Torpedo...Los!: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:29, 3 August 2013

Revision as of 04:35, 3 August 2013

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==Background==

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

The source of the image is "Battle of the Ghost Ships?" in [[D.C. 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 book|author=Waldman|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=Roy 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>

==Description==

Measuring {{convert|68|x|80|in|cm|1}}, ''Torpedo...Los!'' is an oil on canvas painting.<ref>{{cite web|urlname=http:TLLF//www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/torpedolos.htm|title=Torpedo...Los!|accessdate=2013-08-03|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref> 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" of the secondary figure and replaced the dialogue with a much shorter "cryptic command".<ref name=RLDW/> The original source had dialog related to 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 telescope 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>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=117|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael}}</ref>

This exemplifies Lichtenstein's theme relating to vision. He 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, Poul Erik Tøjner and Martin Caiger-Smith|date=2003|isbn=87-90029-85-2|page=85|chapter= Pop according To Lichtenstein |author=Lobel, Michael}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=120|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael|quote=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>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=119|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael}}</ref> In some of his works such as this, monocularity is a strong theme that is directly embodied although only by allusion.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=116|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael}}</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>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=118|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael|quote=}}</ref> The work is regarded as one in which Lichtenstein over-exaggerated comic book sound effects in common pop art style.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA182&dq=takka+takka+lichtenstein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=txTHUbnDGYXE9gSlloGIAQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=takka%20takka%20lichtenstein&f=false|title=Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon|accessdate=2013-06-23|date=2001|isbn=0826413439|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|author=Brooker, Will|page=182}}</ref>