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.
December 14, 2017 at 11:07 pm
Roy Lichtenstein was an influential artist who popularizes and influence the contemporary pop art in the 1960s. Most of his artwork was inspired by comic strip. His work was not known as “American painting,” but rather “industrial painting” where he included elements of factories, machinery, and market production. Lichtenstein also had an essential impact on the Abstract Expressionism and Cubism. He used advertising images to suggest consumerism and the economic atmosphere of the industrial production. His greatest piece of work was a painting called “Look Mickey” which was based form of other cartoons and animated objects. Later in his career, he began to create comic books with his work in which transformed the perspective of art in the mid 20th century.
December 17, 2017 at 1:25 am
I have always been fascinated by the work of Lichtenstein given is divisive nature. It brought to my mind the debate over derivative work and the point at which the work becomes its one and is no longer a copy of the original. If you recall the posters from Obama’s 2008 campaign titled “HOPE”. The artist of the work was sued by the person who had taken the initial photograph on which the poster was based, alleging that the work did not go far enough in its alterations to qualify as a derivative work. Similarly, with Lichtenstein’s work, I have to question whether his changes or personal touches alter the work enough for them to be considered wholly original works.
December 18, 2017 at 1:29 am
The first time I heard of Jackson Pollock was actually in elementary school although I hadn’t known it at the time. My art teacher had us make paintings the way that Pollock did by painting with the brush in the air for the paint to fall onto the canvas rather than to paint directly on it. I had always remembered this because I thought it was a cool and fun way of painting that I hadn’t known before. I had always connected painting with a portrait or landscape rather than “scribbles of paint”. I agree with your connection to What is art and what is its purpose because art has changed so much overtime that what qualifies art now can be very different than what many people may think. One can consider the raindrops hitting a gutter to be music while someone else will consider it to be noise.
December 18, 2017 at 1:30 am
Although their art is very different, Roy Lichtenstein reminded me of Keith Haring. I remember learning about Haring in my elementary school art class and then later on in my middle school art class and what stuck with me was the vibrant colors he used. The use of color that Lichtenstein reminded me of that. I think that some of Lichtenstein’s works didn’t necessarily give proper credit to previous artists, but not everyone does give credit to who inspired them. I think that there are plenty of artists that have “plagiarized” work in one way or another, but art can be anything. As long as there is some modification, technically anything he does can be considered art and I think that this contradiction led many others to feel insecure about his works.
December 18, 2017 at 1:30 am
Although their art is very different, Roy Lichtenstein reminded me of Keith Haring. I remember learning about Haring in my elementary school art class and then later on in my middle school art class and what stuck with me was the vibrant colors he used. The use of color that Lichtenstein reminded me of that. I think that some of Lichtenstein’s works didn’t necessarily give proper credit to previous artists, but not everyone does give credit to who inspired them. I think that there are plenty of artists that have “plagiarized” work in one way or another, but art can be anything. As long as there is some modification, technically anything he does can be considered art and I think that this contradiction led many others to feel insecure about his works.
December 19, 2017 at 1:42 am
Before reading this biography of Roy Lichtenstein, I had no idea his impact on pop art or really who he was and why he was significant. Thanks to this well thought out biography, I now know that he, along with Andy Warhol, became a leading figure in the new art movement. Thanks to your in depth presentation of Lichtenstein’s life and work as well as his influences, I have learned that he was inspired by a comic strip. Also, I learned that he was inspired by advertising, which I find significant as a student in a mostly business dedicated school.