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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Superman Versus the Toilet Duck

This is certainly not a straightforward depiction of Superman. Here the hero has red hair, four eyes, and a displaced nose. His right leg drapes over a square structure, a toilet pull-chain hangs from his boot, and the head of a duck emerges from a toilet bowl. Though remarkably unheroic, the figure still reads as Superman even as Peter Saul changes the “S” on the iconic crest to a dollar sign – a tongue-in-cheek reference to Superman’s less talked about superpower: his marketability.

ArtistPeter Saul(b. 1934)
Date1963
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions63 x 78 3/4 in. (160 x 200 cm)
Signedl.r.: Saul / '63
Inscription(s)recto, l.c.: KWAK
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.497
ClassificationPainting
Provenance(Galleria La Tartaruga, Rome, Italy); to Private Collection, 1963; to (Sotheby’s, New York, NY), November 14, 2012, sale N08901, lot 232; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2012
On ViewNo
Superman Versus the …63 × 78.8 in.Standard/Movie Poster40 × 27 in.

This artwork's face covers about 4.6× the area of a standard movie poster.Drawn to the same scale.

Superman Versus the Toilet Duck by Peter Saul | Crystal Bridges