M-Maybe
| M-Maybe (a girl's picture) |
|---|
| Roy Lichtenstein , 1965 |
| Acrylic (Magna) on canvas |
| 152 × 152 cm |
| Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Link to the picture |
M-Maybe (a girl's picture) is a 1965 Pop Art painting by Roy Lichtenstein . Today it is one of his most famous works and belongs to the collection of the Museum Ludwig , Cologne .
history
The motif shows, enlarged - and with grid points typical for Lichtenstein's technique - a blonde comic girl in front of the backdrop of a large American city. In the thought bubble is M-Maybe he became ill and couldn't leave the studio (M-maybe he got sick and couldn't leave the studio ), a text that gave rise to numerous interpretations. Wolfgang Max Faust wrote: The great feelings of the illusory reality of the comic are increased again. The texts show the standardization of consciousness and at the same time - irritatingly - the hold that the language clichés offer.
When Lichtenstein had his first solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in February 1962 , his pictures were already sold out before the opening. His engagement ring sold for $ 1200 and Blum for $ 1000. The prices for his art rose sharply within a short time.
The painting M-Maybe from 1965 was shown at Documenta IV in 1968 , where the Rhenish manufacturer and art collector Peter Ludwig saw it. After the exhibition was over, Ludwig went to see the picture, which was considered not for sale, and in 1969 offered Lichtenstein the usual market price estimated by Castelli in his studio. Only when Ludwig doubled the purchase price did the artist agree to the sale, which was now handled through Leo Castelli.
The picture is painted with Magna paints containing pigments made from acrylic resin. These colors dry quickly and matte, which suited Lichtenstein's style of painting and expression.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Max Faust: Pictures become words: on the relationship between fine art and literature from Cubism to the present , Volume 196 by DuMont Taschenbücher, ISBN 978-3-77011895-3 , p. 17
- ↑ Reiner Speck : Peter Ludwig, Collector , Volume 533 of Insel taschenbuch, 1986 ISBN 3-458-32233-7 , p. 84
- ↑ There are different statements in the literature about the amount of the purchase price, which fluctuate between USD 30,000 and USD 40,000
- ↑ James and Sheena Wagstaff: Roy Lichtenstein: Eine Retrospective , Art Institute of Chicago, 2012, p. 75