Roy Lichtenstein: Magnifying glass

I bought a copy of Roy Lichtenstein (Benedikt Taschen, 1988) from a BOOKSALE outlet a few weeks ago. In a chapter titled “A Closer Look at Benday Dots,” I saw for the first time an image of Lichtenstein’s painting Magnifying glass (1963). (The image below is from IMAGE DUPLICATOR.) I laughed out loud when I first saw it. It is only now that I understand what is so funny about it.

Roy Lichtenstein, Magnifying glass, 1963

The Ben Day dots are intended to indicate that the region has a color that is a combination of the color of the dots and the color of the background. In this case, the intent is to tell the reader that the region with the dots is colored gray (black dots, white background). If a region is magnified, the image that results would still be the same color as the original. (See the edited image below left.) So, the “correct” way to represent the situation is as shown below right, with no change in the Ben Day dots of the original image and the magnified image.

Edited images showing the “realistic” situation (left) and the “correct” Ben Day dots (right)

With Ben Day dots, it is understood that there aren’t actually any black dots. Lichtenstein’s painting is funny because it confuses a model of a reality (a gray plane) with a model of a different reality (a plane with dots).

Girl with Hair Ribbon

I just bought a black Uniqlo short-sleeve graphic T-shirt with an image of a Roy Lichtenstein painting on the front. (There is no image on the back.)

Uniqlo T-shirt image

The original painting, titled “Girl with Hair Ribbon,” is colored but the image on the T-shirt is grayscale. There were two tags attached.

Tags attached to the T-shirt. Shown at bottom right is the back of the tag shown at top right.

It was only after I bought the shirt that I realized that it is intended for women. But that’s no problem because it fits me very nicely. It seems that this shirt is being sold in the United States for $19.90 (currently around PhP 995). The original price of PhP 790 went down to PhP 590, but for some reason I was only charged PhP 390 for it.

T-shirt back neck label and image on left sleeve.

There is a drawing of a diamond on the left sleeve. I love the simplicity of the T-shirt.

Roy Lichtenstein: Reverie

I had forgotten that my wife and I had bought two K12 Art Print Kits from a BOOKSALE outlet some time ago. One of them (American Art B) had a copy of Roy Lichtenstein’s 1965 Reverie (artist’s proof). The print measures 8 inches by 10 inches. (Click on the images to see higher-resolution versions.)

Roy Lichtenstein: Nurse

This morning I discovered that my blog had 123 views from 95 visitors (from 13 countries) yesterday (November 10, 2015). This is way beyond the usual 20 to 30 daily views I normally get. I found out that most of the traffic was from visitors using the search terms “roy lichtenstein nurse.” (A previous blog post showed a study for Nurse.)
It turns out that Roy Lichtenstein’s Nurse (1964) was sold last November 9, 2015 by Christie’s for US$ 95,365,000 (including fees), a new record for a Lichtenstein work. (The previous record was when his Woman with Flowered Hat (1963) was sold for $56,123,750 on May 15, 2013.)

The Right to Know

The image above shows Norman Rockwell’s The Right to Know painted in 1968. (I got the original image from here.)

Magellan’s Cross

A tour of Cebu City (done during the EARCOME 7 conference) is not complete without a visit to Magellan’s Cross. Shown above is the outside of the chapel housing the cross.

Shown above is a plaque located above an entrance of the chapel and created by the Philippines Historical Committee in 1941. (Click on the image to see a higher-resolution version.)

At the bottom of the cross is a sign that states:

Magellan’s Cross
This Cross of Tindalo Wood
Encases the Original Cross Planted
By Ferdinand Magellan On This Very Site
April 21, 1521

There is a mural on the ceiling signed by Serry M. Josol and Jess Roa. I didn’t have time to take lots of pictures so the photomontage above is the best I could do.

Mathimathixs

Here is a drawing my daughter made when she was almost six years old.

Roy Lichtenstein: Woman with Flowered Hat

Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 Woman with Flowered Hat has recently been sold by Christie’s for $56,123,750, a world auction record for Lichtenstein.  (I got the picture on the left from here.) Christie’s May 2013 Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale achieved $495 million, the highest total in auction history.  This painting was Lot 34 of Sale 2785, and was estimated to sell for around $30 million.

From the Lot Notes:

He had taken images and objects from popular culture and smuggled them into the realms of High Art. With the present work he began to reverse the process by converting the hallowed canon of art into “five-and-dime-store” pictures.

According to this blog (from which I got an image which I edited to get the picture on the right), Lichtenstein based his painting on Pablo Picasso’s 1939-1940 Femme au chapeau fleuri.

Electric Cord

(Originally posted at http://joelnoche.multiply.com/journal/item/106/Electric-Cord on August 3, 2012 8:37 AM)

A painting by Roy Lichtenstein that was reported stolen in 1970 was located a few weeks ago in a warehouse in New York City.  (More information can be found here.)

The painting Electric Cord is a 28″ x 18″ oil on canvas painted in 1961.  (I got the picture on the left from here.)  Leo Castelli bought it in the 1960s for $750 and sent it out to be cleaned in 1970 but never got it back.  Its current value is estimated at $4 million.

According to Wikipedia, Electric Cord was “part of a 1961 trilogy of common commercial goods” (along with Roto Broil and Turkey) “that are considered his first ‘full-fledged images’.”

I’m not particularly impressed by Electric Cord.  I think that Roy Lichtenstein’s other paintings (like Roto Broil) are better.

Tony DeZuniga

(Originally posted at http://joelnoche.multiply.com/journal/item/98/Tony-DeZuniga on May 12, 2012 10:33 AM)

According to Wikipedia, Tony DeZuniga “was the first Filipino comic book artist whose work was accepted by American publishers, paving the way for many other Filipino artists to do break into the international comic book industry.”  He passed away yesterday.

Last year my sister bought a print (shown on the left) by DeZuniga (the initials “adz” are on the lower right) and gave it to me as a gift.  The print is signed (but not numbered) and the paper size is 13 inches by 19 inches.  (I made some minor edits to the edges of the picture.)

The print is apparently a pinup (on page 57) from Savage Sword of Conan #59.  (The picture on the right was taken from here.)