Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp, 1997. Signed, numbered and dated “pp 2/3, rf Lichtenstein, ‘97” along the right edge. This work is printer proof number two from an edition of 24 plus eight artist’s proofs, and three printer proofs. screenprint, with hand-painted Magna on honeycomb-core aluminum panel, in a white wood artist’s frame 54 x 72 1/2 in. (137.2 x 184.2 cm)

PROVENANCE Staff & Company, New York Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London Sale: Christie's, London, Post-War & Contemporary Art, June 23, 2006, lot 129 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
EXHIBITED London, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein: Last Still Life and Other Works, March 3 - March 27, 2004 (another example exhibited) New York, Jacobson Howard Gallery, Selections from Gallery Artists, July 1 - July 19, 2008 (another example exhibited
LITERATURE Roy Lichtenstein’s Last Still Life, Milan, Galleria Lawrence Rubin, 1998, no. 3 (another example illustrated) Roy Lichtenstein, New York, Lawrence Rubin Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, 1999, no. 3 (another example illustrated) M.L. Corlett, The Prints of Ro
Roy Lichtenstein is an artist forever synonymous with Pop Art, immortalizing his contributions to the Contemporary Art world with his distinctive use of popular cartoon imagery and commercial painting techniques. Although the 1960s related Lichtenstein to comic book images of beautiful girls and men at war, he continued to make new and innovative work for almost three decades following. Beginning in the early 1970s, he began to work on still lifes, appropriating them from the highly respected historical genre of the Seventeenth Century and updating them with his best known style: signature primary colors and simulated Ben-Day dots. Lichtenstein would use postcards or reproductions of original works to create his own unique versions, rendering his still lifes in flat, outlined shapes that were inspired by newspaper and print advertisements but painted to look like the original. As seen in the present lot, Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp, 1997, Lichtenstein’s still lifes cover a plethora of themes, including the most traditional from the genre such as vases, lamps, flowers, or fruit. He also created still lifes from contemporary every day motifs, including the contents of his art studio as well as the intentionally mundane Office Still Lifes. Later, he began to reference other art-historical movements in these works, as he had done in past projects, such as rendering a still life that exhibited Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, or Cubism coupled with his own signature comic book style. Lichtenstein barrowed many formal elements from the masters who preceded him. As seen in Matisse’s Tulips and Oysters on a Black Background, 1943, which depicts a tabletop covered with strewn about objects, including a vase, bottle, lemons, and a platter of oysters, Lichtenstein adopted the way the French master brilliantly depicted everyday objects in a casual and natural arrangement. Additionally, the positioning and cropping of the table, as well as the geometric background of the present lot, seem very much inspired by Matisse’s painting. This period of Lichtenstein’s career allowed the great artist to travel back in art history and bring a venerated genre back to life in the contemporary world of art. The still life emerged in painting during a time of highly religious subject matter in art. With the spread of Protestantism in Holland and the rejection of the Catholic Baroque style, Dutch artists began to focus on secular subjects to which there were no objections on religious grounds. As a result, the Dutch have become the most famous for their still lifes, portraits, landscapes, interiors and genre painting. Paintings depicting the natural world were so characteristic of the Netherlands at this time, that during the seventeenth century the Dutch words stilleven and landschap were adopted into English as “still life” and “landscape.” At this time in the Seventeenth Century, artists tended to specialize narrowly, often concentrating in one subject, allowing them to master their niche. Willem Kalf was one of the period’s most notable still life painters, brilliantly displaying the mastery of the still life in his oil painting, Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar, 1669. This work depicts a collection of rare or expensive objects combined with exotic foods, which artists at this time used to emphasize the grandeur that appealed to the merchant classes in Seventeenth Century Holland. Although Lichtenstein did not portray rare or exotic objects in Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp, 1997, it is evident that influence was indeed derived from the Dutch masters of the still life genre. Lichtenstein’s obliterating brushstroke even resembles the unraveling lemon peel in Kalf’s work, both used in their own context to break up the composition. Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp, 1997, is one of the final projects completed by Lichtenstein before his death in September of 1997. Exemplifying Lichtenstein’s signature style, the present lot combines a background of familiar elements, including the iconic stripes and Ben-Day dots as well as unique hand-painted brush strokes which the artist began to heavily incorporate into his work from the inception of his still life phase through to the conclusion of his career. Advertising played a vital role in the formation and definition of many of Lichtenstein’s stylistic attributes. The Ben-Day dot pattern implemented in advertising by the printing process, the limited primary color palette, and the other shorthand symbols used in advertising to convey the maximum impact in product promotion were astutely adapted by the artist. Furthermore, Lichtenstein’s “obliterating brush stroke” was conceived in a dream, and became the idea of a brush stroke that would wash over the surface of a work, defacing or effacing it. In this particular piece, the flat set up of furniture is washed over with an array of color, invading and obliterating the work’s uniformity as a still life. This print is singular in Lichtenstein’s print oeuvre in that each impression, in addition to the printed brushstrokes, incorporates unique brushstrokes hand-painted by the artist. Cleverly, the artist breaks this work up into quadrants, separated by these brushstrokes. This trick leads the eye from one place to another, allowing the viewer to appreciate the many different techniques employed. While the work mainly exhibits negative space, derived by parallel lines and Ben-Day dots which fade through the table top and are cut short on the lower right quadrant, the lamp and box are given weight as objects with bold, hard color. In the center of the composition lies a bold vertical orange stroke, surrounded by a circular sweep of red pigment, alluding to a cigar having just been extinguished, releasing a green undulating line of billowing smoke above. In this sense the work becomes as much about an interior scene as it is a still life. The brushstroke as a concept initially emerged in Lichtenstein’s artwork in the 1960s, when he first parodied the Abstract Expressionist Movement. Early in his career he allowed many of his art influences to permeate his paintings, displaying references to many artistic movements as well as specific artists such as Pablo Picasso. As Lichtenstein became more established in his career, he abandoned the iconic brushstroke he had included in so many works, and began working extensively on his still life compositions of furniture, objects and interiors, undisturbed by expressionistic brushstrokes. Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp, 1997, is an incredibly exceptional piece in that it includes so many attributes associated with the legendary artist, such as parallel stripes to create space, Ben-Day dots to produce shadows and tone, and primary colors similar to a comic book or print ad. Most importantly, Lichtenstein resurrects two of the most popular motifs of his career: the still life element that he developed throughout his portfolio and the obliterating brush stroke that he introduced in his earlier days and which had become one of his most identifiable trademarks of the Pop era.