1992

Medium: Original etching with aquatint in five colours (black, blue, grey, green and brown) on 250-gram Arches paper; signed with initials in pencil lower right

Edition: Edition of 80

(The unbound book edition consisted of 80; plus 45 hors commerce in Roman numerals)

Publisher: Les Éditions du Solstice, Paris

Printer: Atelier Dupont-Visat, l’Inéditeur, Paris

Size:

– Sheet: 48.1 × 35.3 cm (18⅞ × 14 in)

– Plate: 38 × 28.3 cm

Reference: Mary Lee Corlett, The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné, no. 273

Public Collections: Philadelphia Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Condition: Excellent

Une Fenêtre ouverte sur Chicago is the fifth print from a suite of ten etchings with aquatint created in 1992 by Roy Lichtenstein in collaboration with French publisher Les Éditions du Solstice. The series was produced to accompany a French edition of Allen Ginsberg’s The New Fall of America, for which Lichtenstein translated poetic themes into his distinctive visual language.

The composition presents a stylised architectural and urban scene framed as though viewed through an open window — a device long associated with painting itself. Bold contours, structured planes, and carefully controlled colour fields create a dynamic interplay between interior and exterior space.

Lichtenstein’s imagery in this suite responds to selected poems by Allen Ginsberg, including Northwest Passage, which addresses the environmental and industrial consequences of expansion across North America. The notion of a “passage” becomes both geographical and metaphorical — a reflection on progress, material ambition, and cultural transformation.

In Une Fenêtre ouverte sur Chicago, the open window motif functions symbolically: it frames the modern city as both spectacle and critique. Lichtenstein draws upon the visual vocabulary of popular illustration and commercial graphics, yet recontextualises it within a poetic and literary dialogue. The result is simultaneously detached and reflective — an urban landscape filtered through Pop Art’s cool precision.

By the early 1990s, Lichtenstein had firmly established himself as one of the leading figures of Pop Art. Throughout his career, he appropriated and transformed imagery from comic strips, advertising, and mass media, elevating the visual language of popular culture into the realm of high art.

This print reflects his late-career sophistication, where references to art history, architecture, and abstraction coexist with the graphic clarity that defined his early work. The aquatint technique allows for nuanced tonal variation beyond the flat Ben-Day dot surfaces often associated with his paintings, demonstrating the breadth of his printmaking mastery.

In 1991–1992, Lichtenstein was at the height of his international acclaim. Commissions such as this literary collaboration reveal his continued engagement with cultural commentary and cross-disciplinary dialogue. Rather than simply illustrating Ginsberg’s poetry, Lichtenstein translated its themes into visual structure, maintaining his signature detachment while inviting deeper reflection.

This period reflects an artist consolidating decades of exploration — moving fluidly between painting, sculpture, and printmaking with conceptual clarity and technical authority.

The suite to which this work belongs demonstrates Lichtenstein’s sustained interest in printmaking as an independent medium rather than a secondary practice. Working with Atelier Dupont-Visat in Paris, he exploited the possibilities of etching and aquatint to achieve layered colour and subtle depth.

Public institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art hold examples from this series, affirming its significance within his late graphic oeuvre.

The etching and aquatint process allowed Lichtenstein to move beyond the hard-edged mechanical aesthetic often associated with his early Pop works. The five-colour composition reveals careful plate preparation and controlled tonal gradation, underscoring the technical sophistication behind the apparent simplicity.

Printed on 250-gram Arches paper, the work possesses both structural integrity and a refined surface quality, enhancing the crispness of line and clarity of colour.

Roy Lichtenstein is a foundational figure in 20th-century art, instrumental in redefining the boundaries between high art and popular culture. His work transformed the visual language of advertising and comics into enduring cultural icons, reshaping contemporary artistic discourse.

Limited to an edition of 80, Une Fenêtre ouverte sur Chicago represents a highly desirable example of Lichtenstein’s mature printmaking. The combination of literary collaboration, institutional recognition, and catalogue raisonné documentation strengthens its standing within the market.

Collectors value this work not only for its visual clarity and Pop Art pedigree, but for its thoughtful engagement with poetry, environment, and modern urban identity.

Lichtenstein’s signed prints from the early 1990s maintain consistent demand internationally, supported by museum holdings and comprehensive scholarly documentation. Works from this series, particularly those held in major public collections, represent secure and culturally significant acquisitions within the field of Post-War and Contemporary art.