Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923–1997)
Modern Print, 1971
Lithograph and screenprint on Special Arjomari paper
Sheet: approximately 31 × 30 7/8 in. (78.7 × 78.4 cm)
Image: approximately 24 × 24 in. (61 × 61 cm)
Edition of 200
Signed “rf Lichtenstein” and dated “’71” in pencil, lower right; numbered edition of 200 in pencil, lower left
Published by the artist and Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, for The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Literature: Corlett 103
Framed

About the Work

Created in 1971, Modern Print is a quintessential example of Roy Lichtenstein’s transformation of the visual language of commercial printing and popular culture into one of the defining aesthetics of postwar American art.

The composition combines Lichtenstein’s signature Benday dots, bold primary colors, heavy black contours, and fragmented geometric forms in a tightly structured repeating pattern. While immediately recognizable as Lichtenstein, the work moves beyond the comic-strip imagery of his earlier 1960s pictures toward the increasingly formal and abstract investigations that occupied him during the 1970s.

The print was produced by the celebrated Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, and published by Gemini and the artist for The Museum of Modern Art, New York—an especially appealing institutional association for collectors.

Executed as a lithograph and screenprint on Special Arjomari paper, this example is from the edition of only 200, is signed and dated by Lichtenstein in pencil, and is recorded as Corlett 103 in the artist’s catalogue raisonné of prints.

With its strong primary palette and approximately 31-inch-square sheet, Modern Print has exceptional graphic presence while remaining an approachable scale for a residential or professional interior.