Robert Indiana: Eternal Hexagon. One of a suite of ten prints titled 'Ten Works by Ten Painters'. Published by The Wadsworth Atheneum, 1964

Image of a target shape in yellow and red on a brown ground. A circle in yellow, lettered 'eternal hexagon', has the number 6, printed in red, inside a yellow hexagon inside it (the circle). Below this is printed the word 'hexagon' in red, on the brown ground.

382/500

Given by Kasmin Ltd.

Suite originally housed in a cream cloth-covered portfolio box with cream and white paper lining. On front X / + / X in blue and white and in blue on spine ‘TEN WORKS BY TEN PAINTERS THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM’ Container is unnumbered and housed elsewhere, currently (2011) at the back of '1st Mezz' in the National Art Library. Inside the container still remains four pages (description and transcript below):
Title-page: vertically in black ‘X / + [cut out] / X / [and horizontally through the same +] TEN WORKS [+] TEN PAINTERS / THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM’
Title-page verso of title-page: ‘Copyright 1964, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut 67/500 [edition number in pen] / Designed and Produced by Ives-Sillman, New Haven, Connecticut’
Page 2: in caps a list of names: ‘GEORGE ORTMAN / FRANK STELLA / ELLSWORTH KELLY / ROBERT MOTHERWELL / ANDY WARHOL / STUART DAVIS / ROY LICHTENSTEIN / LARRY POONS / ROBERT INDIANA / AD REINHARDT’
Page 3: ‘This portfolio was commissioned and printed in an attempt to extend / as much of the visual impact as pssible of ten artists to paper and / to make the prints available to collectors who might not otherwise / have such a vivid slice of the artist. / The dry surface of screening seemed to be most apt to translate the / effect of their painting, both the flatness which is the unifying bond / between the ten, and the insistence of paint on the surface of canvas / so like the visible heft of ink on paper here. / Samuel J. Wagstaff, Jr. Curator of Paintings’ [followed by a list of sponsors]
Dims. of container: 65 x 53.5 x 2.5cm.
Condition note: Spillages and staining all over container especially front cover.

the printing was by Sirocco under supervision of Ives-Sillman

From early childhood Robert Indiana was familiar with the world of American signage. His mother worked in roadside diners and his father drove a gasoline company truck. His paintings incorporate the designs of lettering and other signage that have become an integral part of the American land- and city-scapes. In many works an image or basic shape is duplicated and then slight variations in each introduced to carry punning or enigmatic references to American life and literature. As an older member of the Pop Artist generation, Indiana preferred to describe himself as a 'sign painter'. He has been a seminal influence and has also produced one of the most iconic images of his age, LOVE, first as a painting, but rapidly appropriated into a huge variety of graphic applications.

CIRC.131-1969