Roy Lichtenstein 1923 1997 Roy Lichtenstein Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein 1923 - 1997

Roy Lichtenstein • Roy Lichtenstein was a very important and famous American painter and sculptor whose 1950’s abstract style developed into to Pop art in the early 1960’s.

Andy Warhol • Along with fellow American artist Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein was one of the central figures of the American pop art movement in the 1960 s, which celebrated popular, commercial images. • Unlike abstract expressionists, Lichtenstein and Warhol liked mimicking familiar images in popular culture.

Warhol – “Marilyn Monroe”

Distinctive style • Lichtenstein adopted a commercial art style, blowing up images from comic strips or showing everyday objects in a comic book style. • He used bold and bright primary colours, prominent black outlines and patterns of dots to create funny and distinctive popular works.

Lichtenstein “Girl with ball” 1961

Lichtenstein – “Sandwich and soda” 1964

Ben Day Dots • The patterns that Lichtenstein used are similar to Pointillism and mimic a process used for printing pictures in comics known as Benday dots • The Benday dots printing process was invented by the illustrator and printer Benjamin Day 1810 – 1889.

Lichtenstein “Plate” showing use of Benday dots

Lichtenstein “Drowning Girl” 1963

Lichtenstein “Whaam!” 1963

Whaam! 1963 • Whaam! was painted in 1963. It is acrylic on canvas and measures 1. 73 by 4. 06 m (5 ft 7 in by 13 ft 4 in). This painting is part of the collection at the Tate Gallery in London.

Lichtenstein Kiss 1964

Lichtenstein “As I opened fire” 1964

Lichtenstein “Red barn” 1969

Changes in style • In later life Lichtenstein became more interested in deconstruction and abstraction. • Looking at the two pictures on the following slides notice how Lichtenstein’s style changed and developed in his later life.

Lichtenstein – “Landscape with figures” 1980

Lichtenstein – “Interior with water lilies” 1991

Four contributions to 20 th century art 1. the breakdown of barriers between art and life, using everyday objects and subjects appropriate to consumer culture 2. an exploration of art based on other art 3. an interest in serial imagery 4. participation in the untraditional medium of printmaking

Roy Lichtenstein 1923 - 1997