Interior with Painting of Nude (Study) by Roy Lichtenstein
On Sunday, October 11, the Whitney Museum of American Art opened its long-awaited retrospective of American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. The previous week, Sotheby’s offered the public an early glimpse into the artist’s legacy through a sale of works from his private collection. Held at Sotheby’s New York on Wednesday, October 7th, the dedicated auction featured twenty-three lots drawn exclusively from Lichtenstein’s estate.
Two lots in particular were expected to lead the auction. First and foremost was one of Lichtenstein‘s studies for a planned painting called Interior with Painting of Nude, executed using marker and cut pieces of colored paper applied to paperboard with tape. Additionally, Sotheby’s featured a colored pencil study of the same subject. The works show Lichtenstein’s enduring fascination with the still life genre, as well as his growing interest in depicting the artist’s studio. Inspired by earlier works, such as Henri Matisse’s The Red Studio, Lichtenstein began creating interior paintings of an artist’s workspace, transforming the site of creation into the artistic subject itself. Upon the small round table, a cup of brushes and a painter’s palette hint at work that has been interrupted. Although the subject is not pulled from pulp magazines or comic books, the visual language points exclusively to Lichtenstein. The bright colors, crisp lines, and Ben-Day dots are hallmarks of the artist’s technique, while the more prominent use of non-primary colors like orange and green suggests a work from his later career. Estimated to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million, the study drew strong interest from potential buyers, surpassing its high estimate with the hammer coming down at $1.85 million ($2.37 million w/p).
Entablature by Roy Lichtenstein
Next up was the monumental, twelve-foot-long work from the artist’s Entablature series. Created from 1971 to 1976, the series marked Lichtenstein’s move away from graphic art toward an exploration of historical concepts like architecture. The paintings are primarily inspired by friezes and cornices from ancient Greek and Roman buildings, yet executed with Lichtenstein’s polished approach. Sotheby’s specialists call the work “a meditation on the relationship between history and maternity, ornament and structure, and the handmade and the mechanically produced.” Though the source of inspiration differs greatly from his 1960s paintings, the Entablature series continues Lichtenstein’s fascination with image production and visual culture. This example from the series was estimated to sell for between $700K and $1 million, selling exactly at the low estimate ($896K w/p).
Rounding out the top three lots in the auction was the 1992 screenprint Water Lilies with Cloud. It serves as Lichtenstein’s tribute to Claude Monet. However, instead of the Impressionist master’s loose, soft brushstrokes, Lichtenstein presents the subject with his characteristic bold lines and vivid colors. The original painterly technique is replaced with a series of patterned segments to convey the movement and ephemerality of Monet’s original paintings. It evokes Monet while retaining Lichtenstein’s distinct style. With Sotheby’s specialists assigning the print a $400K to $600K range, Water Lilies with Cloud sold for its high estimate ($768K w/p).
Water Lilies with Cloud by Roy Lichtenstein
Of the twenty-three available lots, ten sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s a 43% accuracy rate. An additional five lots (22%) sold for below their estimates, while seven lots (30%) sold for above. A single lot went unsold on Wednesday: a 1996 paper cut-out on board Landscape with Cliff (Study), which Sotheby’s estimated to sell for at least $300K. The lone unsold lot gave the auction a 96% sell-through rate. Against a total low estimate of $5.52 million, the twenty-three lots brought in $6.65 million, or $8.52 million w/p. This brief auction served as a welcome introduction to the series of modern and contemporary art sales that followed later in the week.
The Lichtenstein Collection at Sotheby’s
Interior with Painting of Nude (Study) by Roy Lichtenstein
On Sunday, October 11, the Whitney Museum of American Art opened its long-awaited retrospective of American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. The previous week, Sotheby’s offered the public an early glimpse into the artist’s legacy through a sale of works from his private collection. Held at Sotheby’s New York on Wednesday, October 7th, the dedicated auction featured twenty-three lots drawn exclusively from Lichtenstein’s estate.
Two lots in particular were expected to lead the auction. First and foremost was one of Lichtenstein‘s studies for a planned painting called Interior with Painting of Nude, executed using marker and cut pieces of colored paper applied to paperboard with tape. Additionally, Sotheby’s featured a colored pencil study of the same subject. The works show Lichtenstein’s enduring fascination with the still life genre, as well as his growing interest in depicting the artist’s studio. Inspired by earlier works, such as Henri Matisse’s The Red Studio, Lichtenstein began creating interior paintings of an artist’s workspace, transforming the site of creation into the artistic subject itself. Upon the small round table, a cup of brushes and a painter’s palette hint at work that has been interrupted. Although the subject is not pulled from pulp magazines or comic books, the visual language points exclusively to Lichtenstein. The bright colors, crisp lines, and Ben-Day dots are hallmarks of the artist’s technique, while the more prominent use of non-primary colors like orange and green suggests a work from his later career. Estimated to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million, the study drew strong interest from potential buyers, surpassing its high estimate with the hammer coming down at $1.85 million ($2.37 million w/p).
Entablature by Roy Lichtenstein
Next up was the monumental, twelve-foot-long work from the artist’s Entablature series. Created from 1971 to 1976, the series marked Lichtenstein’s move away from graphic art toward an exploration of historical concepts like architecture. The paintings are primarily inspired by friezes and cornices from ancient Greek and Roman buildings, yet executed with Lichtenstein’s polished approach. Sotheby’s specialists call the work “a meditation on the relationship between history and maternity, ornament and structure, and the handmade and the mechanically produced.” Though the source of inspiration differs greatly from his 1960s paintings, the Entablature series continues Lichtenstein’s fascination with image production and visual culture. This example from the series was estimated to sell for between $700K and $1 million, selling exactly at the low estimate ($896K w/p).
Rounding out the top three lots in the auction was the 1992 screenprint Water Lilies with Cloud. It serves as Lichtenstein’s tribute to Claude Monet. However, instead of the Impressionist master’s loose, soft brushstrokes, Lichtenstein presents the subject with his characteristic bold lines and vivid colors. The original painterly technique is replaced with a series of patterned segments to convey the movement and ephemerality of Monet’s original paintings. It evokes Monet while retaining Lichtenstein’s distinct style. With Sotheby’s specialists assigning the print a $400K to $600K range, Water Lilies with Cloud sold for its high estimate ($768K w/p).
Water Lilies with Cloud by Roy Lichtenstein
Of the twenty-three available lots, ten sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s a 43% accuracy rate. An additional five lots (22%) sold for below their estimates, while seven lots (30%) sold for above. A single lot went unsold on Wednesday: a 1996 paper cut-out on board Landscape with Cliff (Study), which Sotheby’s estimated to sell for at least $300K. The lone unsold lot gave the auction a 96% sell-through rate. Against a total low estimate of $5.52 million, the twenty-three lots brought in $6.65 million, or $8.52 million w/p. This brief auction served as a welcome introduction to the series of modern and contemporary art sales that followed later in the week.