Creed Gallery in Ascot, Berkshire, offers the Tate Gallery's Whaam! diptych, an offset lithograph reproducing Roy Lichtenstein's 1963 painting, published by the Tate, and the right panel on its own. Each is priced at £995. These are unsigned reproductions published by the Tate, not prints made by Lichtenstein, and we state the printing and edition of each. Our team can advise on provenance, condition and framing for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey and London.
About Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) was born in New York and studied at Ohio State University. In 1961 he began painting enlarged comic-strip images, reproducing the dots of commercial printing by hand and by stencil at monumental scale. His argument was that the imagery of comics, advertising and newspapers was as legitimate a subject for serious painting as the landscape or the portrait, and with Andy Warhol he helped define American Pop Art.
Whaam!
Painted in 1963 in Magna and oil on two canvases, Whaam! is based on a panel from DC Comics' All-American Men of War (1962), drawn by Irv Novick, which Lichtenstein cropped and reworked. The painting shows an exploding jet, with its onomatopoeic title arcing above the fireball. Tate acquired it in 1966 and it is one of the best-known works in its collection.
The Tate Gallery Edition
The Tate published the Whaam! diptych as an offset lithograph, in two sheets, printed by Lautrec Photo Litho in Leeds. Records show a first run of 1,450 in 1967, followed by later printings up to 3,000 through to 1988. It is unsigned. The edition code on the lower edge, for example "3M82" for a run of 3,000 in 1982, identifies the printing.
Collecting at Creed Gallery
We offer the two-sheet diptych and the right panel on its own, each £995. We state the printing, edition code, size and condition of each before you buy, and our team will talk you through documentation and framing. You're welcome to visit the gallery in Ascot.
Why Collect the Tate Whaam!
It is one of the most recognisable images of 1960s Pop, in a form published by the museum that holds the original. As with any print, individual pieces vary in demand and value, and the printing is the main factor, so our team is happy to talk you through the specifics of any work you're considering.
