Roy Lichtenstein Industry and the Arts (I) (C.85) 1969 For Sale

Roy Lichtenstein’s signed and dated print Industry and the Arts (I) is from an edition of 100. Also referred to as Industry and Melody and, less frequently, Untitled, it is a screenprint on aluminium with C.M. Fabriano – 100/100 Cotone paper mat. The image was also printed in a separate edition on paper (Industry and the Arts II), with the white of the paper replacing the aluminium background and any white-printed areas.

The diagonally split composition, divided in two with a prominent black line slicing through the centre forms two halves to illustrate ‘Industry’ on the left and ‘the Arts’ on the right. There is a somewhat impersonal neutrality to the simple palette of the ‘Industry’ side which is rendered in cold blues, whites and greys to convey the blandness of capitalism and commerce, in contrast to the lively jostling of colours in ‘the Arts’ which has a vibrant palette of primary colours: yellow, red and blue. 

The left side features industrial elements, buildings and factories: an aeroplane emits fumes, smokestacks spew pollution and a mechanical cog sits in the centre of the frame. Lichtenstein’s signature Benday dots on the left, rendered in grey and blue tones, could symbolise pollution in the sky. Meanwhile in ‘the Arts’ on the right, the aeroplane is replaced by birds, industrial elements substituted for musical notes, as well as natural elements such as leaves and a feather. A person, surrounded by the geometric shapes, has their eyes closed as though in contemplation. The myriad elements above the figure’s head could also represent the activity of their creative imagination. 

The left half of the print is composed of rigid lines, giving an angular, robotic formality to the arrangement of elements: seen at the top in the smoke fumes emitted by the plane, in the chimney spouts and in the illuminated windows of the skyscraper. The harsher lines seen on the left are replaced by curves and circular shapes on the right: the wings of the birds, the curl of the musical notes, the curve of a leaf, the soft sweep of the feather’s arched edge. The right half of the print appears more discordant with its jumbled, colliding composition of components and geometric shapes. 

Lichtenstein’s starkly contrasting presentations of ‘Industry’ and ‘the Arts’ seems to convey his dismay and disillusionment with the bland and rigid portrayal of capitalism, in contrast to the burgeoning, creative activity of ‘the Arts’.

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