Mitchell-Innes & Nash

Roy Lichtenstein · October 7 - November 12, 2005

534 W 26th Street
October 7 - November 12, 2005

Press Release

Paintings
Chelsea: October 7 – November 12, 2005

Drawings
Uptown: September 19 – November 12, 2005

New York, June 20, 2005 – Mitchell-Innes & Nash is pleased to present Lichtenstein: Surrealism, an exhibition in two parts featuring 10 major Lichtenstein paintings and 30 works on paper dating from 1976 to 1979. The exhibition of paintings will inaugurate the new Mitchell-Innes & Nash space in Chelsea, located at 534 West 26th Street. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be "Cosmology," a nine-foot-long painting from 1978 that showcases many of the themes of Lichtenstein’s rich Surrealist period. The works on paper, including many drawings on public view for the first time, will be exhibited at Mitchell-Innes & Nash uptown, located at 1018 Madison Avenue at 78th Street. Together, the exhibitions will reveal Lichtenstein's passionate engagement with art history and his unique ability to make it his own. Mitchell-Innes & Nash is the exclusive representative of the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.

Lichtenstein's interest in art historical motifs resulted in many works that reference Cubism, Futurism, Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism. During the mid-to-late 1970s, he frequently drew upon Surrealist imagery, with a particular focus on the paintings of Dali, Magritte, and Picasso. The works from this series endow archetypal Surrealist tropes such as dreamlike landscapes with Lichtenstein's distinctive style, weaving Lichtenstein himself into an art historical narrative. The paintings and drawings on view will provide a glimpse into the development of some of Lichtenstein's best-known motifs, including the single eye with a teardrop and the "self portraits" in which various objects represent the artist's head and face.

Lichtenstein: Surrealism has been organized with the cooperation and support of Dorothy Lichtenstein and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery will publish a fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by critic and scholar Charles F. Stuckey and a work of short fiction by Frederic Tuten, author of the celebrated novel The Green Hour.

Listing Information:
An opening reception will be held at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Chelsea:
Friday, October 7, from 6 to 8 pm.

Gallery Locations:
Mitchell-Innes & Nash (Chelsea)
534 West 26th Street between 10th and 11th
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 6pm
Mitchell-Innes & Nash (Uptown)
1018 Madison Avenue between 78th and 79th
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 5pm