Lichtenstein, Roy

born Oct. 27, 1923, New York, N.Y., U.S.

died Sept. 29, 1997, New York City

U.S. painter, sculptor, and graphic artist.

He at first embraced Abstract Expressionism, but in the 1960s he turned to Pop art for which he is best known. Especially popular are his brilliantly coloured paintings in the style of large-scale comic strips, such as Whaam (1963). In the mid 1960s he began making Pop versions of well-known paintings by artists such as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. In the 1970s he also made sculptures, in which he reproduced Art Deco forms. In the 1980s he painted a five-story-high mural in a New York City office building.

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▪ 1998

      American artist (b. Oct. 27, 1923, New York, N.Y.—d. Sept. 29, 1997, New York), was one of the founders and foremost practitioners of Pop art, a movement that used pop-culture icons such as comic-strip and advertisement images to counter Abstract Expressionism's tactile technique and deep personal involvement with abstruse concepts. At the age of 16, Lichtenstein took summer classes at the Art Students League in New York City under realist Reginald Marsh. After serving in World War II, he earned a master's degree (1949) from Ohio State University, where he also served on the faculty (1946-51). At the beginning of his artistic career, he produced modern images of cowboys and Indians and even dabbled (1957) in Abstract Expressionism before finding his inspiration in a painting he made for his children. His 1961 landmark "Look Mickey, I've Hooked a Big One!!," was a scaled-up representation of a comic-strip panel featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, an image that he found on a bubblegum wrapper. Although he was at first dissatisfied with his technique and such direct appropriation, he found deep satisfaction in presenting a comic image as fine art. He increased the size of his canvases to rival any produced by Abstract Expressionists and began to extract and adapt for his own purposes the graphic and linguistic conventions of romantic, science-fiction, and war comic strips. He used words to express sound effects such as in "Whaam!" (1963), a diptych in which one jet fighter shoots another over the separation between the canvases. He used commonplace images and developed a detached and taut mass-produced effect by outlining areas of primary colours in thick black lines and by using a benday technique (a dot pattern used by engravers). He achieved this effect by stippling with a toothbrush through a metal screen. Following the huge commercial success of his first one-man show in 1962, his unusual work found an international audience and he became (1966) the first American to exhibit at the Tate Gallery, London. Some of his other trademarks included speeches encompassed in balloons and landscapes made in the comic-book vein. When he began producing (1967) sculptures, they evoked the glass and curved-chrome styles of the 1930s. During the 1970s and '80s, his studio became a kind of factory, where assistants helped him to produce one variation after another. His creations during this period, especially of landscapes and still lifes, were a dramatic departure from earlier works that had used little brushwork.

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▪ American painter

born Oct. 27, 1923, New York, N.Y., U.S.

died Sept. 29, 1997, New York City

 American painter who was a founder and foremost practitioner of Pop art, a movement that countered the techniques and concepts of Abstract Expressionism with images and techniques taken from popular culture.

      As a teenager Lichtenstein studied briefly with the painter Reginald Marsh (Marsh, Reginald). After serving in the military during World War II, he attended Ohio State University, teaching there from 1946 to 1951 and receiving a masters degree in 1949. He also taught at New York State University College, Oswego (1957–60), and at Douglass College of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1960–63).

 At the start of his artistic career, Lichtenstein painted themes from the American West in a variety of modern art styles; he dabbled in 1957 even in Abstract Expressionism, a style he later reacted against. His interest in the comic-strip cartoon (comic strip) as an art theme probably began with a painting of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck he made in 1960 for his children. Although he was initially dissatisfied with his technique and uncomfortable with direct appropriation, he took great pleasure in presenting well-known comic-strip figures in a fine art format. He increased the size of his canvases and began to manipulate to his own ends the graphic and linguistic conventions of comic strips dealing with such genres as romance, war, and science fiction. In the style of comic strips, he used words to express sound effects. He developed a detached, mass-produced effect by outlining areas of primary colour with thick black lines and by using a technique that simulated benday screening (a dot pattern used by engravers).

      Lichtenstein's first one-man show, held in New York City in 1962, was a great commercial success, and his innovative work found an international audience. In 1966 he became the first American to exhibit at London's Tate Gallery (Tate galleries).

      Lichtenstein continued in this vein for much of his career, and his artworks are readily identifiable by their comic-strip characteristics. Nevertheless he extended these techniques into clever and thought-provoking meditations on art and popular culture. After the 1960s, Lichtenstein's works began to include still lifes and landscapes, and they were a dramatic departure from his earlier style in their use of brushstrokes as well as in their subject matter.

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