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Lot Essay
Small Window at Night follows a theme explored by Caulfield since 1963, that of empty architectural spaces. A large oil of 1969, Window at Night (Berardo Collection, Lisbon) demonstrates this, placing the viewer in the dark outside a building, whose brightly lit interior leads us to speculate on the activity within. In Small Window at Night however, the viewer appears to stand inside a bright, candy cane decorated interior, with the dark emptiness of night visible through the window. This interior is not recognisable as a banal domestic room, but instead brings to mind the opening of a Punch and Judy booth, which the pink and blue stripes only reinforce. These childhood references are familiar to the viewer, stirring memory and nostalgia in this playful image.
Caulfield painted Small Window at Night as a full-size 'maquette' for a print entitled Window at Night. It was one of a set of four designs which were published as screenprints by Leslie Waddington Prints in 1972. The compositional element, of bright vertical stripes in everyday settings, is continued through the other three works in the set: Napkin and Onions, Fig Branch and Pipe. Caulfield made precise paintings to be replicated exactly in detail and tone by the printers; they aren't simply maquettes for the prints but considered complete paintings in their own right.
Caulfield painted Small Window at Night as a full-size 'maquette' for a print entitled Window at Night. It was one of a set of four designs which were published as screenprints by Leslie Waddington Prints in 1972. The compositional element, of bright vertical stripes in everyday settings, is continued through the other three works in the set: Napkin and Onions, Fig Branch and Pipe. Caulfield made precise paintings to be replicated exactly in detail and tone by the printers; they aren't simply maquettes for the prints but considered complete paintings in their own right.