Details
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Screenprint and lithograph in colors on wove paper. Signed in orange pencil, dated and numbered. With the blindstamps of the publisher/printer, Metropolitan Opera Association/Styria Studio, New York. Madame Butterfly by Larry Rivers, created in 1978 as part of the Metropolitan Opera Fine Art I portfolio, is a striking fusion of American pop iconography and Japanese traditional portraiture. This screenprint and lithograph reinterprets the tragic heroine of Puccini’s opera with a bold, satirical twist. The geisha figure, rendered in a style reminiscent of ukiyo-e woodcuts, is adorned with oversized yellow hairpins resembling missiles or matches, set dramatically against a waving American flag. Rivers critiques themes of cultural collision, exoticism, and nationalism, offering a provocative commentary on East-West relations through a visual dialogue both humorous and unsettling.
Madame Butterfly, from Metropolitan Opera Fine Art I, 1978
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57.2 x 77.2 cm
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Details
Artist
Styles
Screenprint and lithograph in colors on wove paper. Signed in orange pencil, dated and numbered. With the blindstamps of the publisher/printer, Metropolitan Opera Association/Styria Studio, New York. Madame Butterfly by Larry Rivers, created in 1978 as part of the Metropolitan Opera Fine Art I portfolio, is a striking fusion of American pop iconography and Japanese traditional portraiture. This screenprint and lithograph reinterprets the tragic heroine of Puccini’s opera with a bold, satirical twist. The geisha figure, rendered in a style reminiscent of ukiyo-e woodcuts, is adorned with oversized yellow hairpins resembling missiles or matches, set dramatically against a waving American flag. Rivers critiques themes of cultural collision, exoticism, and nationalism, offering a provocative commentary on East-West relations through a visual dialogue both humorous and unsettling.
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What is pop-art?
Pop Art is an art movement that began in Britain in 1955 and in the late 1950s in the U.S. It challenged traditional fine arts by incorporating imagery from popular culture, such as news, advertising, and comic books. Pop Art often isolates and recontextualizes materials, combining them with unrelated elements. The movement is more about the attitudes and ideas that inspired it than the specific art itself. Pop Art is seen as a reaction against the dominant ideas of Abstract Expressionism, bringing everyday consumer culture into the realm of fine art.
