Figures With Rope
Figures With Rope
Signed Print
Roy Lichtenstein
£4,250-£6,500 VALUE (EST.)
$8,000-$12,000 VALUE (EST.)
$7,000-$11,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥35,000-¥60,000 VALUE (EST.)
€4,850-€7,500 VALUE (EST.)
$40,000-$60,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥690,000-¥1,050,000 VALUE (EST.)
$5,000-$8,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Lithograph, 1978
Signed Print Edition of 38
H 39cm x W 55cm
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2018 | Phillips London - United Kingdom | Figures With Rope - Signed Print | |||
| March 2017 | Christie's New York - United States | Figures With Rope - Signed Print | |||
| April 2011 | Christie's New York - United States | Figures With Rope - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
In the late 1970s, Roy Lichtenstein entered his remarkable absurdist period, inspired by the practices of Surrealism. Originating in the 1920s, surrealist artists delved into subconscious realities, stringing together peculiar types of imagery. Lichtenstein’s Surrealist series follows suit, merging disparate elements into impactful compositions.
Although these prints copy the manner in which surrealist artworks were created, the pictorial language of the Surrealist sequence is literal rather than symbolical. Contrary to the intuitive output of his forerunners, Lichtenstein reveals a more rigorous approach to figuration. Posing numerous motifs from his own oeuvre alongside art historical tropes, his Surrealist prints culminate in captivating referential vistas.
Executed in 1978, Figures With Rope presents an enigmatic dreamscape, portraying various figures lined up on a hovering rope. Lichtenstein anchors his composition in wildly opposing forms. Leading the succession of shapes is a shattered mirror located at the right edge of the print. The broken element references Lichtenstein’s exploration of aesthetic purity in his Mirrors from the early 1970s. An amorphous figure with long lashed eyes lingers in front of it, recalling the emotional charge of Lichtenstein’s first comic book heroines of the 1960s. The final queued up shape, composed of protruding triangles, is the predecessor of Lichtenstein’s abstracted Perfect/Imperfect series of the 1980s.
