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PROPERTY FROM THE ANNA MOFFO SARNOFF ESTATE

B. 1928
LOVE

12 by 12 in. 30.5 by 30.5 cm.

stamp signed, dated 1972 and inscribed For R.W. Sarnoff on the reverse

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Robert Sarnoff, New York (acquired directly from the artist in 1972)
Thence by descent to the present Estate

NOTE

One of the most significant and familiar images of the Pop Art movement, Robert Indiana's magnificent Love paintings toe the line between abstract shape, language and literary meaning. The present work, executed in 1972, pulses with patriotic references. In a rare instance of tri-colored paint application, Indiana has chosen to depict this Love painting with red, white and blue in the year that America found itself politically and socially torn by the Vietnam War. What initially appears to be innocuous text, coyly tugs at the strings of patriotic sympathies and passive anti-war fervor. The famous mantra coined by the student movements united against the Vietnam War during the 60s, 'Make Love not War', cannot help but be called to mind in contemplating Indiana's seemingly simplistic composition. The flat symmetrical letters form a sophisticated tautology that at once engage and resist abstraction and literal interpretation. The pervasive power of Indiana's Love series is evident in the myriad ways in which it continues to be used in popular American culture today: U.S. postage stamps, rock album covers, book covers. Love was an instant icon of its times and continues to be wholly relevant in today's politically charged world.