Lot Essay
Painted in 1967, the year of Lichtenstein's first major retrospective, Modern Painting with Steps is an excellent example of his series of Modern or Art Deco Paintings (1966-1967). The subject of Modern Painting with Steps was derived from and pays homage to the culture and design of the thirties. Lawrence Alloway explained,
'These paintings take the populist, commercial style of the 1930s--the Art Deco of ocean liners, theater foyers and enameled jewelry--as a source of form in opposition to the simplifying lines of more respected design...Right-angled but garrulous, abstract but frantically playful, these paintings catch without qualms the heavy design sense of the period. These tightly locked geometrics were, as the artist has pointed out, originally emblems of the future. However, enough time has passed for us to be overwhelmed by a sense of these forms' remoteness. There is a poignant sense of time as we look at the symbolic geometry that derives from a decade in which, to quote Lichtenstein, "they felt they were much more modern than we feel we are now"' (L. Alloway, Roy Lichtenstein, New York 1983, p. 40).
The Modern Painting's vocabulary of bolts, segments, circles, triangles, portholes, volutes and stepped forms originated from American and European design magazines and books such as 52 Ways to Modernize Main Street with Glass, a promotional publication for Vitrolite, opaque structural glass (ibid., p. 37).
The classical quality of the composition of Modern Painting with Steps contrasts strongly with the more Baroque style of Lichtenstein's previous series of Brushstroke paintings. In many ways, Modern Painting with Steps marks a departure in style for Lichtenstein. From this point on, Lichtenstein's painting is no longer focused solely on the irony of his subjects and their presentation, but also on the process of creating something entirely independent of its source.
'These paintings take the populist, commercial style of the 1930s--the Art Deco of ocean liners, theater foyers and enameled jewelry--as a source of form in opposition to the simplifying lines of more respected design...Right-angled but garrulous, abstract but frantically playful, these paintings catch without qualms the heavy design sense of the period. These tightly locked geometrics were, as the artist has pointed out, originally emblems of the future. However, enough time has passed for us to be overwhelmed by a sense of these forms' remoteness. There is a poignant sense of time as we look at the symbolic geometry that derives from a decade in which, to quote Lichtenstein, "they felt they were much more modern than we feel we are now"' (L. Alloway, Roy Lichtenstein, New York 1983, p. 40).
The Modern Painting's vocabulary of bolts, segments, circles, triangles, portholes, volutes and stepped forms originated from American and European design magazines and books such as 52 Ways to Modernize Main Street with Glass, a promotional publication for Vitrolite, opaque structural glass (ibid., p. 37).
The classical quality of the composition of Modern Painting with Steps contrasts strongly with the more Baroque style of Lichtenstein's previous series of Brushstroke paintings. In many ways, Modern Painting with Steps marks a departure in style for Lichtenstein. From this point on, Lichtenstein's painting is no longer focused solely on the irony of his subjects and their presentation, but also on the process of creating something entirely independent of its source.