Vintage Poster, "I'd Rather Drown" by Roy Lichtenstein, 1980

Roy Fox Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. He was heavily inspired by the comic strip as a visual medium, in particular the presence of the "Ben-Day" dots that are a result of the color and tone distillation of inexpensive printing. He described pop art as "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting". Lichtenstein had his first one-man show in New York in 1962; the entire collection was bought by influential collectors before the show even opened. He would never take himself too seriously: "I think my work is different from comic strips — but I wouldn't call it transformation; I don't think that whatever is meant by it is important to art." When first exhibited, many art critics challenged its originality. His work was harshly criticized as vulgar and empty. The title of a Life magazine article in 1964 asked, “Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?” Lichtenstein responded to these claims by offering responses such as: "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."