blue dots and red slanted lines. In his mechanised interpretation of the upside-down flag, the artist explores the artifice of perspective and the limits of flatness. Stripping the object of its original context and appearance, Lichtenstein reduces its implied uniqueness and individuality. With his Illustration For Amérique, the artist ponders Ginsberg’s and society’s need for universal symbols and the love-hate relationships we forge with our homelands.
