Roy Lichtenstein

(New York, United States, 1923 - 1997, New York, United States)

North America, American

A pioneer of the Pop Art movement, Roy Lichtenstein developed a style featuring flat areas of color, thick black outlines and fields of Benday dots, influenced by printed matter such as advertisements and comic book panels. The artist served as an army orderly and draftsman during World War II, enlarging cartoons for the Stars and Stripes newspaper and drawing military intelligence maps. During his European combat tour, he visited the Louvre, attended Post-Impressionist exhibitions, and studied briefly at the Sorbonne. Lichtenstein earned a BFA in 1946 and MFA in 1949, both from the Ohio State University. Although he lived in Ohio until 1957, when he left for a teaching position at the State University of Oswego, Lichtenstein exhibited regularly in New York City—1951 brought his first one-person exhibition at the Carlebach Gallery and his first group museum show at the Brooklyn Museum. He began teaching at Rutgers University in 1960, where he met fellow Pop Artists George Segal and Claes Oldenburg. The following year Lichtenstein painted his first work featuring Benday half-tone dots and advertising images of consumer projects. He moved to New York City in 1962; Leo Castelli began exhibiting his work that same year. In the 1970s, 80s and 90s Lichtenstein expanded his subject matter beyond comic book panels and advertisements to include still lifes, landscapes, interiors and works based on Surrealist, German Expressionist and Abstract Expressionist art.

Retrospectives of Lichtenstein’s work were mounted by the Pasadena Art Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Stedelijk Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art. Lichtenstein has received honorary doctorates in fine art from five institutions and was awarded a National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton in 1995. His work is a part of numerous collections internationally, including the Albertina in Vienna, Austria; the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

www.lichtensteinfoundation.org

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