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The Eateria

1962

Images

A 60 1/4 by 47 7/8 inch painting consisting of a large circular design and text against a black ground. The work's title, "The Eateria," appears in white stenciled letters across the bottom of the canvas. Above this is a red circle surrounded by a ring containing the numerals one through eight alternating between black against a white ground and white against a black ground. This is surrounded by a ring containing the word EAT, painted in stenciled letters eight times, alternating between yellow letters against a red background and red letters against a yellow background.

The Eateria

1962

Oil on canvas

60 1/4 × 47 7/8 in. (153 × 121.6 cm)

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966

 

Photo: Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Detail from Robert Indiana's journal entry for May 7, 1962, featuring a black white and red sketch of the painting The Eateria

Deatil from Robert Indiana's journal entry for May 7, 1962

 

Courtesy Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine

Description

Originally conceived as a diptych with The Dietary, this work was sold separately. Its title is a play on the words “eatery” and “cafeteria” and suggests the automats and lunch counters common in 1950s and 1960s across the United States.