Torpedo...Los!: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:25, 19 January 2015

Revision as of 23:50, 10 February 2015

Line 22:

==Background==

[[File:Our Fighting Forces number 71.jpg|thumb|left|The source of ''Torpedo...Los!'' is "Battle of the Ghost Ships?" in DC Comics' ''Our Fighting Forces'' (October 1962).]]

The source of the image is "Battle of the Ghost Ships?" in [[DC Comics]]' ''Our Fighting Forces'' (October 1962), although the content of the speech balloon is different (this is edition number 72 according to some sources and 71 (a) according to others).<ref name=RLDW>{{cite bookharvnb|author=Waldman|1993|pages=96&ndash;97, 104|title=<nowiki></nowiki>}}</ref><ref name=TLLF>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0118&year=1963&decade=60|title=Torpedo...LOS!|accessdate=2012-05-20|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</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|accessdate=2013-06-09|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref><ref name=RLOF4>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=2&ndash;4|chapter=Reviews 1962&ndash;64|author=Judd, 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=2013-06-26|publisher=LichtensteinFoundation.org}}</ref><ref name=RLGB>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|editor=Bader, Graham|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|date=2009|isbn=978-0-262-01258-4|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael|pages=118&ndash;20}}</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 {{CURRENTYEAR}} 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=http://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|accessdate=2012-05-09|date=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=http://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|accessdate=2012-05-09|date=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=http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/03/arts/auctions.html|title=Auctions|accessdate=2012-05-09|date=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=2009-08-23|date=1991-01-29|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=2009-08-23|date=1991-01-29|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|author=Gillespie, Mary}}</ref>

Line 32:

==Reception==

This painting exemplifies Lichtenstein's use of the background/foreground shift and ironic colloquialisms in critical commands.<ref>{{cite bookharvnb|author=Waldman|1993|page=97|title=<nowiki></nowiki>}}</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 web|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/>

==Notes==

Line 39:

==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|authorlast1=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==