Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract)

Medium: Three screenprints in colors on smooth wove paper
Year: 1982
Sheet: 26 x 30 1/2 inches (66 x 77.5 cm)
Edition: 450, with 150 signed
Publisher: Fratelli Alinari, Florence
Literature: Corlett appendix 9

Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil

Cow Going Abstract #1

Cow Going Abstract #2

Cow Going Abstract #3

In Cow Going Abstract, Roy Lichtenstein offers a brilliant visual satire on the evolution of modern art, told through the unlikely protagonist of a cow. This 1982 suite unfolds in three sequential screenprints, each pushing the image further away from figuration and into abstraction, with all the wit and precision that defined Lichtenstein’s Pop sensibility.

The first panel presents a stylized cow, rendered in Lichtenstein’s hallmark Ben-Day dots, bold outlines, and comic-book color fields: a playful nod to bucolic Americana. In the second panel, the form begins to fracture, approaching the language of Cubism. By the third, all semblance of cow has vanished into pure abstraction, composed of intersecting lines, geometric shapes, and primary colors.

More than a clever joke, the series is a fast-forward tour of 20th-century aesthetics, from representational realism to abstraction, compressing a century of artistic evolution into three frames. It functions both as homage and critique, showing how meaning, form, and interpretation shift with artistic intent. Lichtenstein, ever the conceptual craftsman, blends humor with formal rigor in this series. Cow Going Abstract remains one of his most incisive commentaries on art history, filtered through the unmistakable clarity and control of his Pop Art vocabulary.

Auction Results

Dorotheum: 30 November 2023
Estimated: EUR 8,000 – 12,000
EUR 24,700 / USD 27,000

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Screenprint in colors
Signed rf Lichtenstein, and numbered 77/150

Van Ham Cologne: 29 November 2023
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 25,000
EUR 36,960

LICHTENSTEIN, ROY (New York 1923 – 1997)
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Color serigraph on wove paper
Numbered 134/150
One sheet signed

XXXXXXXXXX

Van Ham Cologne: 30 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 25,080 / USD 25,885

LICHTENSTEIN, ROY (New York 1923 – 1997)
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Color serigraph on wove paper
Each numbered 100/150
One sheet signed

SBI Art Auction: 28 October 2022
Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
JPY 2,760,000 / USD 18,865

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract) Poster (Corlett App.9), 1982
Screenprint, the complete set of 3 works
[1] Signed and numbered on the lower part
[2-3] Numbered on the lower left
From the edition of 150

Heritage Auctions: 26 October 2022
USD 32,500

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Three screen-prints in colors on smooth wove paper
Each numbered ‘137/150’ in pencil lower left and left panel signed in pencil lower right

Grisebach: 3 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 8,000 – 12,000
EUR 32,500 / USD 36,115

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Set of three color silkscreens on paper
Each numbered, and signed

Van Ham Cologne: 1 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 25,000
EUR 43,560 / USD 46,930
AUCTION RECORD FOR COW GOING ABSTRACT

LICHTENSTEIN, ROY (New York 1923 – 1997)
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Color serigraphy on wove paper
Numbered 134/150
One sheet signed

Swann Galleries: 12 May 2022
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 21,250

ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Set of 3 color screenprints on white wove paper
Each numbered 29/150 in pencil, lower left
The first panel also signed in pencil, lower right

XXXXXXXXXX

Van Ham Cologne: 1 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 18,000
EUR 33,540 / USD 38,830

LICHTENSTEIN, ROY (New York 1923 – 1997)
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Color lithograph on paper
Signed and numbered 33/150

Van Ham Cologne: 16 June 2021
Estimated: EUR 15,000 – 20,000
EUR 36,120 / USD 43,790

LICHTENSTEIN, ROY (New York 1923 – 1997)
Cow Triptych (Cow Going Abstract), 1982
Color lithograph on paper
Signed and numbered 31/150