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“With his genius for steering the history of high art into the lowest depths of popular art and then triumphing over the collision, [Lichtenstein was] destined to take on one of the loftiest motifs of Western painting, the mirror.”
—Robert RosenblumWith its opaque white surface of red and blue dots, meticulously rendered by hand and clustered into carefully aligned sequences of varying thicknesses, Mirror #7, 1971, both evokes and obfuscates our notions of the form and function of the mirror. In his seminal series of mirror paintings, executed between 1969 and 1972, Roy Lichtenstein sought to create works that could be “moved as far as possible from realism…as stylized as you can get it.”i In the process, he found a complex formal and symbolic reflection of his own art practice, keyed to the minimalist language of post-Pop American art.
Parmigianino, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1524. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image: Heritage Images / Fine Art Images / akg-images The mirror, as an art historical symbol, enjoys a richness of meanings, representing vanity, beauty, the transience of life, and the fickleness of reality. The mirror itself, too, is a potent symbol of painterly skill. Historically, commercial artists would subtly advertise their talents in realist representation by painting complex mirrors or glassware into their work; a self-portrait with a mirror was their most effective business card. Lichtenstein, too, draws on more commercial meanings of mirrors with Mirror #7. He found his inspiration for the present series in brochures found in the window displays of glass stores on the Bowery on New York’s Lower East Side. He was fascinated by these depictions of mirrors as “air-brushed mirror symbols, reflecting nothing.”ii
Lichtenstein’s perennial muse, cartoon art, provided further inspiration for Mirror #7. As with the advertising brochures found on the Bowery, cartoonists had their own, not-quite-realistic way of drawing mirrors. Lichtenstein explained: "There's no simple way to draw a mirror, so cartoonists invented dashed or diagonal lines to signify mirror. Now, you see those lines and you know it means mirror, even though there are obviously no such lines in reality. If you put horizontal, instead of diagonal, lines across the same object, it wouldn't say 'mirror'."iii
Agnes Martin, Untitled, c. 1960. Private Collection. Artwork: © 2023 Agnes Martin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Mirror #7 thus signifies a mirror in Lichtenstein’s artistic language, rendered in Ben-Day dots with a diagonal line across the surface. However, Lichtenstein, following the example of his European predecessors, uses this sign as a symbol of his virtuosity: namely, his mastery of Ben-Day dots. These dots, first used in commercial printing settings by cartoonists, have become the hallmark of Lichtenstein’s oeuvre, with Mirror #7 demonstrating his mastery of their application since first deploying Ben-Day dots a decade prior.
Deceptively simple, the surface of Mirror #7 unfolds with greater detail the longer one observes it, just as the gazer is further revealed to oneself in a real mirror. Lichtenstein cleverly juxtaposes red and blue dots to separate his mirror from its thin, rounded frame. The thickness of the dots, too, adds to the illusion: carefully thinned areas of blue dots create that hallowed diagonal, from lower left to upper right. A solid blue line, circling from top to bottom, rounds out the composition, suggesting further depth of field on the flat surface. The result is a deception of simple dots and lines choreographed to yield an astonishing trompe l'oeil: a mirror with no reflection.
Robert Morris, Untitled, 1965 (reconstructed 1971). Tate Modern, London. Image: © Tate, London / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2023 Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Rights Administered by Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, All Rights Reserved Mirror #7 engages the quintessential Modernist question of the value of representational art, posed in the context of Lichtenstein’s seminal themes of 20th century American consumerism and mediated representations of the self. That Lichtenstein does this through a classic tondo, or round, canvas in the style of Renaissance masters adds yet another historical layer to this complex work. Mirror #7, and its eponymous series at large, also mark Lichtenstein’s place in an international art movement beyond his Pop Art beginnings. The surface of Mirror #7, “as stylized as you can get it,” is also as abstract as a mirror can get.iv The affective simplicity of Mirror #7, restrained in comparison to Lichtenstein’s earlier Pop compositions, places the work in the aesthetic context of minimalist artists like Robert Morris, and maximalists like Yayoi Kusama (particularly, her Narcissus Garden of 1968), who used mirrored surfaces to provoke contemplation. Altogether, Mirror #7 encapsulates Lichtenstein's greatest stylistic and conceptual achievements, showcasing his mastery of form and engaging with the pertinent art historical questions of his, and our, times.
i Roy Lichtenstein, quoted in Carolyn Lanchner, Roy Lichtenstein, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2009, p. 23.
ii Lichtenstein, quoted ibid.
iii Lichtenstein, quoted in Michael Kimmelman, “AT THE MET WITH: Roy Lichtenstein; Disciple of Color and Line, Master of Irony,” The New York Times, Mar. 31, 1995, online.
iv Lichtenstein, quoted in Lanchner.
Provenance
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
John Stefanidis, London
Private Collection, Switzerland
Sotheby’s, New York, November 12, 2002, lot 47
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Property from a Notable Contemporary Collection
Ο◆18
Mirror #7
signed and dated “rf Lichtenstein ‘71” on the reverse
oil and Magna on canvas
diameter 36 in. (91.4 cm)
Executed in 1971.
Estimate
$3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $2,843,000
Carolyn Mayer
Associate Specialist, Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1206
CMayer@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 17 May 2023
1
Noah Davis
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $990,600
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2
Caroline Walker
Conservation
Estimate $150,000 - 350,000
Sold for $469,900
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3
Julien Nguyen
Jeu de Paume
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $127,000
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4
Pablo Picasso
Tête de femme au chignon
Estimate $6,000,000 - 9,000,000
Sold for $7,320,000
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5
This lot is no longer available.
6
Louise Bonnet
The Red Pants
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $406,400
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7
Yayoi Kusama
Red Stripes
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,722,000
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8
Yayoi Kusama
Blue Spots
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,206,000
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9
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Untitled (after Ernst Thelott)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $635,000
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10
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait (Fright Wig)
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,633,000
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11
Ed Ruscha
Dixie Red Seville
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
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12
Yoshitomo Nara
Guitar Girl
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,480,000
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13
Banksy
Banksquiat. Boy and Dog in Stop and Search
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,724,500
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14
Henry Taylor
Dakar, Senegal #3
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $584,200
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15
Robert Colescott
A Death of an Old Mulatta
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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16
Rashid Johnson
Untitled Escape Collage
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $990,600
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Roy Lichtenstein
Mirror #7
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $2,843,000
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19
Damien Hirst
Reconciliation
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $927,100
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20
Robert Ryman
Mark
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $3,811,000
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21
Wayne Thiebaud
Chocolate Merangue
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,238,000
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22
Anna Weyant
Unconditional Love
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $609,600
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23
This lot is no longer available.
24
María Berrío
No One Can Hear You, Only the Wind
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $635,000
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25
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Standard Lotus XVI Face 44.15)
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,295,000
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26
Wayne Thiebaud
Levee and Cow
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,085,000
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27
Andy Warhol
Mao
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,117,600
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28
Andy Warhol
Mona Lisa Four Times
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,359,000
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29
Ed Ruscha
Manual Mobility
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $3,448,000
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30
Jadé Fadojutimi
The Menstrual Marshland
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $533,400
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31
Helen Frankenthaler
On the Road
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,875,000
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32
Robert Rauschenberg
Bath
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $444,500
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Sanya Kantarovsky
Deprivation
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $266,700
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35
Roy Lichtenstein
Girl in Mirror
Estimate $4,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for $5,505,000
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36
Issy Wood
Untitled (Harley's foot thing)
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
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37
Simone Leigh
Figure (Cobalt)
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $825,500
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38
Joan Miró
L’Espace
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $381,000
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39
Joan Miró
Femme et oiseau
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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40
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
“Untitled” (March 5th) #2
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $635,000
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41
Sturtevant
Study for Warhol Marilyn
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $2,419,500
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