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Lot Essay
Executed circa 1956, this work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
The present work was included in the ground breaking exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: Native American Encounters, that contextualized these early works deftly into his oeuvre. "A Bad Treaty is based on a recurring theme in Lichtenstein's work of this period and in American history painting from Benjamin West's Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1771-1772, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) onwards: the signing of peace treaties with Indians, later broken by invading pioneers. Lichtenstein based his work on Charles Christian Nahl's South Idaho Treaty (1866) that documents a ceremonial signing of the treaty between the United States and the Shoshone Indians, whereby they were offered $80,000 for Idaho land. The treaty was never ratified and Governor Lyon was charged with mishandling $50,000, as noted in a caption accompanying a reproduction of this painting in Life magazine in March 1954. Given that this painting was identified only as 'A Bad Treaty' (and juxtaposed with 'a good treaty' painting by Edward Hicks), the Life magazine reproduction likely served as Lichtenstein's sourceThe atmosphere of tension in Nahl's original painting has been transformed in A Bad Treaty into a cryptic encounter of abbreviated figures rendered in a sketchy, loosely brushed manner." (G. Stavitsky and T. Johnson, Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters, exh. cat. Montclair Art Museum et al., 2006, pp. 20-21).
While the 19th century depictions may depict the Americans in a more favorable and even heroic light, Lichtenstein is more concerned about the formal aspects of A Bad Treaty. Both sides, the Shoshone Indians and Americans are treated schematically but there is a dramatic shift from light to dark, the Native Americans cast in a golden light on the left side, which contrasts directly with the shadowy Americans on the right. The narrative aspect of the scene, as well as the flattened contours of the shapes prefigure Lichtenstein's further explorations into the American iconography.
The present work was included in the ground breaking exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: Native American Encounters, that contextualized these early works deftly into his oeuvre. "A Bad Treaty is based on a recurring theme in Lichtenstein's work of this period and in American history painting from Benjamin West's Penn's Treaty with the Indians (1771-1772, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) onwards: the signing of peace treaties with Indians, later broken by invading pioneers. Lichtenstein based his work on Charles Christian Nahl's South Idaho Treaty (1866) that documents a ceremonial signing of the treaty between the United States and the Shoshone Indians, whereby they were offered $80,000 for Idaho land. The treaty was never ratified and Governor Lyon was charged with mishandling $50,000, as noted in a caption accompanying a reproduction of this painting in Life magazine in March 1954. Given that this painting was identified only as 'A Bad Treaty' (and juxtaposed with 'a good treaty' painting by Edward Hicks), the Life magazine reproduction likely served as Lichtenstein's sourceThe atmosphere of tension in Nahl's original painting has been transformed in A Bad Treaty into a cryptic encounter of abbreviated figures rendered in a sketchy, loosely brushed manner." (G. Stavitsky and T. Johnson, Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters, exh. cat. Montclair Art Museum et al., 2006, pp. 20-21).
While the 19th century depictions may depict the Americans in a more favorable and even heroic light, Lichtenstein is more concerned about the formal aspects of A Bad Treaty. Both sides, the Shoshone Indians and Americans are treated schematically but there is a dramatic shift from light to dark, the Native Americans cast in a golden light on the left side, which contrasts directly with the shadowy Americans on the right. The narrative aspect of the scene, as well as the flattened contours of the shapes prefigure Lichtenstein's further explorations into the American iconography.