Printed Originals presents
Roy Lichtenstein Original posters · 1923–1997
In this issue: a painter of dots and outlines, his dealer on West Broadway, and the museum posters on both sides of 1997.
From Castelli announcements to his 1969 Guggenheim circle, Lichtenstein’s posters carry the same dots and outlines as his paintings.
27 posters inside
Page II · Made as posters
Some pictures were made for the poster itself!
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Most of his posters reproduce a painting…
…but a few began as pictures made for the job.
A museum, a theatre, a ballet and an arts federation. Four commissions, four panels.
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1969. His first solo show at a New York museum.
The Guggenheim circle, Corlett 83. The same image was issued as a signed screenprint, numbered in an edition of 250, and as this poster.
Available · from £1,040.00 · View this poster → -
1968. A play needs a poster.
Merton of the Movies, for the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre. Screenprinted on silver foil: Corlett 61. Imprint © 1968 HKL Ltd.
Available · from £500.00 · View this poster → -
1988. The New York City Ballet’s American Music Festival.
The year is printed in the design. So is the sponsor: printing courtesy of Philip Morris Companies Inc.
Available · from £540.00 · View this poster → -
1909–1989. The American Federation of Arts turns eighty.
ART, in his outlines and dots. Pencil-signed screenprints of this design exist. Our poster has no pencil signature.
Available · from £380.00 · View this poster → -
Same picture. Two issues.
Print or poster?
The 1969 screenprint carries his pencil signature and a number. The poster carries the publisher’s imprint and neither. Ours reads © 1969 Poster Originals Ltd, so it is the poster.
The circle on the cover of ARTnews
The 1969 Guggenheim image is number 83 in Corlett’s catalogue of his prints: a screenprint on Rives paper, 73 × 73 cm, signed and numbered in an edition of 250. It was also issued as a poster, and it ran on the cover of ARTnews in October 1969. Some listings call the poster a limited edition of 3,000. We have found no source for that, so we do not repeat it.
Page III · Leo Castelli
Meanwhile, at 420 West Broadway…
Leo Castelli gave Lichtenstein his first show of cartoon paintings in 1962. For later shows at his gallery on West Broadway, Castelli printed posters of new paintings.
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November 1–22, 1975.
The Red Horseman, as an offset lithograph. Some copies were signed and dedicated by him in pencil, lower right. Ours shows no pencil mark, but our photograph is trimmed at the foot, so we are checking the margin of the poster itself.
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record → -
Nine years later…
The Red Horseman rides again!
In 1984 the same painting returned on his poster for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, one of fifteen artists commissioned. Some copies are pencil-signed. We do not have it in stock.
28 April – 19 May 1979.
Two Stepping Outs. Spot the difference.
The man comes from Léger’s Three Musicians of 1944. The woman recalls Picasso’s women of the 1930s. We hold two printings of the poster. Point at a row to compare.
With the Castelli line
- Gallery line
- LEO CASTELLI, in blue, at the foot
- Dates
- 28 April to 19 May 1979 · 420 West Broadway
- Small print
- None we can read
- Our label
- Unsigned original, printed in his lifetime
Without it
- Gallery line
- None
- Dates
- The same 1979 dates, with title and dates in red
- Small print
- A small imprint, lower left
- Our label
- Unsigned original, printed in his lifetime
A new label on our posters
What does “unsigned original” mean?
Unsigned original
It was printed in his lifetime, for his own show or commission, and this copy has no signature. It is not a copy made after him. Most of our Lichtenstein posters carry this label.
- Pencil in the margin?Hand-signed.
- His initials printed in the picture?Plate-signed. Rare with him.
- Printed by 1997, no signature?Unsigned original.
- A later show, or an Estate credit?After Lichtenstein.
Page IV · After 1997
Which issue? Before 1997, or after?
Lichtenstein died on 29 September 1997. His museum posters fall either side of that date. After it, the credit line names the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Pick a cover to filter the wall.
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Lifetime
1981 · Saint Louis Art Museum, ‘Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980’, 8 May–28 June
Available · from £390.00 · View this poster → -
Lifetime
1983 · The same touring show at Fundación Juan March, Madrid, 14 January–20 March
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record → -
Lifetime
1987 · LACMA · Cold Shoulder, painted in 1963
Available · from £330.00 · View this poster → -
Lifetime
1989 · Museum Ludwig, Köln · Study for Preparedness, 1968 · Achenbach Art Edition
Available · from £290.00 · View this poster → -
Lifetime
1989 · Museum Ludwig, Köln · Cloud and Sea, 1964
Available · from £300.00 · View this poster → -
Lifetime
1993 · Guggenheim retrospective, 8 October 1993–16 January 1994
Available · from £440.00 · View this poster → -
Lifetime
1993 · The same retrospective’s companion poster, Girl with Hair Ribbon
Available · from £450.00 · View this poster → -
After 1997
1999 · Rome, Chiostro del Bramante, Reflections · Estate credit
Available · from £490.00 · View this poster → -
After 1997
2003–04 · Louisiana Museum, All About Art
Available · from £300.00 · View this poster → -
After 1997
2003 · MoMA · Girl with Ball, painted in 1961
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record → -
After 1997
2007 · Fundación Juan March, Madrid, ‘De principio a fin’
Available · from £450.00 · View this poster → -
After 1997
2013 · MoMA · Drowning Girl, painted in 1963
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record → -
After 1997
2017 · Tate Liverpool, In the Car · Estate/DACS credit
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
Reading the credit line
Before 1997 the credit reads © Roy Lichtenstein with a year, as on the 1975 Castelli poster. After his death it names the Estate: © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. In the UK it adds DACS, as on the Tate poster (© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2016). Rome’s poster of December 1999 already ends with an Estate credit. The touring show ‘Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980’ opened in Saint Louis in 1981; its Madrid poster of 1983 credits Saint Louis in the footer. The two 1993 Guggenheim posters print their sponsor at the foot: a grant from Marvel Entertainment Group.
Page V · Close-up · The Museum of Modern Art
Drowning Girl, up close.
The loupe changes the frame, not the poster. Our photographs are shown as they are.
Two Drowning Girls
The painting dates from 1963. It is oil and synthetic polymer on canvas, and it has been in MoMA’s collection since 1971. This large poster was printed in his lifetime: pencil-signed copies of the same design are on the market. Ours has no signature. MoMA used the painting again on a smaller collection poster in 2013, after his death; it hangs on the After 1997 wall above.
Page VI · Signatures
He signed the back of the canvas. So read the margin.
Lichtenstein signed his paintings on the reverse, with his initials and surname. So the pictures on his posters rarely show a signature. A real one is in pencil, in the margin, added by hand to some Castelli and museum posters. After 1997 posters carry an Estate credit instead.
Unsigned original
Printed in his lifetime for his own show or commission, with no signature on this copy. Not a copy made after him: the poster his dealer or museum issued at the time.
On this poster: the printed credit under the image of the 1975 Castelli poster, Reproduced from the painting The Red Horseman © Roy Lichtenstein 1975. Type, not a signature. Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
Show all 16 in the archive ↓
Plate-signed
His signature or initials printed in the picture, so every copy has them. Rare for Lichtenstein. It happens when a poster reproduces a drawing he initialled.
On this poster: the initials, read as ‘rfL’, on his 1964 study, printed into every copy of the 1984 James Goodman Gallery poster. Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
Show this poster in the archive ↓
After Lichtenstein
A poster made after his death in 1997, reproducing his work. The credit line names the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
On this poster: the credit © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS on the Tate Liverpool poster of 2017. Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
Show all 6 in the archive ↓Hand-signed
Signed by Lichtenstein in pencil on this copy, usually in the lower margin. Signed copies of the 1975 Castelli and 1984 Olympic posters exist. None in our archive at present.
Page VII · The Printed Originals Lichtenstein archive
Every Lichtenstein poster we have held.
19 available now · 8 sold. Split three ways: printed in his lifetime, printed after 1997, and one whose printing date we are still checking. Sold posters show no price.
Page VIII · Collecting
Six questions before you buy.
Ask us for detailed photographs of any poster: the margins, the credit line and the condition.
Hand-signed, plate-signed, unsigned original, after: what do the labels mean?
Hand-signed: Lichtenstein signed this copy himself, in pencil, usually in the lower margin. Plate-signed: his signature or initials are printed in the picture, so every copy has them; with him this is rare. Unsigned original: printed in his lifetime for his own show or commission, with no signature on this copy. After Lichtenstein: printed after his death in 1997, usually with an Estate credit.
How can I tell if a Lichtenstein poster was printed in his lifetime?
Read the printed dates and venue. He died on 29 September 1997, so a poster for a show that opened later is posthumous. Then check the small print under the image. An Estate of Roy Lichtenstein credit, or a DACS date after 1997, means a later printing. Imprints such as Poster Originals (1969) or Achenbach Art Edition (1989) help date earlier pieces.
Is the 1969 Guggenheim poster the same as the signed screenprint?
No. The image was issued as a signed screenprint, numbered in an edition of 250, and also as a poster. Our copy has a Poster Originals imprint and no pencil signature or number, so it is the poster.
Which Lichtenstein posters are found signed by hand?
He signed some copies of posters for his own shows and events in pencil. Examples include the 1975 Castelli Red Horseman poster and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic poster. Signed copies are the exception. His name printed in the design is not a signature.
Why does the 1984 Olympic poster look like a Castelli poster?
Both use The Red Horseman. Castelli used the painting for Lichtenstein’s November 1975 show at 420 West Broadway. In 1984 it returned on his poster for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, one of a series commissioned from fifteen artists. We have the 1975 Castelli poster.
Condition and framing
We grade condition in six steps and describe every mark (condition grading). Framing is optional, and all our framing is conservation framing (framing original posters).