Torpedo...Los!: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Painting by Roy Lichtenstein}}

{{good article}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2016}}

{{Infobox Artwork

| image_file=Torpedo...Los!.jpg

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| artist=[[Roy Lichtenstein]]

| year=1963

| typemedium=[[PopOil arton canvas]]

| movement=[[Pop art]]

| height_metric=173.4

| width_metric=204

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| museum=Private collection

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'''''Torpedo...Los!''''' (sometimes '''''Torpedo...LOS!''''') is a 1963 [[pop art]] oil on canvas painting by [[Roy Lichtenstein]]. When it was last sold in 1989, ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the work as "a comic-strip image of sea warfare".<ref name=AdKWSARa$M/> It formerly held the record for the [[Roy_LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein#Art_marketArt market|highest auction price for a Lichtenstein work]]. Its 1989 sale helped finance the construction of the current home of the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago]] in 1991.

Like many of Lichtenstein's works its title comes from the [[speech balloon]] in the painting. The work was included in Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition. The source of the image is a [[comic book]] from [[DC Comics]]. Lichtenstein has made significant alterations to the original image to change the focus and perspective in addition to significant alteration of the narrative element of the work. The work plays on the background-foreground relationship and the theme of vision that appears in many of Lichtenstein's works.

==Background==

[[File:Our Fighting Forces number 71.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The source of ''Torpedo...Los!'' is "Battle of the Ghost Ships?" (story by [[Bob Haney]], art by [[Jack Abel]]) in DC Comics' ''Our Fighting Forces'' (October 1962).]]

The source of the image is [[Jack Abel]]'s art in the [[Bob Haney]]-written story "Battle of the Ghost Ships?", in [[DC Comics]]' ''Our Fighting Forces'' #71 (October 1962), although the content of the speech balloon is different.<ref (thisname=GCD>[https://www.comics.org/issue/17189/ is editionOur numberFighting 72 according to some sources andForces #71] (a)at accordingthe to[[Grand others).Comics Database]]</ref><ref name=RLDW>{{harvnb|Waldman|1993|pages=96&ndash;97, 104}}</ref><ref name=TLLF>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0118&year=1963&decade=60|title=Torpedo...LOS!|accessdate=2012-05access-date=May 20, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation|archive-date=July 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708191816/http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0118&year=1963&decade=60|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, ''Torpedo...Los!'' was part of Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery of September 28 &ndash;– October 24, 1963, that included ''[[Drowning Girl]]'', ''[[Baseball Manager]]'', ''[[In the Car]]'', ''[[Conversation (Roy Lichtenstein)|Conversation]]'', and ''[[Whaam!]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|title=Chronology|accessdateaccess-date=June 9, 2013-06-09|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606071341/http://lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|archive-date=June 6, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=RLOF4>{{cite book|editor-last=Bader|title=Roy Lichtenstein: October Files|pages=2&ndash;4|chapter=Reviews 1962&ndash;64|last=Judd|first=Donald}}</ref> Marketing materials for the show included the [[lithograph]] artwork, ''[[Crak!]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/search.php?string=Crak&search_year=&search_series=|title=Search Result: CRAK!|accessdate=2013-06access-date=June 26, 2013|publisher=LichtensteinFoundation.org|archive-date=March 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312125702/http://image-duplicator.com/search.php?search_series=&search_year=&string=crak|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=RLGB>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|editor-last=Bader|editor-first=Graham|titleseries=Roy Lichtenstein: October Files|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-262-01258-4|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|last1=Lobel|first1=Michael|pages=118&ndash;20|ref=harv}}</ref>

On November 7, 1989, ''Torpedo...Los!'' sold at [[Christie's]] for $5.5 million (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|5.5|1989|r=1}}}} million in {{CURRENTYEARInflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) to Zurich dealer Thomas Ammann, which was a record for a [[work of art]] by Lichtenstein.<ref name=AdKWSARa$M>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/09/arts/a-de-kooning-work-sets-a-record-at-20.7-million.html|title=A de Kooning Work Sets A Record at $20.7 Million|accessdateaccess-date=May 9, 2012-05-09|date=November 9, 1989-11-09|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Reif, Rita}}</ref> The sale was described as the "highpoint" of a night in which Christie's achieved more than double the total sales prices of any other [[contemporary art]] auction up to that date.<ref>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/06/arts/art-prices-are-still-astonishing-but-fever-seems-to-be-cooling.html|title=Art Prices Are Still Astonishing, But Fever Seems to Be Cooling|accessdateaccess-date=May 9, 2012-05-09|date=December 6, 1989-12-06|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Reif, Rita}}</ref> The seller of the work was Beatrice C. Mayer, the widow of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago founder and board member Robert B. Mayer as well as daughter of [[Sara Lee Corporation]] founder [[Nathan Cummings]].<ref name=A>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/03/arts/auctions.html|title=Auctions|accessdateaccess-date=May 9, 2012-05-09|date=November 3, 1989-11-03|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Reif, Rita}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB37331AD0EB121&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Donors cite need for new art museum|accessdate=2009-08access-date=August 23, 2009|date=1991-01-January 29, 1991|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|author=Gillespie, Mary}}</ref> Prior to the sale the work was part of the Robert B. Mayer Memorial Loan Program and was exhibited at colleges and museums.<ref name=A/> ''Torpedo...Los!'' was expected to sell for $3 to 4 million at the time.<ref name=A/> In 1991, Mayer became one of the key benefactors of the new Museum of Contemporary Art Building.<ref name=Tesoanam>{{cite web|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB37331A6F45D82&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|title=Trustees endow success of a new art museum|accessdate=2009-08access-date=August 23, 2009|date=1991-01-January 29, 1991|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|author=Gillespie, Mary}}</ref>

==Description==

[[File:Roy Lichtenstein.jpg|thumb|upright|Lichtenstein in 1967]]

Measuring {{convert|68|x|80|in|cm|1}}, ''Torpedo...Los!'' is an oil on canvas painting.<ref name=TLLF/> By enlarging the face of the captain relative to the entire field, Lichtenstein makes him more prominent than in the source.<ref name=RLDW/> He retained the source's "clumsiness" in how the secondary figure is presented and replaced the dialogue with a much shorter "cryptic command".<ref name=RLDW/> The original source had dialog related to the repeated torpedoing of the same ship, but Lichtenstein cut the entire speech balloon down to two words. He moved the captain's scar from his nose to his cheek and he made the captain appear more aggressive by depicting him with his mouth wide open, also opting to leave the eye which was not looking through the periscope open. He also made the ship appear to be more technologically sophisticated with a variety of changes.<ref name=PAES>{{cite book|title=Pop Art|author=Shanes, Eric|isbn=978-1-84484-619-1|page=97|date=2009|publisher=Parkstone Press International|chapter=The Plates}}</ref> The scar was actually most readily apparent in panels other than the source from the same story.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=117|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref>

This work exemplifies Lichtenstein's theme relating to vision. Lichtenstein uses a "mechanical viewing device" to present his depiction of technically aided vision.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: All About Art |publisher=Louisiana Museum of Modern Art|editor=Holm, Michael Juul |editor2=Poul Erik Tøjner |editor3=Martin Caiger-Smith|date=2003|isbn=87-90029-85-2|page=85|chapter= Pop according To Lichtenstein |author=Lobel, Michael}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=120|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}, "Like ''Torpedo...LOS!'' and ''CRAK!'', each of these works contains the image of a mechanical aid to vision."</ref> The depicted mechanical device, a periscope in this case, forces the vision into a monocular format.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=119|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> In some of his works such as this, monocularity is a strong theme that is directly embodied although only by allusion.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=116|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> [[Michael Lobel]] notes that "...his work proposes a dialectical tension between monocular and binocular modes of vision, a tension that operates on the level of gender as well."<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=118|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> The work is regarded as one in which Lichtenstein exaggerated comic book sound effects in common pop art style.<ref>{{cite book|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA182&dqq=takka+takka+lichtenstein&hlpg=en&sa=X&ei=txTHUbnDGYXE9gSlloGIAQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=takka%20takka%20lichtenstein&f=falsePA182|title=Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon|accessdateaccess-date=2013-06-June 23, 2013|date=2001|isbn=0826413439|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|author=Brooker, Will|page=182}}</ref>

==Reception==

This painting exemplifies Lichtenstein's use of the background/foreground shift and ironic colloquialisms in critical commands.<ref>{{harvnb|Waldman|1993|page=97}}</ref> Although most of Lichtenstein's war imagery depicts American war themes, this depicts "a scarred German submarine captain at a battle station".<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|publisher=[[Praeger Publishers]]|editor=Coplans, John|isbn=0713907614|chapter=|date=1972|page=40}}</ref> The manner of depiction with the commander's face pressed against the [[periscope]] reflects fusions of industrial art of the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name=TPTLmF>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|author=Hendrickson, Janis|publisher=[[Benedikt Taschen]]|date=1993|isbn=3-8228-9633-0|page=38|chapter=The Pictures That Lichtenstein Made Famous, or The Pictures That Made Lichtenstein Famous}}</ref> The ironic aspect of this in 1963 is in part due to its temporal displacement referring back to World War II during the much later period of the [[Cold War]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Pollack and After: The Critical Debate|edition=second|editor=Frascina, Francis|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-22867-0|date=2000|page=141}}</ref> The styling of the balloon content, especially that of the large font characters, is complemented by or complementary to the other traditional visual content of the painting.<ref>{{cite webbook|title=Pop Art: A Critical History|editor=Madoff, Steven Henry|isbn=0-520-21018-2|date=1997|page=205|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|chapter=Focus: The Major Artists}}</ref> Lichtenstein's alterations heightened the sense of urgency in the image, however, they also offset that menace by forming a detached work.<ref name=PAES/> A November 1963 ''Art Magazine'' review stated that this was one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery.<ref name=RLOF4/>

==See also==

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==References==

*{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: October Files|editor=Bader, Graham|publisher=[[The MIT Press]]|date=2009|isbn=978-0-262-01258-4|page=|chapter=|author=|quote=}}

*{{cite book|title= Roy Lichtenstein|url= https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald|last1=Waldman|first1=Diane|date=1993|publisher=[[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]]|isbn=0-89207-108-7|chapter=War Comics, 1962&ndash;64|ref=harv}}

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120502233703/http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/torpedolos.htm Lichtenstein Foundation website]

*[httphttps://image-duplicatorwww.comlichtensteincatalogue.org/maincatalogue/entry.php?work_id=0118&year=1963&decadeid=60453 Lichtenstein Foundation details website]

{{Roy Lichtenstein}}