Woodcut on Japanese paper
<span class="gray">Sheet:</span> 16 3/4 x 20 5/8 in. (42.6 x 52.4 cm) (variable)<div class="div_addlDim"><span class="gray">Image:</span> 12 3/8 x 15 1/16 in. (31.4 x 38.3 cm)</div>
Impressions are inconsistently signed, dated, titled, and numbered in pencil, bottom margin: One is titled [The Heavier Than Air Machine], dated [1953], inscribed [signed '79], signed [rf Lichtenstein], and inscribed [state proof]. One is titled [The Heavier-than-Air Machine], dated [1953], signed [Lichtenstein], and inscribed [Artist's proof]. One is titled [The Flying Machine], signed [Lichtenstein], numbered [1/1], and dated [1954]
Classification: print

Print

The print and poster entries in this online catalogue follow the documentation and comments published in the authoritative book:

Mary Lee Corlett. The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1948–1993, 2nd ed. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2002 (Corlett 2002). First published in 1994 (Corlett 1994). Introduction by Ruth E. Fine (Fine 1994a).

Corlett documented 311 editioned prints and posters by Lichtenstein produced from 1948 through 1997, with three works published in 1998 after the artist’s death: RLCR 4622, 4755, and 4752. Along with them, Corlett documented select posters, announcements, and other printed works in unspecified editions (totaling 76 items); these were either designed by the artist or based on the artist’s designs, or reproductions approved in collaboration with the artist. Prints not documented by Corlett (RLCR 999, 1178, 3625, 3664, 4685, 357, 4195, and 3884) were added to this digital catalogue raisonné. Reproductions are no longer included, only references to them per Corlett or in added commentaries.

The individual online entries’ style and structure closely follow Corlett 2002 and differ slightly from all other entries except for small style changes made for consistency.

All prints or poster impressions formerly or currently in the artist’s estate were re-photographed by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation for this online publication to provide the best image quality. Impressions or objects in other collections are reproduced with the best available imagery at the time of publication. Some entries are still illustrated with the images Corlett's book provided, mostly photographs of impressions in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Illustrations of woodblocks and other print matrices, as well as print variants, such as different states (RLCR 217, St. George and the Dragon (I) [Killing the Dragon]), ink color variants (RLCR 289, Hunter with Dog), paper color variants (RLCR 269, Approaching the Castle) and teaching aides (RLCR 2871, American Indian Theme I), have been added as Research Images when mentioned in the entry and/or when discovered and available....

Read more: Corlett Catalogue of the Prints of Roy Lichtenstein
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Catalogue entry

Artwork: The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419)  Variant A (state proof)
Variant A (state proof)
Artwork: The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419)  Edition impression (?)
Artwork: The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419)  Edition impression (?)
Artwork: The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419)  Variant B (artist proof)
RLCR 419 (Busche 271; Corlett 23; RL 3523)
The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine]
1953
Title Source
Corlett; RL Studio Card
Alternate titles and sources: The Flying Machine (Busche; RL Studio Card); The Heavier Than Air Machine (RL Studio Photograph)
Media
Woodcut on Japanese paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 3/4 x 20 5/8 in. (42.6 x 52.4 cm) (variable)
Image: 12 3/8 x 15 1/16 in. (31.4 x 38.3 cm)
Description
unknown; plus unknown number of unnumbered proofs, including 1 AP, 1 state proof, and 1 proof inscribed [1/1]

Publisher: the artist

Printer: the artist

Runs:



Edition Impressions:
gray
blue-purple
red
light fuchsia
dark fuchsia
dark blue




Variant A (state proof):
gray
light blue
maroon
fuchsia
red




Variant B (artist's proof):
gray
light blue
dark blue
fuchsia
red
Inscriptions
Impressions are inconsistently signed, dated, titled, and numbered in pencil, bottom margin: One is titled [The Heavier Than Air Machine], dated [1953], inscribed [signed '79], signed [rf Lichtenstein], and inscribed [state proof]. One is titled [The Heavier-than-Air Machine], dated [1953], signed [Lichtenstein], and inscribed [Artist's proof]. One is titled [The Flying Machine], signed [Lichtenstein], numbered [1/1], and dated [1954]
Remarks

This print was briefly mentioned in Haas 1953. The article states: "Roy Lichtenstein's color-woodcut, The Heavier-than-Air Machine, is a whimsical conception of an early airplane. The motor, wings and markings have been segmented into red, blue and umber forms, but the tall assembly has been left intact. The entire design has been placed against a red-violet background." In this article's "New Prints: Check List," the woodcut's edition was "unspecified."

In addition to the color variants, there are at least two known states: one with a solid background and one in which the background field has horizontal striations cut into it.

One woodblock (gray block) is preserved in the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Collection, as is a second woodblock used for printing the fuchsia colors. In 2019, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation donated another woodblock (maroon block) to The Roy Lichtenstein Study Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 

Photo: Tricia Zigmund, courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington (Primary Image 3)
Research Images
The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419.) Fuchsia-run woodblock (RLF Collection)
Fuchsia-run woodblock (RLF Collection)
The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419.) Gray-run woodblock (RLF Collection)
Gray-run woodblock (RLF Collection)
The Heavier-than-Air Machine [The Flying Machine], 1953 (RLCR 419.) Maroon-run woodblock (Whitney Museum of American Art)
Maroon-run woodblock (Whitney Museum of American Art)
Exhibitions
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Prints—1953, November 15–December 10, 1953.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein, October 30, 1994–January 8, 1995 (Corlett 1994). Traveled to: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Calif., February 16–April 30, 1995; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Tex., May 28–August 6, 1995; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., September 10–November 26, 1995 (Parrish Art Museum 1995, no. 10 not ill.).
Museo delle Cultre, Milan, Roy Lichtenstein. Multiple Visions, May 1–September 8, 2019 (only Milan) (Mercurio 2019a, p. 67 color ill.). Traveled to: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mons, Belgium, December 5, 2020–April 18, 2021 (as Roy Lichtenstein: Visions Multiples) (Mercurio 2020a).
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, Roy Lichtenstein: History in the Making, 1948–1960, February 11–June 6, 2021 (Finch, E, and Price 2020, pp. 134–135 color ill. [double spread]). Traveled to: Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, N.Y., August 1–October 24, 2021; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, March 5–June 5, 2022; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, N.C., August 25, 2022–January 8, 2023.
Literature
Haas, Irvin. "The Print Collector: November Color Prints." ARTnews 52, no. 7 (November 1953).
Busche, Ernst A. Roy Lichtenstein: Das Frühwerk, 1942–1960. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1988, no. 271 p. 111 b/w ill.

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