Curtains
- Date
- 1962
- Material
- Oil and acrylic on canvas
- made in
- New York, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 246
- Dimensions
- 68 x 57 1/8 in. (172.7 x 145.1 cm)
framed: 68 5/8 x 57 3/4 in. (174.3 x 146.7 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr.
- Rights
- © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
- Object Number
- 132:1985
NOTES
The frilly kitchen curtains depicted here suggest the suburban developments of post-World War II America. In his black-and-white paintings of the early 1960s, Roy Lichtenstein drew from popular, mass-produced imagery; the source for Curtains was a newspaper advertisement. The everyday domestic subject matter of this painting melds interior decoration with high art. While the image implies a critique of consumerism, it also presents a visual pun on the traditional notion of painting as a window onto the world.
Provenance
July 1962 - 1963
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from the artist
April 1963 - 1964
Ileana Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, France [1]
1964
Rudolf Zwirner Gallery, Cologne, Germany, purchased from Ileana Sonnabend Gallery
1964 - still in 1968
Wolfgang Hahn, Cologne-Lindenthal, Germany, purchased from Rudolf Zwirner Gallery [2]
- 1974
Louis Kaplan, London, England
1974 - 1977
Blum Helman Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from Louis Kaplan [3]
1977/02/24 - 1986
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Emily Rauh Pulitzer (b.1933), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Blum Helman Gallery [4]
1985 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and Emily Rauh Pulitzer [5]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the 1988 catalogue of the Pulitzer collection [Rudenstine, Angelica Zander. "Modern Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture Collected by Emily and Joseph Pulitzer Jr." Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, vol. 4, 1988, cat. 278]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Lent by Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris to a 1964 exhibition ["Amerikansk pop-konst: Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman." Stockholm: Moderna Museet Stockholm, 1964, cat. 27].
[2] A 1968 exhibition catalogue indicates the lender as Wolfgang Hahn [Morphet, Richard. "Roy Lichtenstein." London: The Tate Gallery, 1968, cat. 4]. A postcard addressed to Wolfgang Hahn that was once affixed to the stretcher on the back of the painting bears a postal stamp with the date 1965 [postcard, SLAM document files].
[3] A Blum Helman label was previously affixed to the back of the painting [label, SLAM document files].
[4] The Museum's accession record, and information provided by the donor, indicates that the painting was purchased from Blum Helman on February 24, 1977 [SLAM document files].
[5] The painting was presented as a partial gift to the Museum in 1985, and presented as a full gift from the Pulitzers in 1986 [Deeds of Gift dated December 26, 1985 and December 19, 1986, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 19, 1985.
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from the artist
April 1963 - 1964
Ileana Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, France [1]
1964
Rudolf Zwirner Gallery, Cologne, Germany, purchased from Ileana Sonnabend Gallery
1964 - still in 1968
Wolfgang Hahn, Cologne-Lindenthal, Germany, purchased from Rudolf Zwirner Gallery [2]
- 1974
Louis Kaplan, London, England
1974 - 1977
Blum Helman Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from Louis Kaplan [3]
1977/02/24 - 1986
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Emily Rauh Pulitzer (b.1933), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Blum Helman Gallery [4]
1985 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and Emily Rauh Pulitzer [5]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the 1988 catalogue of the Pulitzer collection [Rudenstine, Angelica Zander. "Modern Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture Collected by Emily and Joseph Pulitzer Jr." Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, vol. 4, 1988, cat. 278]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Lent by Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris to a 1964 exhibition ["Amerikansk pop-konst: Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman." Stockholm: Moderna Museet Stockholm, 1964, cat. 27].
[2] A 1968 exhibition catalogue indicates the lender as Wolfgang Hahn [Morphet, Richard. "Roy Lichtenstein." London: The Tate Gallery, 1968, cat. 4]. A postcard addressed to Wolfgang Hahn that was once affixed to the stretcher on the back of the painting bears a postal stamp with the date 1965 [postcard, SLAM document files].
[3] A Blum Helman label was previously affixed to the back of the painting [label, SLAM document files].
[4] The Museum's accession record, and information provided by the donor, indicates that the painting was purchased from Blum Helman on February 24, 1977 [SLAM document files].
[5] The painting was presented as a partial gift to the Museum in 1985, and presented as a full gift from the Pulitzers in 1986 [Deeds of Gift dated December 26, 1985 and December 19, 1986, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 19, 1985.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.