Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass)
from For Meyer Schapiro

Medium: Lithograph and screen-print in colors with debossing on smooth wove paper
Year: 1974
Image: 32 1/2 x 23 7/8 inches (82.7 x 60.7 cm)
Sheet: 40 1/2 x 31 5/8 inches (102.9 x 80.2 cm)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 13 AP
Artist’s Copy: 10 AC
Publisher: The Committee to Endow a Chair in Honor of Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University, New York
Literature: Corlett 134

Roy Lichtenstein Catalogue Raisonne: RLCR 2316

Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass), 1974 (RLCR 2316) | Catalogue entry | Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné

Signed, dated and numbered in pencil

For Meyer Schapiro was published in honor of the art history professor Meyer Schapiro, to raise funds for establishing a chair in his name at Columbia University. The portfolio contains 12 prints by Stanley William Hayter, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Alexander Liberman, Roy Lichtenstein, André Masson, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Saul Steinberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. Each artist arranged individually for the production of his print.

The portfolio is housed in an off-white cloth-covered portfolio case (secured with two brass latches and with spine of brown leather). The portfolio title is printed in brown on heavy off-white paper mounted onto the front of the case. Each print is protected by a white wove paper folder with the artist’s last name screenprinted in brown in the lower right corner.

Still Life With Lemon and Glass shows a closely cropped minimalist composition depicting fruit and kitchenware. Set on a black and white striped backdrop, the print centers a glass filled over halfway in the foreground of a striking yellow illustration of a lemon. It embraces the decorative qualities of still lifes and showcases modernized versions of classical motifs symbolizing man-made materiality versus nature’s luxuries.

Still Life With Lemon and Glass expands and updates the meaning behind its chosen traditional still life objects. Rendered according to a pronounced commercial aesthetic, this particular work also presents a masterful play on perception and reflection. Historically, still lifes would provide the public with allegorical depictions of earthly pleasures and the inevitability of demise. Although this artistic tradition has been practiced since ancient times, its particular mode of representation has never ranked highest in the hierarchy of art.

Auction Results

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923 New York City 1997)
Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass) (Corlett 134), 1974
Color silkscreen and lithograph
Edition: 17/100
Signed and dated lower right in pencil: rf Lichtenstein ’74

Phillips New-York: 26 October 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 33,020

Phillips London: 15 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000
GBP 41,580 / USD 58,630
AUCTION RECORD FOR STILL LIFE WITH LEMON AND GLASS

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass), from For Meyer Schapiro (C. 134), 1974
Lithograph and screen-print in colors with debossing
Signed, dated and numbered ‘AC 2/10’ in pencil
(an artist’s copy, the edition was 100 plus possibly 13 artist’s proofs)

Sotheby’s New-York: 23 October 2020
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 23,940

ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923 – 1997)
UNTITLED (STILL LIFE WITH LEMON AND GLASS) (C. 134), 1974
Lithograph and screen-print in colors with debossing
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 64/100

Freeman’s Hindman: 29 October 2019
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 26,250