Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...: Difference between revisions

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Measuring 121.9&nbsp;cm × 121.9&nbsp;cm (48 in × 48 in), ''Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...'' is among the most famous of his early romance comic derivative works from the period when he was adapting cartoons and advertisements into his style via [[Ben-Day dots]]. The work is said to depict the classic romance-comic story line of temporary adversity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Art History|url=https://archive.org/details/arthistory00stok|url-access=registration|author=Stokstad, Marilyn|isbn=0-8109-1960-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/arthistory00stok/page/1129 1129]|chapter=Art in the United States And Europe since World War II|quote=''Oh, Jeff'', for example, compresses into a single frame the generic romance-comic story line, in which two people fall in love, face some sort of crisis, or "but," that temporarily threatens their relationship, and then live happily ever after.|publisher=[[Prentice Hall, Inc.]] and [[Harry N. Abrams, Inc.]]}}</ref> Lichtenstein's sketch for this was done in graphite and colored pencils on paper in a 4 3/4 x 4 3/4&nbsp;inches (12.1 x 12.1&nbsp;cm) scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_study_details.php?study_id=30014|title=Drawing for Oh Jeff...I Love You Too...But|accessdate=May 14, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref>

In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein produced several "fantasy drama" paintings of women in love affairs with domineering men causing women to be miserable, such as ''[[Drowning Girl]]'', ''Hopeless'' and ''[[In the Car]]''. These works served as prelude to 1964 paintings of innocent "girls next door" in a variety of tenuous emotional states such as in ''Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...''.<ref>{{cite book|title= Roy Lichtenstein|url= https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald/page/113| last = Waldman | first = Diane|page=[https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald/page/113 113]|year=1993|publisher=[[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]]|isbn=0-89207-108-7|quote=In other paintings by Lichtenstein, women are engaged in a series of fantasy dramas. ''Hopeless'' (fig. 104), ''Drowning Girl'' (fig. 106), and ''In the Car (fig. 103), all from 1963, and ''We Rose Up Slowly (fig. 108), 1964, revolve around love affairs in which the men are clearly in control and the women are usually depicted as miserable. These paintings set the state for a series of "girls" in various states of apparent anxiety, nervouseness, or fear, most of whom are portrayed as "the girl next door" or the innocent seductress, as in ''Blonde Waiting'' (fig. 112), ''Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...'' (fig. 111), ''Good Morning Darling'', and ''Seductive Girl'', all from 1964. The women protagonists in these dramas enact scenes filled with fabricated emotions.}}</ref> Using only a single frame from its source, ''Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But...''{{'}}s graphics are quite indicative of frustration, but the text in the speech balloon augment the romantic context and the emotional discord.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein| publisher =[[Praeger Publishers]]|editor-last =Coplans | editor-first = John| year=1972|page=16|quote=...the inclusion of the encapsulated legend "Oh, Jeff, I love you too, but..." immediately throws the image into a romantic context of unrequited passion.}}</ref> After 1963, Lichtenstein's comics-based women "...look hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly modish in appearance, as if they all came out of the same pot of makeup." This particular example is one of several that is cropped so closely that the hair flows beyond the edges of the canvas.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein |publisher=[[Praeger Publishers]]|editor=Coplans, John|page=23|chapter=Introduction, Biographical Notes, Chronology of Imagery and Art | year =1972|quote=Very often a head is cropped to such an extent that the hair flows outside the borders of the format...}}</ref> This was painted at the apex of Lichtenstein's use of enlarged dots, cropping and magnification of the original source.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective |publisher=[[Art Institute of Chicago]]| last1 =Rondeau | first1 = James | first2 = Sheena | last2 = Wagstaff|isbn= 978-0-300-17971-2 | year =2012|page=32|editor-last =Rigas | editor-first = Maia M.}}</ref> The tragic situations of his subjects makes his works a popular draw at museums.<ref name=RLARatNGoAWD />

The painting was sold for $210,000 (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|210000|1980|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) on May 15, 1980 at [[Sotheby's]], New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/asi/lots/1032817|title=Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923–1997): Oh Jeff, I love you too, but...|accessdate=May 15, 2012|work=Blouin Art Sales Index}}</ref> At the time, the work was part of the Abrams family collection.<ref>{{cite news|title=Contemporary Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture|date=May 1980|page=29|work=[[Art in America]]|volume=68|issue=5}}</ref> As of February 3, 1994, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reported that it was part of the Stefan T. Edlis Collection.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-03/news/vw-18388_1_charles-schulz|title=Good Grief! Show Will Salute Schulz|accessdate= May 15, 2012| date = February 3, 1994 |work= The [[Los Angeles Times]]| last =Loper | first = Mary Lou}}</ref>