Roy Lichtenstein: Hat

Taking the form of a folded paper hat, which is printed on a double-sided, laminated plastic sheet, this work was designed by Roy Lichtenstein for the fourth issue of the innovative artists’ publication S.M.S., edited by William Copley in 1968. Each issue contained a portfolio of experimental prints, intended to constitute a kind of portable museum. Hat is decorated with patterns of waves and nautical motifs in a busy composition that recalls the Art Deco interpretations of Lichtenstein’s contemporaneous Modern series. The hat was published in an edition of 2,000, with the first 100 copies signed by the artist as part of a deluxe set special edition of S.M.S.