Classic Love, 1995

Robert Indiana   Master Artists

Robert Indiana, 1995. Hand Woven Wool Tapestry. 182.5 × 182 cm (71.9 × 71.7 in), Signed and numbered. Edition of 150, In excellent condition.

With this particular four-letter arrangement of L.O.V.E, Robert Indiana has created an image so powerful that it has been adopted all over the world. A pop image, with its mix of the top and bottom lines is now presented in the form of the hand-woven wool tapestry. MoMA historian Deborah Wye has said that "[T]he word love was connected to Indiana´s childhood experiences attending a Christian Science church, where the only decoration was the wall inscription "God is Love". The colors were an homage to his father, who worked at a Phillips 66 gas station during the Depression" and "the red and green of that sign against the blue Hoosier sky. Love is "full of erotic, religious, autobiographical, and political underpinnings - both accessible and complex in meaning. Indiana has said: "Some people like to paint trees. I like to paint love. I find it more meaningful than painting trees." Created in its existing form as a Christmas card to be sent by the MoMA in 1964, the motif continues to be so successful that the artist has revived it in a variety of forms. Robert Indiana created "Love", a monumental sculpture found at Love Park in Philadelphia. Many other towns across the globe have since made it famous: New York, Madrid, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Montreal. In 1973 a US postage stamp revived the composition and 320 million copies were circulated. The art and message of Indiana's Love chimes with the definition given by the artist about the Pop Art movement: “Pop Art is the American Dream, optimistic, generous and naïve!"