Three Lithographs (complete set)
Three Lithographs (complete set)
Signed Print
Keith Haring
96 x 77cm, Edition of 80, Lithograph, 1985
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Meaning & Analysis
Three Lithographs (complete set) is a group of three prints by Keith Haring, published in 1985 in a signed edition of 80. Each image is drawn in black on white within a red border: a column of figures balanced on one another's shoulders, a confrontation between a giant figure and a much smaller one, and a contorted face with a red tongue. Together they form the complete Three Lithographs series.
The three sheets show the range of Haring's figurative language within a single set. The first, often referred to as People Ladder, stacks figures into two swaying towers rising from a dotted ground, the action lines around them suggesting the effort of keeping balance. It reflects his recurring interest in community and mutual support. The second is more unsettling: a towering figure thrusts towards a smaller one, red rays marking the point of impact beneath a red cross in a circle. The third, known as Red Tongue, abandons the full figure for a fragmented face crowded with teeth, eyes and jagged forms, a single bar of red running through its open mouth.
Restricting colour to black and red places the emphasis on line, the element that underpins all of Haring's work, from his chalk drawings in the subway to his large murals. The red cross reappears in his work of the period, including the Free South Africa lithographs of the same year. The contrast between the cooperative figures of the first sheet and the aggression of the second and third is typical of the way Haring held optimism and violence side by side.
