Roy Lichtenstein’s Keds (1961) was the work that persuaded Leo Castelli to sign the artist to his gallery. Keds was one of the first great Pop icons—painted before Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans and Coca-Cola bottles. Once signed by Castelli, Lichtenstein joined the pantheon of some of the most celebrated names in post-war and contemporary art, including Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly. As well as being a pivotal work in Lichtenstein’s own development, Keds played a key role in influencing a subsequent generation of artists, too. One such recipient was Ed Ruscha, who upon returning from an extended trip to Europe visited Leo Castelli to show him his work. While visiting the gallery, Ruscha was shown Lichtenstein’s Keds and had what he regarded as an epiphany, realizing that ordinary, everyday objects could become the legitimate subject of high art. This encounter would propel Ruscha in a direction that would come to define much of his career.
In 1962, Robert and Beatrice “Buddy” Mayer purchased Keds from Lichtenstein’s first one-man show at Leo Castelli’s Gallery. This seemingly innocuous painting of a pair of sneakers was a very early example of the Pop Art movement that would become the defining aesthetic of the 1960s. A year later, the Mayers purchased Torpedo… Los, one of Lichtenstein’s classic paintings inspired by comic books. With their astute eye, they were quickly becoming early pioneers in collecting Pop Art. They were among the first to collect works by Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol, whose Troy Diptych they purchased from Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in 1963. The following year marked the zenith of their collecting. In a period of twelve months they acquired more art than in any year before or after. That year works by Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, Morris Louis, Wayne Thiebaud and John Chamberlain were added to the Mayer collection.
For more on Roy Lichtenstein’s Keds, visit the preview of our Nov 12-13 Post-War + Contemporary Art auctions.
Now that's a kick.
