Lot 165

Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) AS I OPENED FIRE.

The co-founder and classic of pop art from Manhattan, painter, graphic artist, sculptor and pedagogue Roy Lichtenstein, captures the industrial modern age in his work with special means of expression. His so-called "Benday dots" present a specific way of using of a raster pattern with an exaggerated use of a black frame and contouring, or a font so that it achieves an action comic effect. "Commercial art is direct and practical, it has an intense effect on people," he says. Such is the presented triptych with a fight scene and text in the header. It has been printed according to his large-format oil and acrylic painting since 1966 in Amsterdam, at a time when most of the author's production had been taken over and marketed by New York galler Leo Castelli. The prints are marked at the bottom right with an illegible mark S.M.A., ie Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The imprint is not dated or numbered, as is usual with Lichtenstein. However, the original copyright guarantees a limited load with the original publisher. Andy Warhol also originally devoted himself to this comic book form of portraying ordinary reality, but after Lichtenstein's great success he withdrew from this discipline. On May 9, 2012, Sotheby's Auction Hall sold Lichtenstein's painting based on the raster concept of the "Sleeping Girl" painting for USD 44.9 million.