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Lot Essay
Roy Lichtenstein did now draw from live models when he created his Nudes. Instead he worked from 1960's comic book images of women, removing their costumes and adding references to his earlier works such as Reflections, Imperfect, Water Lily, and Interiors Series. Surprisingly these are Lichtenstein's first comic book style, full body depictions of the female nude subject. They bare little relation to natural form, instead they embody Lichtenstein's iconic motifs, with bright pattern and bold lines.
In the Nudes series diagonal stripes and Benday dots simultaneously evoke and flatten the picture's depth of field. These graphic techniques, typically used as short-hand to define shadow and volume, spill over the girl's curvaceous body and onto her surroundings, creating a peculiar spatial conundrum that highlights the artificiality and unreliability of the image. This formal technique, a Pop chiaroscuro, gives depth to the image but also adds two-dimensional color and texture.
The most iconic image from this series, Lichtenstein's Nude with Blue Hair, State I , is an example of this technique in its most advanced monumental state, mobilizing not only Lichtenstein's visual language, but also the full technical expertise of Kenneth Tyler's print workshop. Created using a complex series of stencils, Tyler's studio solved the complex problem of achieving Lichtenstein's volume and depth on a printed surface. From an extremely limited edition of ten, the present lot offers a rare opportunity to own an extraordinary and masterful image from the legendary Pop icon.
In the Nudes series diagonal stripes and Benday dots simultaneously evoke and flatten the picture's depth of field. These graphic techniques, typically used as short-hand to define shadow and volume, spill over the girl's curvaceous body and onto her surroundings, creating a peculiar spatial conundrum that highlights the artificiality and unreliability of the image. This formal technique, a Pop chiaroscuro, gives depth to the image but also adds two-dimensional color and texture.
The most iconic image from this series, Lichtenstein's Nude with Blue Hair, State I , is an example of this technique in its most advanced monumental state, mobilizing not only Lichtenstein's visual language, but also the full technical expertise of Kenneth Tyler's print workshop. Created using a complex series of stencils, Tyler's studio solved the complex problem of achieving Lichtenstein's volume and depth on a printed surface. From an extremely limited edition of ten, the present lot offers a rare opportunity to own an extraordinary and masterful image from the legendary Pop icon.