How to Recognize Work by Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein is considered the greatest Pop Artist after Andy Warhol. Lichtenstein made an early foray into Pop painting in 1956 with his work "Ten Dollar Bill." He spent the next few years as an abstract expressionist and then found his true calling in 1961 when he produced six paintings showing characters from comic-strip frames. At this time he also began making use of his signature Benday dots, speech balloons and lettering.
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Instructions
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Recognize Work by Roy Lichtenstein
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Look for themes from the American West (cowboys and Indians) in Lichtenstein's early work.
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Find everyday objects. Like many other Pop artist, Lichtenstein's work is easy to recognize because of his use of common items like string, golf balls, kitchen curtains, pie slices and hot dogs.
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Check for the Benday dots. These are small colored dots closely-spaced, widely-spaced or overlapping depending on the color needed. Lichtenstein used this technique in many of his paintings including "Girl with Ball" and "M-Maybe."
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Notice the speech balloons. Speech balloons (used in comic strips) were another signature of Lichtenstein's work and can be seen in "Mr. Bellamy" and "Drowning Girl."
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Look at his colors. Like Warhol, Lichtenstein painted with a narrow palette of bold, primary colors.
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Follow the lines. Imitating comic book illustrations, Lichtenstein often outlined his figures with heavy black outlines.
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Explore his Pop Art themes. Recognize Lichtenstein's work by his common use of themes like advertisements, politics, portraits and nature.
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Become acquainted with his prints. Lichtenstein used every printmaking medium including lithographs, screen prints, etchings, woodblocks and mixed-media prints. During his career, he produced more than 300 print editions. "Red Lamps" is one of his lithographs.
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Look for commercialized versions of other artist's work. You will recognize Picasso's influence (and his painting) in "Woman with Flowered Hat." He also created his own versions of works by Piet Mondrian, Gilbert Stuart and Claude Monet.
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Log on to the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. There is a wealth of information on all aspects of Lichtenstein's career and plenty of his images to view (see Resources below).
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Read "Image Duplicator: Roy Lichtenstein and the Emergence of Pop Art" by Michael Lobel at Amazon (see Resources below). This book is a retrospective of Lichtenstein's "Pop" career between the late 1950s and mid-1960s.
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Tips & Warnings
Lichtenstein took inspiration from many artists and art movements that preceded him. To better understand Lichtenstein's evolution as a painter, familiarize yourself with Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism.
