An Artist in History...
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was an American pop artist
who was prominent during the 1960’s along
with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and James
Rosenquist. Lichtenstein created work that
often was in a tongue-in-cheek, humorous
manner. “Whaam!” and “Drowning Girl” are
regarded as his most famous works.
Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York into an
upper middle-class, Jewish family. He attended public school until age twelve and
then attended New York’s Dwight School. He
became interested in the arts in school and
attended jazz concerts and drew portraits.
Stepping Out by Roy Lichtenstein,
1978, Oil and Magna on canvas
Later he attended Ohio State University where he enrolled studio courses
and obtained a degree in fine arts. Eventually he earned his Masters of Fine
Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1949. He had his first solo exhibition at the Carlebach Gallery in New York then travelled to Cleveland where
he worked in a variety of jobs such as a draftsman to a window decorator in
between painting. In 1960, he began teaching at Rutgers University and became influenced by Allan Kaprow. He became interested in Proto-pop imagery. He began his first pop painting in his cartoon style in 1961.
Roy Lichtenstein’s work appears to be composed of character in comic book
style set in dramatic situations. These tense situations depicted are intended as ironic commentaries on modern man’s plight, in which mass media
shapes everything, including our emotions. Lichtenstein based his work on
the concept of converting art into commodity. Lichtenstein’s background of
having attended art school and working as both a commercial and graphic
artist, led to his unique style and subject matter in his paintings. Roy Lichtenstein became known as a pop artist after his solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in 1962.
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