Robert Indiana, LOVE (the original), Sheehan, 39, 1967

Robert Indiana

LOVE (the original), Sheehan, 39, 1967

Silkscreen on Buckeye Cover paper

Artists copyright stamp on the back

Edition of 2275

33 3/4 × 33 3/4 inches

Unframed

Artists copyright stamp verso. Colour silkscreen on Buckeye cover paper
Catalogue Raisonné: Sheehan 39
This is the original, the most classic and desirable, of the entire LOVE series - now one of the most popular images in the world. It is based on the painting LOVE from 1966, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana. According to the catalogue that accompanied a 1969 Robert Indiana Graphics exhibition featuring another example of this 1967 silkscreen: "This is the basic LOVE with the colors of 'Earth' and 'Sky' transposed, which becomes the 'Lake Love' (since the blue is contained within the o) as opposed to the 'Sky Love.'"
Originally designed as a Christmas card commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art in 1965, LOVE has appeared in prints, paintings, sculptures, banners, rings, tapestries, and stamps. As the Masterworks catalogue of the Museum of Modern Art, which owns an impression of this historic print, notes, "Full of erotic, religious, autobiographical, and political underpinnings—especially when it was co-opted as an emblem of 1960s idealism— LOVE is both accessible and complex in meaning." (Deborah Wye, p. 166)
This very image was chosen as the cover image for the Catalogue Raisonne of Robert Indiana's prints (Sheehan, 1991). It was also chosen to represent the artist at the historic 4. documenta Kassel Exhibition of 1968. Indeed, it is one of the most recognizable Pop Art prints ever created.
Indiana had intended to create this version, printed to the edges of the sheet, in an unsigned version of 2,275 to be affordable and for the masses. This is one of them (There was a separate signed edition of 250 with full margins).
A dazzling impression, this is a chance to own a piece of Pop Art history! Printed by Maurel Studios, NY, and published by Mass Originals & Multiples NYC. According to Susan Sheehan " Indiana originally intends this print to be published in an unlimited edition accessible to collectors of more modest means. It is based on the painting 'LOVE' of 1966 (Indianapolis Museum of Art)"
This work ships flat and cannot be rolled

Provenance
Acquired from the artist's studio