David Barsalou, creator of the groundbreaking and exhaustive Deconstructing Lichtenstein project, wrote to point out another art swipe by Roy Lichtenstein that’s up for auction. I can see the whole room … and there’s nobody in it! is expected to fetch upwards of $45 million!
A gallery owner is quoted in the Bloomberg article at the link above, saying, “It epitomizes Roy’s use of irony, which is the most important theme throughout his work.” Irony, she says? It’s only ironic that the painting is worth so much money, because it’s a direct swipe from a Steve Roper comic strip panel drawn by William Overgard. Heck, it’s only 4×4 feet, and you’d think spending that much money would rate a wall-sized canvas.
Barsalou has some instructive links about the piece here and here. As you can see, the swipe was spotted by William Overgard, who wrote to Time magazine and asked, with some irony, “Very flattering…I think?” Not really. Notice how Lichtenstein changed the hand? Overgard’s original looks correct — you can tell it’s a thumb — but Roy got it wrong, so it looks like an index finger in the wrong place. Intentional artistic license? Nah, he couldn’t draw.