Blue Face
Blue Face
Signed Mixed Media
Roy Lichtenstein
£22,000-£35,000
$45,000-$70,000 Value Indicator
$40,000-$70,000 Value Indicator
¥210,000-¥340,000 Value Indicator
€25,000-€40,000 Value Indicator
$230,000-$370,000 Value Indicator
¥4,380,000-¥6,970,000 Value Indicator
$30,000-$45,000 Value Indicator
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137 x 85cm, Edition of 60, Mixed Media
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Meaning & Analysis
Utilising a wide repertoire of printing methods, Lichtenstein translated the gestural strokes of Abstract Expressionism into a Pop Art idiom in his Brushstroke Faces series of the late 1980s. The artist sought to move away from appropriation in this work and is therefore actively exploiting the abstract qualities of his own visual language. In Blue Face, Lichtenstein reflects on the constructivist power that only a select few brushstrokes can have on the overall composition.
The brush strokes in Blue Face are flattened with the help of an uncharacteristically muted colour palette. The work is freed from a personal narrative, yet is imbued with formal comedy. The same stylistic tendencies can be detected in another work from the series, titled Blonde. As the ascending brushstrokes are intersected by upwards flowing ones, the work is imbued with an almost musical undertone.
The pale grey and light blue strokes, representing the body of the main structure, flow in all directions. The outline of a mouth is marked in mustard yellow, while the dark green and blue smudges above it are indicative of eyes. The origins of the Brushstroke series, which were derived from a comic book source, are alluded to in the one blue dotted patch constituting the face of the figure.
Even in the simple details of Blue Face, there is an inherent criticism directed at the art historical conventions granting authority and inimitability to brushwork.