Provenance Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, New York Acquired from the above via Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York by the present owner Exhibited Chicago, Richard Gray Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein: Recent Drawings and Sculpture, November 6 - December 31, 1997, no. 16, p. 36 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 37) Mexico City, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey; Valencia, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno; A Coruña, Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza; Lisbon, Centro Cultural de Belém, Roy Lichtenstein: Imágenes reconocibles: Escultura, pintura y gráfca / Roy Lichtenstein: Imagens Reconhecíveis, July 9, 1998 - August 15, 2000 (illustrated, pp. 37, 207); then traveled as Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Roy Lichtenstein: Sculpture & Drawings, June 5 September 30, 1999, no. 161, p. 193 (illustrated) Miami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roy Lichtenstein: Inside/Outside, December 11, 2001 - February 24, 2002, no. 37, p. 106 (illustrated, n.p.) New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein: Mostly Men, September 15 - October 30, 2010, p. 31 (another example exhibited)
Roy Lichtenstein, Coup de Chapeau (Self-Portrait), 1996. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Literature Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2012, p. 25, note 29
Andy Warhol, Popeye, 1961. Artwork © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
The culmination of a half-century interrogation into the genre of self-portraiture, Coup de Chapeau I, 1996 epitomizes Roy Lichtenstein’s idiosyncratic visual language and unconventional treatment of the traditional theme. Bursting with dynamism, the selfportrait Coup de Chapeau I animates a vibrant, Dick Tracy-esque yellow fedora atop two counterpoised arcs of primary colors that diverge from a Ben-Day dotted collision. Interpreted in French colloquially as “hats of” – the idiomatic expression “coup de chapeau” implies a double entendre that Lichtenstein manipulates: “coup” directly translates to “blow” or “hit”, which he hyperbolizes into an American comics-derived climax where the protagonist is struck by the upcoming 21st century. Coming to auction for the frst time, Coup de Chapeau I embraces the parodic quintessence of its famed predecessor Coup de Chapeau (Self-Portrait), 1996 and anticipates the three-dimensional vitality of its successor, Coup de Chapeau II, 1996, of which one from the edition is held by the Broad Museum, Los Angeles.