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Robert Indiana

Robert Indiana
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Jack Mitchell, 13 Sep 1925 - 7 Nov 2013
Sitter
Robert Indiana, 13 Sep 1928 - 19 May 2018
Date
1971
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 28 × 35.5 cm (11 × 14")
Topic
Costume\Headgear\Hat
Exterior
Nature & Environment\Plant\Tree
Artwork
Artwork\Sculpture
Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Bench
Equipment\Umbrella
Costume\Outerwear\Coat
Nature & Environment\Rain
Robert Indiana: Visual Arts\Artist
Robert Indiana: Male
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Craig Highberger, Executive Director, Jack Mitchell Archives
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© 1971 Jack Mitchell
Object number
NPG.2017.48
Exhibition Label
Born New Castle, Indiana
In this photograph, artist Robert Indiana stands before one of his iconic LOVE sculptures in New York City’s Central Park. Indiana sketched the first version in 1964, and the Museum of Modern Art subsequently adopted a later iteration for its holiday greeting card. Although Indiana reproduced the image across various media, he refers to it as the “most plagiarized work of art” of the twentieth century, used on a steady stream of unlicensed products.
Melding assemblage, hard-edged painting, and Pop art, Indiana called himself an “American painter of signs,” having grown up around the bright lights of gas stations, where his father had worked for a time. Produced during the antiwar movement of the 1960s, the LOVE series is part of a larger body of work that deconstructs the American dream. “The American dream, that’s our folly,” Indiana told NPR in 2014. “That’s our folly. Look where we’re ending up.”
Nacido en New Castle, Indiana
Esta foto muestra al artista Robert Indiana delante de una de sus icónicas esculturas de la palabra LOVE en el Parque Central de Nueva York. Indiana esbozó la primera versión en 1964 y luego el Museo de Arte Moderno adoptó otra versión para su tarjeta de Navidad. Aunque él mismo reprodujo la imagen en varios medios, Indiana la consideraba “la obra de arte más plagiada” del siglo XX, usada en un sinfín de productos sin licencia.
Combinando ensamblaje, pintura hard-edge y arte pop, Indiana se identificaba como un “pintor de letreros”, habiendo crecido cerca de los letreros iluminados de las estaciones de gasolina donde trabajó su padre. Creada durante el movimiento antibélico de los años sesenta, la serie LOVE es parte de una producción artística que deconstruye el sueño americano. “El sueño americano, esa es nuestra locura”, comentó Indiana a NPR en 2014. “Es nuestra locura. Mira adónde hemos llegado”.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view