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Thursday, January 26, 2017

"Foot Medication Poster," 1963; Lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein


Foot Medication Poster, 1963; Lithograph on off-white wove paper; Signed Roy Lichtenstein 53/100 in pencil lower left; "Roy Lichtenstein, FOOT MEDICATION, 1963." printed lower right; Published by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; Size - Sheet 23" x 16 3/4", Image 15 1/2" x 15 1/2", Mat 30 x 24"; Single matted; Catalog Raisonne: Corlett: App. 3.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"Drawing is the basis of my art. It is where my thinking takes place." - Roy Lichtenstein

Between 1961 and 1968 during the height of the Pop art movement, Roy Lichtenstein created about fifty large black-and-white drawings. The source of the imagery was derived from consumer pop culture, and included such banal objects as baked potatoes, commercial advertisements (including foot medication), and BB guns. The drawings were created to be reminiscent of cheap printed commercial illustrations, and were conceived and created completely independently from paintings of the same time period.


Close up of the image of "Foot Medication Poster," 1963.

Foot Medication Poster was created to advertise an artist group drawing show at Leo Castelli Gallery from May 20 - June 30, 1963. Printed in large type in the bottom margin of the poster was the following:

Drawings
Lee Bontecou * Nassos Daphnis * Jasper Johns
Roy Lichtenstein * Robert Moskowitz
Robert Rauschenberg * Frank Stella
Jack Tworkov * Gerald van de Wiele
Saturday May 18th through June 1963 * Leo Castelli * 4 East 77

The image used for the poster was one of Roy Lichtenstein's drawings that was included in the exhibition, "Foot Medication" (Bianchini 1971, no. 62.2). Some of the posters were printed without the exhibition text and 100 of those were hand signed and numbered by Roy Lichtenstein. It is this signed and numbered edition that is the most rare and desired by both collectors and museums (The Museum of Modern Art, NY has a signed and numbered impression in their permanent collection).


Close up of the Roy Lichtenstein hand signature and the edition number.


Close up of the printed artist name, title, and date for "Foot Medication Poster," 1963.

Roy Lichtenstein's series of paintings from 1973-74 entitled Artist's Studios, marked the beginning of the integration of his own artworks back into his paintings. The series was inspired by Henri Matisse's paintings Red Studio and Pink Studio, both from 1911. The works contain specific Matisse imagery, fruit and foliage from his still lifes, and his famed dancers; all re-purposed back into an interior studio still life. Lichtenstein repurposed Matisse's idea, but with a modern format.


Artist's Studio "Foot Medication", 1974
Oil and Magna on canvas
243.8 x 325.1 cm (96 x 128 in.)
Gift of Edlis Neeson Collection, 2015.131

In this wonderful and large canvas entitled: Artist's Studio "Foot Medication", 1974, (Chicago Institute of Art) Lichtenstein created a room interior that is populated with his own paintings. The most prominent painting in the room is "Foot Medication" hanging in the upper left of the composition, directly above a radiator.


Matted "Foot Medication Poster," 1963.

This is a rare and important work by Roy Lichtenstein, and it is an image that he would use and rework for decades. The image of "Foot Medication" is that of a hand dabbing medication onto the top of a foot using a cotton ball. A large benday dot image from the early 1960's, from the most collected time period in the Pop Art movement. A great addition to any art collection!

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