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Lot Essay
Lichtenstein first began painting the Brushstroke series in 1965. He later produced sculptural representations of the same motif in the 1980s and 1990s. The playful gesture of the brushstroke is a sublimation of the Pop generation ideologies. Yellow Brushstroke is a cartoonish snapshot of a painterly mark. The adaptation of the distinct black outline emphasizes the strong tactility of the flowing stroke of yellow paint. Paradoxically, the malleable form presents a sense of immutable rigidity in its bronze body. It seems effortless, yet highly controlled at the same time. To Lichtenstein, the display of such contradictions was essential to his artistic production: "Visible brushstrokes in a painting convey a sense of grand gesture. But, in my hands, the brushstroke becomes a depiction of a grand gesture. So the contradiction between what I'm portraying and how I am portraying it is sharp. The brushstroke became very important for my work." (R. Lichtenstein, A Review of My work since 1961, 1995).
Reacting against the previous generation, Pop artists stood for a break from tradition, from what comes before them. They abandoned the Abstract Expressionist painterly gesture and the zeitgeist of artistic genius, while they adopted everyday object and commercial art as their subject matter. Upon close examination, every stroke on a Lichtenstein piece was painstakingly painted by hand through careful deliberations, comparable to Brunelleschi’s calculated use of linear perspective in the 15th century. As Lichtenstein elaborated, "[the Brushstroke] was the way of portraying this romantic and bravura symbol in its opposite style, classicism. The Brushstroke plays a big part in the history of art. Brushstroke almost means painting or art. I did isolate Brushstrokes in 1965 and used cartoon brushstrokes to depict subject matters in the 1980s. I also did Brushstroke sculptures in bronze and wood to make them more palpable” (R. Lichtenstein, quoted in Meditations on Art, Milan, 2010, p.211).
Lichtenstein was one of the fathers of Pop Art in the 1960s. He was known for the appropriation of commercial subjects and the use of Ben-Day dots at the beginning of his artistic career. Later on, Lichtenstein frequently adopted the motifs of comical brushstrokes in his paintings and sculptural works for over four decades. To Lichtenstein, sculptural works were important because they showed what was otherwise absent in paintings. As the artist suggested: “Painting it makes it more concrete, but when you do it in bronze sculpture, it becomes real and has weight and is absurd, contradictory and funny" (Ibid., p. 211). The Yellow Brushstroke is a quintessential sculpture of its kind, specially designed for the Weisman Art Foundation in 1991. The Weisman Art Award provides funds for established institutions in order to allocate resources to support the purchase of less established artists.
Reacting against the previous generation, Pop artists stood for a break from tradition, from what comes before them. They abandoned the Abstract Expressionist painterly gesture and the zeitgeist of artistic genius, while they adopted everyday object and commercial art as their subject matter. Upon close examination, every stroke on a Lichtenstein piece was painstakingly painted by hand through careful deliberations, comparable to Brunelleschi’s calculated use of linear perspective in the 15th century. As Lichtenstein elaborated, "[the Brushstroke] was the way of portraying this romantic and bravura symbol in its opposite style, classicism. The Brushstroke plays a big part in the history of art. Brushstroke almost means painting or art. I did isolate Brushstrokes in 1965 and used cartoon brushstrokes to depict subject matters in the 1980s. I also did Brushstroke sculptures in bronze and wood to make them more palpable” (R. Lichtenstein, quoted in Meditations on Art, Milan, 2010, p.211).
Lichtenstein was one of the fathers of Pop Art in the 1960s. He was known for the appropriation of commercial subjects and the use of Ben-Day dots at the beginning of his artistic career. Later on, Lichtenstein frequently adopted the motifs of comical brushstrokes in his paintings and sculptural works for over four decades. To Lichtenstein, sculptural works were important because they showed what was otherwise absent in paintings. As the artist suggested: “Painting it makes it more concrete, but when you do it in bronze sculpture, it becomes real and has weight and is absurd, contradictory and funny" (Ibid., p. 211). The Yellow Brushstroke is a quintessential sculpture of its kind, specially designed for the Weisman Art Foundation in 1991. The Weisman Art Award provides funds for established institutions in order to allocate resources to support the purchase of less established artists.