Roy Lichtenstein, a brief history
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Roy Lichtenstein. Born New York, 27th October 1923. Died New
York, 30th September 1997
During the late thirties, Lichtenstein studied in New York at the
Art Students League under Reginald Marsh. In 1940 he moved to Ohio
State University, Columbus where, at the School of Fine Arts he
studied under Hoyt L. Sherman. National service in the army took
him away from his studies between 1943 to 1946. In 1949 he obtained
an M.F.A. Lichtenstein's first major exhibition took place in
1951at the Carlebach Gallery, New York. This exhibition dedicated
solely to his work featured his semi-abstract paintings of the old
West. In the early fifties Lichtenstein moved with his family to
Cleveland and took a position as a draftsman whilst continuing to
paint in his spare time.
In 1957 Lichtenstein secured a position at the State University of
New York where he taught until 1960. During this time he had
started to include rough cartoon characters in his work. Between
1960 and 1963, he lived in New Jersey and taught at Rutgers
University in New Brunswick. During this period he mixed with well
know characters in the art world who were experimenting with what
would become the foundations of pop art. Throughout the early
sixties his paintings increasingly featured comic-strip figures.
Lichtenstein comic-strip figures were coloured with
benday-dots
backgrounds grounds , speech balloons and thought bubbles.
Lichtenstein pop art tendencies also lead him to experiment with
images cut from adverts and magazines to form collage. Throughout
the sixties and on into the seventies, his work became quite
stylised and depicted landscapes, packaging and consumer-products.
Lichtenstein also produced works parodies of well known artists
styles in his series "Brushstrokes" and work with a geometric style
leaning towards Art Deco with his "Modern" series.
Through the latter half of the seventies, Lichtenstein produced
work, which as true pop art, challenged artistic style. A large
proportion of his work poked fun at well-known art styles. His work
continued in this vein throughout the eighties and into the
nineties and included his series "Interiors" which interesting
included images of his own work on display.
Lichtenstein links:
http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org
http://davidbarsalou.homestead.com/LICHTENSTEINPROJECT.html
(Original comic pictures Lichtenstein used for his work ... takes a
while to load but interesting)
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