Brushstroke

Medium: Screenprint in colors on heavy wove paper
Year: 1965
Image: 22 1/8 x 28 3/8 inches (56.2 x 72.1 cm)
Sheet: 23 x 28 7/8 inches (58.4 x 73.3 cm)
Edition: 280
Hors Commerce: approximately 15
Publisher: Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Printer: Chiron Press, New York
Literature: Corlett II.5

Roy Lichtenstein Catalogue Raisonne: RLCR 1021

Brushstroke, 1965 (RLCR 1021) | Catalogue entry | Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné

Signed and numbered in pencil

In addition to the print, this image was also produced as a poster (RLCR 4803) and a mailer published to announce Lichtenstein’s exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery, November 20–December 16, 1965 (1965b New York Castelli).

In Brushstroke (1965), Lichtenstein continued his extended enquiry into the very nature of the brushstroke and its perceived importance in an art historical context. While expressive brushstrokes were revered by the Abstract Expressionists and art critics alike in post-war America, Lichtenstein’s satirical response was to parody this gestural mark through his antithetical Pop Art approach. Starting in the 1960s and exemplified in the present lot, Lichtenstein stripped the brushstroke back to its purest form, and rendered it in a highly mechanized style.

“Brushstrokes are almost a symbol of art. The Brushstrokes paintings also resemble Abstract Expressionism. Of course visible brushstrokes in a painting convey a sense of grand gesture; but in my hands, the brushstrokes become a depiction of a grand gesture.”

In doing so, he intentionally distanced the brushstroke from its association with the artist’s hand, and thus with the concept of individual genius, which was so often bestowed on Abstract Expressionist painters like Jackson Pollock. Through adopting a highly graphic and seemingly mass-produced aesthetic, Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke demonstrates the artistic possibilities afforded to him by the Pop Art style, while his elevation of the transformed brushstroke satirically critiques the emphasis placed on the gestural mark within the art historical canon.

Auction Results

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke, 1965
Screenprint
Signed and numbered on the lower right

2023 Auction Results

Phillips London: 22 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 20,320 / USD 24,980

Christie’s online: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000
USD 27,720

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke, 1965
Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Signed in pencil, numbered 149/280

2022 Auction Results

Bonhams New-York: 1 November 2022
Estimated: USD 22,000 – 28,000
USD 35,655

Christie’s online: 19 July 2022
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 35,000
USD 27,720

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke, 1965
Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Signed in pencil, numbered 186/280

2021 Auction Results

Christie’s online: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000
USD 40,000
AUCTION RECORD FOR BRUSHSTROKE

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke, 1965
Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil, numbered 200/280

Christie’s New-York: 16 April 2021
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 25,000

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke, 1965
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil (slightly rubbed), numbered 116/280