The Tamesis
This spring, Gagosian Gallery will host its 14th Roy Lichtenstein exhibition. Titled “Scattered Brushstroke Paintings,” the exhibition draws inspiration solely from the Lichtenstein family collection, showcasing paintings, sculptures, watercolors and works on paper from the 1970s and 1980s.
The show, which opens on March 19 at the gallery’s 541 West 24th Street space, coincides with a frantic marketing campaign for the late Pop artist and the Whitney Museum’s major Lichtenstein retrospective later this year.
Related articles
In April last year, Sotheby’s announced that it would auction more than 40 works by the artist’s family, with an estimated value of more than $35 million. In September it held a dedicated single-owner auction of more than 90 works from the collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein. Then in November, the auction house sold eight works from the series as part of the auction house’s Contemporary Evening Sale, resulting in $20.7 million, a 100% sell-through rate. In total, Sotheby’s sold nearly $150 million worth of Lichtenstein artworks.
The Gagosian exhibition focuses on a theme that Lichtenstein returns to again and again: the brushstroke. In the 1960s, with Abstract Expressionism fully established, and the gesture of large brushstrokes assuming almost mythical status, Lichtenstein began to paint this kind of mark-making as images themselves. He flattens them, outlines them, turns them into symbols. What had been a spontaneous mark became Lichtenstein’s classic image.
By the 1970s and 1980s, he returned to the subject with new clarity. The brushwork becomes both subject and commentary. In these later works, the markings are bold, graphic and thoughtful. It’s so carefully put together that it looks almost mechanical.
Stefan Ratibor, managing director of Gagosian Gallery, said the gallery has generated “incredible interest in his work on every level” over the past year, especially ahead of the Whitney show, which will be the museum’s first major survey of the artist in more than two decades.
The Whitney Museum has played a central role in his legacy, with his foundation donating more than 400 works to the museum over the years, and his widow, Dorothy, donating Roy’s studio to the museum in 2022 to serve as the home for his independent research projects. After first exhibiting in the 1965 Whitney Annual, Lichtenstein conducted a major mid-career survey at the Whitney in 1981. That exhibition was held in the Breuer Building, the same building used by Sotheby’s for its recent November auction. This symmetry tends to resonate with collectors (and marketers).
As to why the family brought so much material to market in one concentrated period, the gallery says the answer is practical. The estate has financial obligations that need to be met and is working with Sotheby’s to select works that are likely to perform well at auction.
Latibor also emphasized that the upcoming exhibition is not a repeat of the one shown at the auction, but rather serves as a complement. The gallery held Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibition in 1998 and has highlighted different aspects of his work in more than a dozen exhibitions. Gagosian’s focus on a defining theme in Lichtenstein’s visual language, along with strong auction results and a Whitney retrospective, aims to keep the artist firmly in the spotlight.
