Nude Reading
Nude Reading
Signed Print
Roy Lichtenstein
78 x 92cm, Edition of 60, Relief print, 1994
£180,000-£270,000
$340,000-$510,000 Market Value Indicator
$330,000-$500,000 Market Value Indicator
¥1,640,000-¥2,460,000 Market Value Indicator
€210,000-€310,000 Market Value Indicator
$1,890,000-$2,840,000 Market Value Indicator
¥38,490,000-¥57,740,000 Market Value Indicator
$240,000-$360,000 Market Value Indicator
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Track auction value trend
Meaning & Analysis
Roy Lichtenstein’s daring contributions to Pop Art undoubtedly secured the movement’s prominence in the realm of contemporary art. The artist delved into a broad array of subject matter throughout his career. His Nudes from 1994 zeroed in on the iconography of nudes, interrogating the enduring art historical heritage of this particular mode of representation.
Taking inspiration from two of his most significant art historical influences, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Lichtenstein abstracts the female body to its essential forms. While comic heroines have frequently featured in the artist’s creative practice, the intimate scenes captured in his Nudes depict an entirely new interpretation of femininity. Just as in traditional paintings, Lichtenstein’s Nudes remain generic objects of desire. By eliminating a leading male trope, however, the overall impression of the print calls attention to the beholder’s voyeuristic tendencies.
Observing Nude Reading feels as though one is intruding on the heroine, who is deeply absorbed in her reading. The book she is holding covers most of her face, while her body is obscured by dots and stripes. Lichtenstein’s use of varied planes of Ben Day dots within the composition supply the figure with great depth and heightened dimensionality. Nude Reading is unbothered, unaware and quite frankly all together uninterested in the world outside her comfortable and brightly coloured interior.
