Roy LichtensteinSMS, New York: William Copley. The Letter Edged in Black Press, 1968.
About the Item
- Creator:Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 14.018 in (35.61 cm)Width: 7.088 in (18.01 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU29225649852
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein is one of the principal figures of the American Pop art movement, along with Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg.
Drawing inspiration from comic strips, Lichtenstein appropriated techniques commercial printing in his paintings, introducing a vernacular sensibility to the visual landscape of contemporary art. He employed visual elements such as the halftone dots that comprise a printed image, and a comic-inspired use of primary colors gave his paintings their signature “Pop” palette.
Born and raised in New York City, Lichtenstein enjoyed Manhattan’s myriad cultural offerings and comic books in equal measure. He began painting seriously as a teenager, studying watercolor painting at the Parsons School of Design in the late 1930s, and later at the Art Students League, where he worked with American realist painter Reginald Marsh. He began his undergraduate education at Ohio State University in 1940, and after a three-year stint in the United States Army during World War II, he completed his bachelor’s degree and then his master’s in fine arts. The roots of Lichtenstein’s interest in the convergence of high art and popular culture are evident even in his early years in Cleveland, where in the late 1940s, he taught at Ohio State, designed window displays for a department store and painted his own pieces.
Working at the height of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the 1950s, Lichtenstein deliberately eschewed the sort of painting that was held in high esteem by the art world and chose instead to explore the visual world of print advertising and comics. This gesture of recontextualizing a lowbrow image by importing it into a fine-art context would become a trademark of Lichtenstein’s artistic style, as well as a vehicle for his critique of the concept of good taste. His 1963 painting Whaam! confronts the viewer with an impact scene from a 1962-era issue of DC Comics’ All American Men of War. Isolated from its larger context, this image combines the playful lettering and brightly colored illustration of the original comic with a darker message about military conflict at the height of the Cold War. Crying Girl from the same year featured another of Lichtenstein’s motifs — a woman in distress, depicted with a mixture of drama and deadpan humor. His work gained a wider audience by creating a comic-inspired mural for the New York State Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair, he went on to be represented by legendary New York gallerist Leo Castelli for 30 years.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Lichtenstein experimented with abstraction and began exploring basic elements of painting, as in this 1989 work Brushstroke Contest. In addition to paintings in which the brushstroke itself became the central subject, in 1984 he created a large-scale sculpture called Brushstrokes in Flight for the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio. Still Life with Windmill from 1974 and the triptych Cow Going Abstract from 1982 both demonstrate a break from his earlier works where the subjects were derived from existing imagery. Here, Lichtenstein paints subjects more in line with the norms of art history — a pastoral scene and a still life — but he has translated their compositions into his signature graphic style, in which visual elements of printed comics are still a defining feature.
Lichtenstein’s work is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and many others. He was awarded National Medal of Arts in 1995, two years before he passed away.
Find a collection of Roy Lichtenstein prints, drawings and more on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Sam Francis - Michel Waldberg - Metaphysique Du VidBy Sam FrancisLocated in New York, NYSam Francis Exhibition Poster. Color lithograph 1986 Painter and printmaker who was prominent among the group of painters known as the second generation of Abstract Expressionis...Category
1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- PKZ FoxBy Alois CarigietLocated in New York, NY1935. Color Lithograph. Alois Carigiet was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, and illustrator. He may be known best for six children's picture books set in the Alps, A Bell for Ur...Category
1930s Art Deco Animal Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- THE BOOKMAN CHRISTMAS NUMBER. Circa 1895.Located in New York, NYLOUIS J. RHEAD (1858-1926) THE BOOKMAN / CHRISTMAS NUMBER. Circa 1895. 19x11 1/2 inches, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York. Color Lithograph. Good condition. No rips or tears or folds. Good color. Framed. Ref: Das Plakat...Category
1890s Art Nouveau Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Don't Depend on the HeavensLocated in New York, NYDon't Depend on the Heavens Art Work by Xlyang County Amateur Fine Art Production Group. Published by Shanghai People's Publishing House. 1975Category
1970s Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- CAMPESINO / MINISTERIO DE AGRICULTURA. 1936.Located in New York, NYJOSEP RENAU MONTORO (1907-1982) CAMPESINO / MINISTERIO DE AGRICULTURA. 1936. 60x41 3/4 inches, 152 1/2x104 cm. Graficas Valencia, Valencia. Ref: Guerra Civil en 2000 Carteles. Vol I,...Category
1930s Art Deco Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Tentoonstelling/Bki 1931Located in New York, NYPaul Schuitema - 1879-1973 Tentoonstelling/Bki 1931 23 ½ x 18”. Unlined.Good condition with the exception of a small minor tear top middle poster.Good color. Rare. A pioneer in mode...Category
1930s De Stijl Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Backyard Garden, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, China Art, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Backyard Garden Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the pictures. The pictures shown are only for illustrative reasons, the piece is offered unframed. The print is mounted on double sheet of paper with a poem on one spread and print on the other. Backyard Garden belongs to the set of twenty lithographs from the “Snatched Ecstasy of Yue Minjun”, which comes as a limited edition of 130 rare books. The work of Yue Minjun is instantly recognizable with its uniform laughing faces, the artist's faces. Minjun creates various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered, thus creating ambiguous images, often with the sinister atmosphere, which comes as his personal cynical reaction to various social and political dimensions of contemporary Chinese realities. Immediately humorous and sympathetic, Yue Minjun’s paintings offer a light-hearted approach to philosophical enquiry and contemplation of existence. Yue’s self-portraits have been describe by theorist Li Xianting as “a self-ironic response to the spiritual vacuum and folly of modern-day China”, thus the acidic tones and commercialized vacuity of his works are used to underscore the insincerity of his figures’ mirth. “Art should be an expression of one's particular feelings and should be direct and deep. So I drew one person, and then added another and another until there were crowds of them. Then I felt my emotions to be fully expressed.„ —Yue Minjun YUE MINJUN Yue Min-Jun (born 1962, Daqing, China) is one of the leading Chinese artists. He is best known for oil paintings depicting formations of his laughing self-portraits in various settings. His iconography is easily recognisable, it challenges social and cultural conventions by depicting objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic and cynical manner. Yue Min-Jun initially started painting as a hobby, subsequently he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hebei Normal University, China in 1985. In the 90s he joined an artist community in Yuan Ming...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Armed Forces - Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Armed Forces Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (31.5 × 47.2 in) Stamped S...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Paean on Grassland, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, China, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Paean on Grassland Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Remarkable People, Yue Minjun- Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Remarkable People Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Fighting, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Art, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Fighting Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the pictures. The pictures shown are only for illustrative reasons, the piece is offered unframed. The print is mounted on double sheet of paper with a poem on one spread and print on the other. In fantastical paintings populated with heightened, hysterical self-portraits, Yue Minjun satirizes contemporary society and art historical tropes. Yue paints himself in fluorescent hues with a gaping grin. He occasionally multiplies his likeness, making his compositions even more menacing; his style has made him a pioneer of China’s Cynical Realism movement. Yue’s influences include Chinese socialist realism, Surrealism, and European classical paintings. He studied oil painting at Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang and has exhibited in Hong Kong, Berlin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, London, Basel, and New York. Yue has been the subject of numerous institutional shows at venues such as the Macao Museum, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, the National Art Museum of China, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern. “[...] I choose to paint laughter, to communicate a sense of pleasure and happiness, but actually, it hides a double perspective of drama and suffering.„ —Yue Minjun YUE MINJUN Yue Min-Jun (born 1962, Daqing, China) is one of the leading Chinese artists. He is best known for oil paintings depicting formations of his laughing self-portraits in various settings. His iconography is easily recognisable, it challenges social and cultural conventions by depicting objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic and cynical manner. Yue Min-Jun initially started painting as a hobby, subsequently he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hebei Normal University, China in 1985. In the 90s he joined an artist community in Yuan Ming Yuan, a village near Beijing where he began to form his style and iconography. The paintings, sculptures, and installations of Yue Minjun feature uniform laughing pink faces, which appear to be self-portraits. Through various symbols, metaphors, signs, or through depictions of daily life the artist constructs various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered. "In my work, laughter is a representation of a state of helplessness, lack of strength and participation, with the absence of our rights that society has imposed on us." —Yue Minjun Yue became famous after his participation in the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, which granted him access to international art. One of the best-known paintings by Yue Minjun and an icon for modern Chinese art and the Cynical Realism movement is Execution. It was painted in 1995 and is generally regarded as a reaction to the Tiananmen Square...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Lotus Pool - Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Lotus Pool Lithograph in color on wove paper “BFK Rives” Edition of 130 120 x 80 cm (47.2 x 31.4 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as a...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph