All Dressed Up: A Rare ‘Big Eyes’ Print by F. Roberts

All Dressed Up: A Rare ‘Big Eyes’ Print by F. Roberts

In the mid-1950s the artist Margaret Keane developed a portrait style known as ‘Big Eyes’ due to the oversize eyes depicted in her subjects which gave them an eerie aura. Keane’s work became widely popular and very much in demand, so much so that her own husband, also an artist (just not as good), began to defraud her by claiming her work as his own.

The epic legal battle his scam triggered was made into the Tim Burton movie Big Eyes but her style had so caught fire during the mid-1960s that lithograph companies actually hired several nameless artists to mimic Keane’s ‘Big Eye’ style and signed them using the nom de plume ‘F. Roberts.’ Those prints also became popular and could be found in independent roadside motels that were looking to provide a kitsch kick on the walls of its rooms.

The F. Roberts line of ‘Big Eyes’ prints quickly became collectible as the fad faded with the roadside motels that had embraced it. The print All Dressed Up depicts a young girl in dressed in perhaps a school uniform and cradling a ragdoll, her ‘big eyes’ staring directly at the viewer as the austere surroundings and swirling sky glimpsed in the backdrop offers a hint of a nuclear war that had been omnipresent in the Cold War era.

This original print has been reframed in a decorative wood frame and mounted on a double matte with the original 1960s badge featuring the title of the print centered below the print. The print is protected by UV Glass used in the custom framing.

Dimensions: Twenty-three inches horizontally, Twenty-nine inches vertically (23 x 29”)

Condition: Excellent/Mint