ROBERT INDIANA (1928-2018) Polygon: Pentagon, 1962 Acrylic on canvas Signed and dated in stencil on reverse "INDIANA / NYC / 1962 61 x 56 cm Acrylic on canvas Signed and dated in stencil on the reverse "INDIANA / NYC / 1962" 24 x 22 in. Provenance Collection of the artist Collection Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr De Quay & Lombrail sale, Paris, 17 October 1994, lot 106 Private collection, Monaco Bibliography Summer Shadows: The Crystal Coatings. Mademoiselle, June 1962, work reproduced on p. 90. Dorothy Seckler, "Folklore of the Banal. Art in America 50", 1962, reproduced p. 58 Verne Berry, It's 'Pops'-But Even Too Far Out for Art's 'Bad Boys.'Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette, 11 January 1963, reproduced p. 17. Richard F. Shepard, "Painter Finishing Art Center Work". New York Times, 8 March 1964, work reproduced p. 83. John W. McCoubrey and R. Indiana, "Robert Indiana", Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art and Falcon Press, 1968, work reproduced pp. 30 and 31. William Katz, "Robert Indiana Currant 1" (December 1975 - January 1976), reproduced on p. 53. Robert L.B. Tobin, William Katz, Donald B. Goodall, "Robert Indiana", Austin: University of Texas, 1977, reproduced on p. 21. Carl J. Weinhardt, "Robert Indiana", New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990, work described on p. 216 and reproduced on p. 114. John Wilmerding, Joachim Pissarro, Robert Pincus-Witten, "Robert Indiana", New York, Rizzoli international publications, 2006, work reproduced p. 160 Simon Salama-Caro, "The Robert Indiana Catalogue Raisonné", RI Catalogue Raisonné LLC, reference P-1962-22 (Online catalogue) This work belongs to Robert Indiana's 1962 Polygon series of small paintings depicting a number from 3 to 12 placed inside a polygon of the corresponding number of sides (i.e. 3-Triangle, 4-Square, etc.). The series features numerous word games, with playful, personal, literary and alliterative references. The serial nature of these works and their small scale have allowed Indiana to experiment with bold new colour combinations that are unprecedented in her work. In Polygon: Pentagon, the word Pentagon appears at the bottom of the composition in white and again around the circle, indicating 'Particci Pentagon'. For an American, the first association of the word 'Pentagon' would be with the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in Washington, which explains why the predominant colours in the work are red, white and blue. Indiana, however, also brought personal associations to the term, as Particci was the name of her cat. William C. Katz, who worked with Indiana for many years, wrote in a 1975 essay: "This was a Particci painting in more than name, given to a longtime companion, the so-named cat (the shape of whose face is recalled to the artist by the shape of the pentagon. It was to provide tuna fish for his pet in case of the artist's death". The cat, Particci, would later appear alongside Indiana in Andy Warhol's 1964 film Eat.