Collection of the artist
Pascal de Sarthe Fine Art, Scottsdale
Private Collection, United States

University of Texas at Austin, University Art Museum; Norfolk, Chrysler Museum; Indianapolis Museum of Art; Purchase, State University of New York, Neuberger Museum; South Bend, Art Center, Robert Indiana, September 1977 - July 1978, cat. no. 24
Paris, Marisa del Re Gallery; New York, Marisa del Re Gallery, Robert Indiana: Decade Autoportrait, October - December 1990, n.p., illustrated in color
Galeria Ateneo de Caracas, Los Estados Unidos Bajo La Optica de Robert Indiana, May - June 2001, p. 12, illustrated in color
Shanghai Art Museum, Robert Indiana, July - August 2002, p. 59, illustrated in color

Susan Elizabeth Ryan, ed., Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech, New Haven, 2000, pl. 6.30, p. 230, illustrated in color
Joachim Pissarro, John Wilmerding and Robert Pincus-Witten, eds., Robert Indiana, New York, 2006, pp. 122-123, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. Please refer to the following condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"The work I'm doing now, my Autoportraits, I regard as an extension of the Dream series – my own personal American Dream. In other words, they have become self-portraits. I think of myself first of all as an American, then as an American painter painting an American theme. And this will continue." - Robert Indiana

Robert Indiana’s art has come to typify many of the developments of the Pop Art movement and of the creative culture in New York during the 60s and 70s. His ability to transform stenciled typography, bold color, commercial layout, and a love and respect for all things American has established him as one of the quintessential artists of the 20^th century.

Decade Autoportrait, 1966 is from a series of ten paintings which Indiana exhibited at the recently opened branch of Galerie Denise René in New York in 1972. His previous exhibition in New York had been six years prior in 1966, the year whose “portrait” is depicted here. 1966 also marked the year of his third solo show at the Stable Gallery, featuring the now iconic LOVE paintings, as well as the year the John Herron Museum, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art, exhibited its first Indiana painting, USA 666, in the exhibition, Painting and Sculpture Today – 1966. Styled in the bold colorways being frequently exploited by artists of the time such as Ellsworth Kelly, a close friend whose studio was right by Indiana’s on the Coenties Slip, the painting depicts a number of textual references to the linchpin year, 1966. Each painting in the series follows a similar structure: a large “1” dominates the background and its extremeties stretch from edge to edge. Similarly, a large circle is inscribed in the square of the canvas and within that circle a decagon inscribed with a five-pointed star, reminiscent of the Texaco logo of the star inscribed within the circle. Indiana directly explains the present work: "I have a big six there, and since I have '66 I chose to use the 666 which comes out of my Sixth Dream. This could be part of my Sixth Dream. And love is the LOVE show, and I was on the Bowery at that time." The present work is individualized with notations indicating the present year, 1972, the pivotal year 1966, and his achievements of that year when his first LOVE paintings and USA 666 were ex𒊎hibited publicly. By combining these signifiers into one cohesive and comprehensive composition, Indiana truly creates an autoportrait eulogizing his artistic legacy.

Robert Indiana often referred to himself as a “painter of signs” or a “signscapist” as opposed to a painter of landscapes, and clearly Decade Autoportrait, 1966 is an outsta🅺nding example of the artist’s ability to manipulate the visual language of signage into a new artistic, and strictly Am🍒erican vernacular, one which he would continue to refine and expound upon throughout his career.