''Happy Tears'' is a 1964
pop art painting by
Roy Lichtenstein. It formerly held the record for highest auction price for a Lichtenstein painting.
History
On November 13, 2002, ''Happy Tears'' surpassed ''
Kiss II'', which had sold for $6.0 million in May 1990,
by selling for $7.1 million at
Christie's auction house in New York.
In November 2005, the 1963 work ''
In the Car
''In the Car'' (sometimes ''Driving'') is a 1963 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein. The smaller, older of the two versions of this painting formerly held the record for highest auction price for a Lichtenstein painting. The larger version ha ...
'' surpassed ''Happy Tears Lichtenstein work record auction price, when it sold for $16.2 million.
''Happy Tears'' was acquired at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, in 1964. It did not change hands until it was sold again on November 13, 2002, at auction at Christie's in New York.
The owner lent this work for exhibition twice in the late 1960s. From November 1967 to May 1968, the exhibit made stops at the
Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam),
Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
(London),
Kunsthalle Bern
The Kunsthalle Bern is a ''Kunsthalle'' (art exposition hall) on the Helvetiaplatz in Bern, Switzerland.
It was built in 1917–1918 by the Kunsthalle Bern Association and opened on October 5, 1918. Since then, it has been the site of numerous ex ...
(Bern), and
Kestner-Gesellschaft (Hannover). From September to November 1969, it was exhibited at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
.
[ It was then displayed at the ]Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. There are 16 gallery spaces: five in New York City; three in London; two in P ...
in New York City in 2008.
When the American independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
comedy-drama film entitled '' Happy Tears'', starring Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Posey made her film debu ...
, Demi Moore
Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera '' General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Br ...
, Rip Torn, Sebastian Roché, and Ellen Barkin, which was written and directed by Roy Lichtenstein's son, Mitchell Lichtenstein, was marketed, the film poster prominently included the image of his father's work. The film was named after this painting.
Details
After 1963, Lichtenstein's comics-based women "look hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly modish in appearance, as if they all came out of the same pot of makeup." This particular example is one of several that is cropped so closely that the hair flows beyond the edges of the canvas. The image is made more poignant by the cropping and positioning of the fingers. The woman exudes a sense of relief over something that is outside the canvas.
See also
* 1964 in art
Events from the year 1964 in art.
Events
* May – Pablo Picasso paints his fourth ''Head of a Bearded Man''.
* July 28 – Fondation Maeght museum of modern and contemporary art at Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the Alpes-Maritimes of France, designe ...
Notes
References
*
External links
Lichtenstein Foundation websiteChristies videoChristies sale
{{Roy Lichtenstein
1964 paintings
Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein