Happy Tears (Lichtenstein) Explained

Happy Tears
Artist:Roy Lichtenstein
Movement:Pop art
Height Metric:96.5
Width Metric:96.5
Height Imperial:38
Width Imperial:38

Happy Tears is a 1964 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It formerly held the record for highest auction price for a Lichtenstein painting.

History

On November 13, 2002, Happy Tears surpassed Kiss II, which had sold for $6.0 million in May 1990,[1] by selling for $7.1 million at Christie's auction house in New York.[2] In November 2005, the 1963 work In the Car surpassed Happy Tears Lichtenstein work record auction price, when it sold for $16.2 million.[3] [4]

Happy Tears was acquired at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, in 1964. It did not change hands until it was sold again on November 13, 2002, at auction at Christie's in New York.[5] The owner lent this work for exhibition twice in the late 1960s. From November 1967 to May 1968, the exhibit made stops at the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Tate Gallery (London), Kunsthalle Bern (Bern), and Kestner-Gesellschaft (Hannover). From September to November 1969, it was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.[5] It was then displayed at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City in 2008.[6] [7]

When the American independent comedy-drama film entitled Happy Tears, starring Parker Posey, Demi Moore, Rip Torn, Sebastian Roché,[8] and Ellen Barkin, which was written and directed by Roy Lichtenstein's son, Mitchell Lichtenstein,[9] was marketed, the film poster prominently included the image of his father's work. The film was named after this painting.[10]

Details

After 1963, Lichtenstein's comics-based women "look hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly modish in appearance, as if they all came out of the same pot of makeup." This particular example is one of several that is cropped so closely that the hair flows beyond the edges of the canvas.[11] The image is made more poignant by the cropping and positioning of the fingers.[12] The woman exudes a sense of relief over something that is outside the canvas.[13]

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: $6 Million Is Paid For Lichtenstein. Miami Herald. 5D. May 9, 1990. May 17, 2012. subscription .
  2. Web site: Auction record for pop artist. May 15, 2012. November 15, 2002. BBC News.
  3. Web site: Record $22.4 million paid for a Rothko. May 17, 2012. November 10, 2005. The New York Times. Melikian, Souren.
  4. Lichtenstein Tops Warhol in Auction. May 17, 2012. November 11, 2010. Time. Kelly, Tara.
  5. Web site: Sale 1150 / Lot 30: Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997): Happy Tears. May 21, 2012. November 13, 2002. Christies.
  6. Web site: Roy Lichtenstein at Gagosian: "Happy Tears" (1964). May 21, 2012. June 10, 2008. The New York Times.
  7. Web site: The Painter Who Adored Women. May 21, 2012. June 11, 2008. The New York Times. Smith, Roberta.
  8. News: Happy Tears. June 7, 2012. Variety. February 11, 2009. Leslie Felperin.
  9. Web site: The Many Shades of Family Dysfunction. June 6, 2012. February 19, 2010. Dargis, Manohla. The New York Times.
  10. Web site: Mitchell Lichtenstein Continues Bad Filmmaking with Happy Tears. May 21, 2012. February 16, 2010. Village Voice. Anderson, Melissa.
  11. Book: Coplans. 23. Very often a head is cropped to such an extent that the hair flows outside the borders of the format ....
  12. Book: Coplans. 40. ... in Happy Tears (1964) the cropped fingers enhance the poignancy of the image..
  13. Book: Roy Lichtenstein: All About Art . Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Holm, Michael Juul . Poul Erik Tøjner . Martin Caiger-Smith. Tøjner, Poul Erik. 2003. 87-90029-85-2. 19. I Know How You Must Feel .... There are close-up studies of melodramatic studies of melodramatic behavior like Frightened Girl or Happy Tears, both from 1964, but even here the narrative horizon is close at hand ... the happy girl radiates relief over something or someone that is no longer – or perhaps precisely is – out of the picture .

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