Brushstroke Contest
Medium: Lithograph printed in colors on Rives BFK wove paper
Year: 1989
Image: 47 1/2 x 38 inches (120.7 x 96.5 cm)
Sheet: 50×40 inches (127 x 101.6 cm)
Edition: 36
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Publisher: Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York
Literature: Corlett 235
Roy Licthenstein Catalogue Raisonne: RLCR 3779
Brushstroke Contest, 1989 (RLCR 3779) | Catalogue entry | Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné
Signed, dated and numbered in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp and the artist’s copyright ink stamp on the reverse
Created in 1989, Brushstroke Contest draws directly from the Brushstroke theme first developed in the mid-1960s, but here expanded into a more elaborate and layered visual field. Rather than isolating a single gesture, Lichtenstein orchestrates multiple brushstroke forms, set in dialogue and tension across the surface. The composition is structured around two vertical zones populated by gestural forms that appear to “compete” for visual dominance. These painted marks, thick, sweeping, and irregular, are deliberately artificial. They simulate spontaneity while remaining entirely controlled, crisply outlined, and mechanically reproduced. The background alternates between dense black-and-white patterning and diagonal striping, reinforcing the sense of rhythm and visual confrontation. Color is applied sparingly yet decisively, with greens, blues, yellows, and earthy tones punctuating the composition and activating the surface.
READ ABOUT BRUSHSTROKES PAINTINGS
Conceptually, Brushstroke Contest is both analytical and ironic. Lichtenstein returns to Abstract Expressionism, the movement that defined authenticity through gesture, and subjects it to Pop Art’s logic of repetition, stylization, and distance. The “contest” implied in the title suggests a playful yet critical confrontation between expressive painting and its graphic simulation. No brushstroke wins: in fact each is equally flattened, reproduced, and stripped of individual authorship.
The release of the print in 1989 situates it at the end of Lichtenstein’s career, when his work increasingly functioned as a form of self-commentary. Rather than introducing new imagery, he refined and recontextualized the visual language he had helped define decades earlier. Brushstroke Contest thus reads as a mature synthesis: a lucid reflection on painting, reproduction, and the enduring tension between gesture and image in postwar art.
Auction Results
Christie’s online: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 44,100
AUCTION RECORD FOR BRUSHSTROKE CONTEST
ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke Contest, 1989
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 22/36
Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2020
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,000
ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke Contest, 1989
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered ‘AP 4/12’ (an artist’s proof, the edition was 36)
Freeman’s Chicago: 1 May 2016
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 25,000
ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke Contest, 1989
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper
Signed, dated and numbered 31/36
Phillips New-York: 26 October 2015
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 32,500
ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Brushstroke Contest, 1989
Lithograph in colors, on Rives BFK paper
Signed, dated `89′ and numbered 9/36 in pencil
Christie’s New-York: 24 April 2015
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 27,500
ROY LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)
Brushstroke Contest, 1989
Lithograph in colors on Rives BFK paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 21/36