Overview

Known as one of the most iconic and influential artists of the 1960s, Roy Lichtenstein was a pop artists who pioneered the new art movement of the mid 20th century. The popularization of pop art and art through parody is what Lichtenstein is most known for, and is commonly associated with fellow pop artists of his time like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. Lichtenstein was most inspired by the comic strip, and produced work that evoked a “tongue-in-cheek” sort of humor. He found great inspiration in advertising, and proclaimed his work as work that was not “American painting”, but rather “industrial painting”. When looking at a piece by Lichtenstein it is very easy to compare it to a comic book illustration. The pointed and sharp brushstroke style composed of dots and bright colors illustrated this very graphic, industrial, comic book feel.

Early Life

Lichtenstein was born into an upper-middleclass Jewish family on the Upper West Side of New York City. The artist claims that his interest in art first peaked as a hobby in grade school, a hobby that was not pursued until he enrolled for classes at the Art Students league of New York in his last year of high school. While there, he worked under the tutelage Reginald Marsh. Some of Lichtenstein’s earliest pieces of work portraits of jazz musicians he drew from the performances her would attend the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

Career

After his brief term at art school in New York, Lichtenstein traveled to Ohio to pursue a degree in Fine Arts at Ohio State University. His time as a student was interrupted by the World War II, when he was drafted to take engineering and pilot classes that were eventually cancelled, leaving him to be an orderly and artist. Upon discharge from the army, he returned back to Ohio to continue his art studies under Hoyt. L. Sherman, an artist that Lichtenstein would credit later as a great inspiration to his work. After receiving a master in fine arts form Ohio State, Lichtenstein worked as a professor in the graduate program for 10 years.

By the year 1951, Lichtenstein had his first solo exhibition at the Carle Bach Gallery in New York. During this time her took random draftsman and widow decorating jobs in between his periods of painting. At this point in his career most of his work was Abstract Expressionism and Cubism based. It would be until 1957, after the birth of his two sons, David and Mitchell Lichtenstein, that her would adopt his strictly Abstract Expressionism style, in which he began to incorporate hidden images of cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny into his work.

In 1960, he began teaching at Rutgers University. Here is where he met Allan Kaprow, a fellow teacher at the university, who helped to ignite Lichtenstein’s interest in pop, pop culture, and advertising. His first pop paintings were developed during this time, and lead to his rise in prominence. His techniques included the use of advertising imagery to suggest consumerism and homemaking. His greatest first piece of work was a painting called “Look Mickey”, which opened the floodgate to his success in art based on cartoons, and inanimate objects such as sneakers, hot dogs, and golf balls.

Soon after this, Lichtenstein began to find fame not just in America but worldwide. He moved back to New York to be at the center of the art scene and resigned from being a professor. Most of Lichtenstein’s best-known works are relatively close, but not exact, copies of comic book panels, a subject he largely abandoned in 1965, though he would occasionally incorporate comics into his work in different ways in later decades.

Two of his most popular pieces were Drowning Girl (1963) and Whaam! (1963). Both  paintings were comic book style pieces, incorporating thick outlines, bold colors and Ben-Day Dots. Both pieces contributed to the criticism of Lichtenstein’s work as “copying comic strips” and unoriginal. Magazines had called his work “vulgar and empty”, and simply did not respond to his abstract take on cartoon work. To this criticism, Lichtenstein had to say,

             

The closer my work is to the original, the more threatening and critical the content. However, my work is entirely transformed in that my purpose and perception are entirely different. I think my paintings are critically transformed, but it would be difficult to prove it by any rational line of argument.”- Lichtenstein 1964

 

Although Lichtenstein’s comic-based work gained some acceptance, concerns are still expressed by critics who say Lichtenstein did not credit, pay any royalties to, or seek permission from the original artists or copyright holders. Whether or not your consider Lichtenstein plagiarist or original artist, there is not denying his characteristic use of Ben-Day dots and geometric shapes and lines. He forever be recognized as one

Socioeconomic and Cultural Influences

Roy Lichtenstein was born into an upper middle class Jewish family on the Upper West Side of NYC to Milton Lichtenstein, a successful real estate developer, and Beatrice Werner Lichtenstein. As such, he did not experience all that much hardship as other artists from the same era may have experienced. He was involved wholly in both the arts and the sciences since he was a kid and his socioeconomic status allowed him to pursue those interests of his to his heart’s content.

While teaching at Rutgers, he experimented with different styles of art as well as different subjects. He based these newer works on American pop culture and a reaction to the recent success of people like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. While these two and people like them painted abstract, Lichtenstein took his imagery directly from comic books and advertising.

Lichtenstein was connected and took inspiration from people like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Reginald Marsh and certain artistic movements, such as Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and perhaps most prominently Abstract Expressionism.

He was friends with Andy Warhol and Lichtenstein’s works later went on to inspire Warhol. His influence was also felt by such artists as Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Takashi Murakami. He was one of the most prominent forces behind the Pop Art movement.

Lichtenstein played a critical role in subverting the skeptical view of commercial styles and subjects established by Abstract Expressionists. While Pollock and the like rejected commercial art, Lichtenstein embraced it completely and reveled in comic books and popular illustrations. Because he embraced these “low” art forms, he became the most prominent figure in the pop art movement.

However, there is one major accusation levied against him in terms of his originality. It is said in some circles that he is not really an artist whatsoever ad that instead he is a copycat.

Seminar Theme

What is Art and What is Its Purpose?

This accusation that is thrown at him brings to my mind the question of what makes art truly art? Is originality necessarily a part of what makes it art? And if that case, does it reduce the value of a piece of art to know that it is based off of something else? The plot of Star Wars is loosely based off of the comic book series Valerian. Does that mean that Star Wars should lose all its popularity and all its fame in order to give way to the original? In terms of games, there’s Overwatch and Paladins. In terms of ideas, there’s Thomas Jefferson and John Locke. In terms of books, there’s too many examples to count. However, does each copy cat necessarily devalue itself by the very nature of it being second? Does it matter? And then there’s also the idea that there’s no longer anything truly original. Everything is inevitably connected anyway and everything that can be thought up has already been thought up by someone before. Based on that, is art that is not as shockingly original not “truly artistic”?  I don’t know; I just come up with the questions.

 

Bibliography

“Roy Lichtenstein.” 721 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/roy-lichtenstein.

 

“Roy Lichtenstein.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Nov. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lichtenstein.

 

“Roy Lichtenstein.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2 Apr. 2014,

www.biography.com/people/roy-lichtenstein-9381678.

 

“Roy Lichtenstein Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-lichtenstein-roy.htm.

 

Sooke, Alastair. “Culture – Is Lichtenstein a great modern artist or a copy cat?” BBC, BBC, 21 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat.