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Robert Indiana
"Love Pen Drawing" Robert Indiana, Pop Art, Letters, Preparatory Drawing

circa 2014

$1,500
£1,151.94
€1,320.10
CA$2,111.63
A$2,365.49
CHF 1,230.35
MX$28,854.12
NOK 15,663.99
SEK 14,770.02
DKK 9,852.89

About the Item

Robert Indiana Love Pen Drawing Signed lower left Artist's marker and ink on paper 6 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches Provenance Gifted by the artist, Vinalhaven, Maine Private collection, Maine. Private Collection, New York. 2023 Robert Indiana was orphaned at birth and adopted as an infant by Earl and Carmen Clark. His childhood was tumultuous, as his family moved twenty-one times before his parents divorced when he was a teenager. Indiana was determined to pursue art, and chose to serve in the US Army Air Corps at the age of seventeen in order to attend the Art Institute of Chicago on the GI Bill following his service. After completing his degree, he moved to Lower Manhattan, where he lived and worked with several other artists. In 1956, two years after moving to New York, Indiana met Ellsworth Kelly, and upon his recommendation took up residence in Coenties Slip, once a major port on the southeast tip of Manhattan. There he joined a community of artists that would come to include Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, and Jack Youngerman. The environment of the Slip had a profound impact on Indiana’s work, and his early paintings include a series of hard-edge double ginkgo leaves inspired by the trees which grew in nearby Jeannette Park. He also incorporated the ginkgo forms into his nineteen-foot mural Stavrosis (1958), a crucifixion pieced together from forty-four sheets of paper that he found in his loft. It was upon completion of this work that Indiana adopted the name of his native state as his own. In 1958 he began using Indiana as his last name because he felt Clark was too common, and he wanted to copy Renaissance artists whose last names were the names of their towns. He is best known for his iconic 1966 Love sculpture and related prints, on which the widely distributed US postage stamp is based. Although acknowledged as a leader of Pop, Indiana distinguished himself from his Pop peers by addressing important social and political issues and incorporating profound historical and literary references into his works. American literary references appear in paintings such as The Calumet (1961) and Melville (1961), exhibited in 1962 in Indiana’s first New York solo exhibition, held at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery. In 1964 Indiana accepted Philip Johnson’s invitation to design a new work for the New York State Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, creating a twenty–foot EAT sign composed of flashing lights, and collaborated with Andy Warhol on the film Eat, a silent portrait of Indiana eating a mushroom in his Coenties Slip studio. His first European solo exhibition took place in 1966 at Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf, Germany, and featured his Number paintings (1964–65), a series of works on a theme that he has explored in various formats throughout his career.
  • Creator:
    Robert Indiana (1928 - 2018, American)
  • Creation Year:
    circa 2014
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6.75 in (17.15 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Unique workPrice: $1,500
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1841216724982

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Robert Indiana ERR 1963: A rare, sought-after early Robert Indiana print defined by surreal, experimental cinematic-like energy. Hand-signed by Indiana on the lower right. Medium: Photoengraving and etching on Rives BFK. Dimensions: 4 1/2x6 inches (including margins). Very good overall vintage condition. Signed, dated and inscribed "Artist's Proof 'E'" and "CHI" in pencil, lower margin. Rare Trial proof, aside from the main edition of 60. Printed by the artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Further background: According to Susan Sheehan, Indiana printed only six progressive trial proofs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he learned printmaking from 1949 to 1952, under the supervision of Vera Berdich (inscribed "CHI"). Additionally 13 trial proofs were printed at the Pratt Graphic Art Center, New York (these inscribed "NYC"). The regular edition was printed by Atelier Georges Lablanc, Paris and published by Galleria Schwarz, Milan to be included in International Anthology of Contemporary Engraving: The International Avant-Garde: America Discovered, Volume 5. The plate used for this print was originally given to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago by the R.R. Donnelly Company, printers of Life magazine. Indiana discovered the plate while visiting Berdich at the school and decided to use it in his contribution to the Avant-garde portfolio. Sheehan 29. Robert Indiana 1991: "When I went back to the Art Institute of Chicago at that particular time - I think I was judging a show - I learned that Vera Berdich (Indiana's former teacher) was still there and the idea occurred to me, wouldn't it be fun to do a visiting artist etching, and she concurred. There on the floor was a box of copper plates and the images had been defaced on each one. These copper plates had been donated by the R.R. Donnelly Company, which put out Life magazine. I used to work for Donnelly. My only commercial art job was with them doing the little drawing that appear in the Yellow Pages, like lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners and things like that. Anyway, the idea being that the student was supposed to turn the plate over to use the back side and forget about the image on the front. But I found this image of this actress sitting on her bed with her ironing board and decided it was only very lightly defaced, so I asked if I could use it. And the word "Err" was actually added in New York; it was not in the first proofs in Chicago. Two weeks later, I was thumbing through LIFE magazine and there was this actress in the same page..." About the artist: Robert Indiana is best known for his iconic “LOVE” image, which has appeared across media including sculptures, prints, and paintings and epitomizes the artist’s graphic, predominantly text-based Pop art practice. Throughout his career, Indiana reimagined the aesthetics of American advertisements...
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Artist: Robert Indiana (American, 1928-2018) Title: "LOVE (Plate 4)" Portfolio: Book of Love *Signed and dated by Indiana in pencil lower right Year: 1996 Medium: Original Screenprint on A.N.W. Crestwood Museum Edition paper Limited edition: 75/200, (there were also 50 impressions in roman numerals) Printer: Freeman Burks of American Image Editions, New York, NY Publisher: Michael McKenzie of American Image Editions, New York, NY Framing: Framed in a contemporary silver moulding and silver filet with white cotton rag matting Framed size: 32.13" x 30.63" Sheet size: 24" x 20" Image size: 18.19" x 18" Condition: Minor cosmetic wear to frame. In excellent condition Notes: Provenance: private collection - Cincinnati, OH. Numbered by Indiana in pencil lower left. Comes from Indiana's 1996 "Book of Love" portfolio of twelve screenprints of the same image in various colors, originally issued in a black-lettered brown paper-covered folio with accompanying twelve poems. Besides the Arabic and Roman numeral editions, there were also 15 artist's proofs. Technical Director: Peter Engert; Plate Maker: James Harvey; Counsel: Gregory S. Smith, Esq.; Fabricator: Al Hirshson; and Die Maker: York Display. Printed in three colors: white, gray, and dark gray. The "Book of Love" project was conceived by the artist as a portfolio that would make a definitive statement on his masterpiece "LOVE", fulfilling his original vision as both a poet and a painter. The prints in the portfolio were created by Indiana as illustrations for his own love poems, written circa 1958-1973. The prints were produced in silkscreen using oil based paints on a newly created fine art paper that he found perfect for rendering "LOVE", which demands a precise line and radiant true color. The poems each have a highly raised embossment of "LOVE", trapped in colors, just below the title. Each print is hand pencil signed, and each poem hand pencil initialed by the artist. Biography: Robert Indiana was born on September 13, 1928 named Robert Clark in New Castle...
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