Portland Museum of Art
Portland, Maine
1-207-773-ARTS or 1-800-639-4067
http://www.portlandmuseum.org
Love and the American Dream: The Art of Robert Indiana
June 24 - October 17, 1999
Love and the American Dream: The
Art of Robert Indiana is the first exhibition to
explore the two central themes of Robert Indiana's artistic career. Organized
by the Portland Museum of Art, Love and the American Dream includes
more than 70 paintings, sculpture, and prints from museums and private collections
across the country.
Although Robert Indiana came to prominence during the 1960s as a Pop artist, his concerns have always differed greatly from those of his contemporaries. National and cultural identity have always held more interest for Indiana than the mass media and trappings of consumer culture. As a self-styled American icon, his influences, methods, and outlook mirror that of his native country. What distinguishes Indiana from his "Pop" colleagues is the depth of his personal engagement with his subject matter: America and American life. (left: The Figure Five, 1963, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 inches. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1984.51)
Indiana's works all speak to the vital forces that have shaped American culture in the late half of the 20th century: personal and national identity, political and social upheaval and stasis, the rise of consumer culture, and the pressures of history. In a word, the American Dream.
4-Star Love
The Portland Museum of Art recently announced the acquisition of an important early oil painting by Robert Indiana entitled 4-Star Love, which will be included in the exhibition. 4-Star Love is the first painting to include the word that would make Indiana a household name. This diminutive work is part of a series of small-scale paintings (12 x 11 1/8 inches) focused on single words (others in this series included paintings entitled Joy and Fun) the artist executed in 1961. These works, which the artist calls the "Bijoux" paintings, were exhibited in the early 1960s, and many entered private collections. 4-Star Love was acquired by Eleanor Ward, Indiana's dealer during the 1960s, and has not been shown publicly since that time.
The position of the four stars in 4-Star Love (two on top, two on bottom) prefigures the design of the artist's world-famous composition, Love. This format was a common feature of the artists' early paintings, many of which included circles or other geometric forms assembled in a square. The four stars in this painting appear to allude to a system of rating (as in restaurants and hotels) ranking the quality of love. The star has also been read as a symbol of America, nationalism, fame, or a self-portrait of the artist.
4-Star Love is a vibrant and significant painting that deepens our understanding
of Robert Indiana's art and his place in American art history. The painting
was donated to the Portland Museum of Art by Todd R. Brassner in memory
of Doug Rosen, a close friend of Indiana' s and Long-time Vinalhaven resident
who passed away in 1998.
The
American Dream is the cornerstone of Indiana's mature work. The roots of
this powerful concept pervaded the artist's Depression-era childhood, as
well as the social and political aspirations of the United States during
his formative years as an artist (1940s-1960s). It was the theme of his
first major painting (sold to The Museum of Modern Art in 1961), as well
as a series of works that continues to the present (the artist finished
The Seventh American Dream in 1998). Indiana's process of reconstructing
and redefining the American Dream has taken many forms: his political paintings,
like The Confederacy: Alabama (1965); his literary paintings, like
The Calumet (1961); and his autoportraits and investigations of celebrity
and identity, like The Metamorphosis of Norma Jean Mortenson (1963-1967). (left: The Beware-Danger American Dream No. 4, 1963, oil
on canvas, four panels, assembled: 102 1/4 x 102 1/4 inches, Hirshorn Museum
and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshorn
Foundation)
The Portland Museum of Art recently announced the acquisition of an important early oil painting by Robert Indiana entitled 4-Star Love, which will be included in the exhibition. 4-Star Love is the first painting to include the word that would make Indiana a household name. This diminutive work is part of a series of small-scale paintings (12 x 11 1/8 inches) focused on single words (others in this series included paintings entitled Joy and Fun) the artist executed in 1961. These works, which the artist calls the "Bijoux" paintings, were exhibited in the early 1960s, and many entered private collections. 4-Star Love was acquired by Eleanor Ward, Indiana's dealer during the 1960s, and has not been shown publicly since that time.
The position of the four stars in 4-Star Love (two on top, two on bottom) prefigures the design of the artist's world-famous composition, Love. This format was a common feature of the artists' early paintings, many of which included circles or other geometric forms assembled in a square. The four stars in this painting appear to allude to a system of rating (as in restaurants and hotels) ranking the quality of love. The star has also been read as a symbol of America, nationalism, fame, or a self-portrait of the artist.
4-Star Love is a vibrant and significant painting that deepens our understanding of Robert Indiana's art and his place in American art history. The painting was donated to the Portland Museum of Art by Todd R. Brassner in memory of Doug Rosen, a close friend of Indiana' s and Long-time Vinalhaven resident who passed away in 1998.
Indiana also created one of the most widely recognized
works of art in the world: Love. Despite the 
popularity of this image -- or perhaps because of
it -- many critics have dismissed him as a designer, an opportunist, and
a "one-hit-wonder." Much of Indiana's important contribution to
American art has been overshadowed by the proliferation, pirating, and mass
production of works bearing the image of "LOVE, " yet this is
also a vital and important part of his career. Love is also part
of the artist's rethinking of the American Dream, but because of its crucial
importance in Indiana's career, it comprises a separate section of the exhibition
and catalogue. (right: The American Dream, I.,
1961, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 1/8 inches, The Museum of Modern Art, Larry
Aldrich Foundation Fund)
The
exhibition catalogue includes three essays: "The Journals of Robert
Indiana, " a discussion of the artist's development through an examination
of his journal/sketchbooks from 1958-1963 by Daniel E. O'Leary, Director
of the Portland Museum of Art; "Eternal Love," an investigation
of Indiana's Love, its origins and impact on the artist's career
by Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Assistant Professor of Art History, Louisiana State
University, who is publishing a book with Yale University Press on Indiana;
and "An American's Dreams," an essay on Indiana's preoccupation
with the idea of "The American Dream" by Aprile Gallant, Portland
Museum of Art curator and organizer of the exhibition. The 136-page catalogue
also includes a checklist, a complete bibliography on Indiana's work, and
50 color illustrations. The catalogue is available in the Museum Shop. (left: Love Postage Stamp, 1976-77, U. S. Post Office)
This exhibition and catalogue are made possible by the
generous support of Scott M. Black. A major grant has been provided by The
Richard Florsheim Art Fund, with additional support from Portland Press
Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
Read more about the Portland Museum of Art in the Resource Library
rev. 10/18/10
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