Sotheby’s expects Roy Lichtenstein’s Female Head (1977) to make up to $15m in its November 16 Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York.
The painting has been in the same collection since it was first painted.
This will be its debut at auction.
Female Head is just over 4 feet in width
Female head was executed during a brief time when Lichtenstein combined his pop art style with the studied weirdness of surrealism.
But it’s surrealism done his way. As Sotheby’s puts it: “From the signature blonde to the female figure, the Ben-Day dots to the brushstroke, and finally the mirror to the picture frame, all of his trademarks are present in this work.”
That’s going to be a huge draw to collectors.
The record for Lichtenstein’s work is $95.4m, set for Nurse (1964) – another of his classic blondes.
Gregoire Billault, head of Sotheby’s contemporary art department in New York, said: “To stand in front of this painting is to understand and appreciate Roy Lichtenstein’s enduring engagement with beguiling blondes, as well as his brilliance as one of the trailblazers of Pop Art.
“Vividly combining his favorite subject with his distinctive visual lexicon, Female Head is a magnum opus of the artist that will have universal appeal to collectors today."
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