Love Cross 1968 HS - Rare Early Lithograph

Year1968

Hand SignedLower Right in Pencil 

Condition Other - minor stains and creases, easy restoration needed. 

Not FramedMay Ship Flat or Rolled 

Purchased fromOther 

Story / Additional InfoHistory of Image from 1968: LOVE Cross exemplifies Indiana’s interest in the spiritual nature of love, which he traced back to his childhood and the Christian Scientist churches he attended, where the inscription “God is Love” was often the only form of decoration. The original painting was commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil for a proposed Vatican Oecumenical Pavilion at the 1968 Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas, for which Indiana designed the official poster. Although the pavilion was never realized, the commission was completed, and the work was first shown in the artist’s 1968 solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Indiana experimented with multiple configurations of his famous LOVE design, including four-panel square works such as LOVE Wall and two-panel rectangular works such as The Imperial Love. He later employed the cruciform format in his 1964 painting The Demuth. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

LID169291

Robert Indiana - United States

Art Brokerage: Robert Indiana American Artist: Robert Indiana was an American Pop artist whose work drew inspiration from signs, billboards, and commercial logos. He is best known for his series of LOVE paintings, which employed bold and colorful letterforms to spell out the word “love.” “Oddly enough, I wasn't thinking at all about anticipating the love generation and hippies,” he once explained. “It was a spiritual concept. It isn't a sculpture of love any longer. It's become the very theme of love itself.” Born Robert Earl Clark on September 13, 1928 in New Castle, IN, he adopted the name of his home state after serving in the US military. Indiana went on to receive his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1954. Following the advice of his friend Ellsworth Kelly, the artist relocated to New York, setting up a studio in the Coenties Slip neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. It was here that Indiana became acquainted with a number of prominent artists, including Agnes Martin, Jack Youngerman, and James Rosenquist. Over the following decades his work became increasingly popular, with both his LOVE and HOPE motifs transformed into a number of public sculptures. In September 2013, the Whitney Museum of American Art opened “Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE,” the artist’s first retrospective in New York. Indian died on May 19, 2018 in Vinalhaven, ME. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., among others. Listings wanted.