Research Paper

Roy Lichtenstein And Pop Art

Roy Lichtenstein was a great contemporary artist of his time. He grew up in New York during the 1920’s. Lichtenstein’s father was a realtor, and his mother was a house wife. He was known as the most sophisticated of the pop artist with his unique paintings. During his time in high school, there was no curriculum course for art at his school, but he still began to paint as a hobby during his junior year of high school. Lichtenstein received much motivation from a very famous artist known as Picasso. Lichtenstein was admired by Picasso’s Blue and Rose period Paintings, and was a big fan of the jazz musicians (Lucie-Smith, par. 2).

Lichtenstein was a teacher throughout his career, while teacher at Rutgers University during the 1960’s. Being an artist at first for Roy wasn’t that easy, his first pop art painting was a dollar bill in 1956, and he got barely any attention for it. The painting was classified as “Abstract Expressionist”, and during the 1957-1960 period, Lichtenstein’s work was broadly spoken (Lucie-Smith, par. 3). Lichtenstein later became well known as an artist, when people began comparing him with Andy Warhol, who was considered the best of the pop art movement until Lichtenstein came about.

Lichtenstein one day took his paintings “unannounced to the Leo Castillo Gallery, and was almost immediately accepted for his exhibition there, in preference to Andy Warhol, who had started doing similar work” (Lucie-Smith, par. 5). Lichtenstein began his career in 1963, after doing his first show with Castelli which launched him on a huge career and made him successful. After becoming known for his art, Lichtenstein left Rutgers, and moved back to New York where he quit teaching altogether to focus on his art (Lucie-Smith, par. 5).

During an interview with Gene R. Swenson, Lichtenstein was asked “What is Pop Art?” Lichtenstein then answered, “I don’t know- the use of commercial art as a subject matter in painting, I suppose. It was hard to get a painting that was despicable enough so that no one would hang it… The one thing everyone hated was commercial art; apparently they didn’t hate that enough either” (Janson, Anthony F. 945). Basically, even though many people didn’t like commercial art, Lichtenstein’s was so unique; it was hard for the people to stay away. He was an artist too unique for some, and one of the best of his time in the pop art field.

Today, Lichtenstein has a trio of paintings in the art gallery at the Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. The paintings include Meat, Strong Hand, and Desk Calendar, which were all painted during the year of 1962. Lichtenstein lived a beautiful career, but sadly died not too long ago. His life ended of pneumonia on September 29, 1997; he was 73, but left behind his legacy of the best pop artist of his time (Lenin Imports, par. 1, 16).

Roy Lichtenstein was an artist that was of the pop art movement. He is very famous for many of his paintings, but Whaam! and Blam! are two of his paintings in which Lichtenstein expresses his art work greatly. Blam! is a painting in which Lichtenstein used oil on canvas to develop. The oil on canvas gives the painting a unique style and the colors explode in your face. Whaam! is another painting painted the same way, but Lichtenstein has something extra behind his paintings. In these two paintings, along with many others by Lichtenstein, it seems people or something is in danger. Lichtenstein may have created these paintings to express the violence of war during the times of the 1960’s in cartoon as a way of having his fans figure out an aspect of the war their own way, as if one was reading a comic book. Also, there may be a deeper connection between these paintings in which Lichtenstein hopes his fans would recognize.

Blam! is a painting by Lichtenstein that is of the work of a comic book style of painting. The painting has very bright colors that explode in your face while observing it. The main object in the painting is an airplane that seems to only be capable of holding one passenger. The plane is tipped upside down in midair, and there is a man or some sort of black shadow figure falling from the plane. Surrounding the plane is a huge explosion of colors that seem to express the fact that a bomb has just exploded. The colors consist of yellow, red, orange, orange-red and black. The colors of the airplane consist of white, red, a dark shade of blue and there is a number three on the side of the plane. In the front of the plane, there is a huge hole or opening in which maybe a propeller was to be, but was blown off. The colors inside the hole are interesting, and consist of a shadow black deep inside the hole and a red color on the outside of the hole. There is one star figure on each of the wings of the plane. The left wing shows a blue star and the right wing a red star. At the bottom of the painting, the cover in which the pilot was inside of seems to have fallen off and is in midair falling with the man that has fell out of the plane. Inside of the explosion, there is the word BLAM in all caps and in a red color, with a black outline.

BLAM which is shown in the explosion inside the painting happens to be the title of the painting and may be a clue that the man in the plane was a target of some sort to be taken down. However, Lichtenstein’s paintings of war have been noticed by many people. “The images Lichtenstein appropriated from the war comics of the time become some of his most widely recognized works in the early 1960’s” (Lobel, Michael. 95). While people viewed this painting, as well as others by Lichtenstein, such as Whaam! and Okay, Hot-Shot, many wondered what the purpose of these paintings were. “All three depict intense moments of aerial warfare, and they show how Lichtenstein manipulated his source materials (especially details like explosion) to render highly abstracted shapes in his canvases, another instance of his alteration of his sources to achieve the greatest formal effect” (Lobel, Michael. 95). Lichtenstein depicting this image on war leads to my thesis in which I described how I believe Lichtenstein was heading toward the theme of war. Also, the colors in the painting have a connection towards our country. The plane itself is white, and the stars on the wings are blue and red. The colors of our country are red, white and blue, and I believe Lichtenstein was heading toward creating this painting with similarities to our country. Lichtenstein was always known for having his paintings filled with comic styled creativity and had many people guessing. “His Blam! is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the taste and the fantasy life of the public. Trivially familiar as the form and iconography are, they create a powerful effect when written large and out of context.” Basically, Lichtenstein was trying to express his feelings towards his country and the war in this painting, but also used his unique style of painting to sort of hide the main point (Wilkins. 1116).

Lichtenstein also used the Benday dot technique in this painting, to create a large-scale painting. This style was “popular in commercial printing to make large-scale paintings with comic-strip imagery.” “The artist navigated the minefield of categories used to differentiate between high and low culture-unique/reproduced, original/copy, high culture/mass culture-by creating a formally resolved composition of an exploding airplane rendered through a controlled, repetitive, and seemingly mechanical technique” (Cavallaro, Dani. 92). To get deeper into this painting, it is nothing more than a cliché of Lichtenstein. He wanted to stress the fact that the painting was a symbol of America by using the colors of our flag. Also he shows the meaning of war through explosions and violence. However, Lichtenstein may have painted this piece to simply express entertainment to his fans. People who read comic books look for action and violence. This painting depicts that for those who admire no meaning towards paintings, but for those who analyze and try to find the means of the piece may end up going into depth about war and the colors of our country. “The incongruity of scale and significance is matched in a different Medium by Roy Lichtenstein, who reconstructs on a giant scale the thudding clichés and earsplitting rhetoric of comic strips devoured daily by millions” (Kleiner, Fred S. 461). To get too the conclusion of this painting, maybe Lichtenstein used the oil on canvas and the Benday dot technique as better entertainment for his fans of comics. The larger scale of the painting may have been to create a massive case of disaster in which many fans of war love to see.

Whaam! is another painting of Lichtenstein similar to that of Blam!, in many ways. This painting uses many distinct colors and the same process of oil on canvas. The main focus in this painting would have to be the plane shooting rockets at another plane. The colors basically match those of the painting Blam!, and show sort of the same effect. This time, the plane that is more in focus is right side up and is still in perfect condition. Underneath the plane there is a cloud of smoke and some distinct colors such as yellow, red, green, and blue. Maybe, adding the cloud of smoke and the streak of colors is a way of Lichtenstein to show the speed at which the plane was traveling. In the upper portion of the painting, there is a caption that displays a message. “I pressed the fire control… and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky…” For some reason, this message gives me the feeling that maybe the plane shooting the rockets hit one of his own men on accident and he sat and watched the explosion just thinking of the tragedy he just caused. This leads to the second portion of the painting, which is another plane just seconds away from being upside down and is on fire in a huge explosion. The colors are definitely made to represent danger, because there colors we see in magazines that give us the feeling of danger. The colors are black, red, white, and yellow. At the top of the plane that is exploding, Lichtenstein though of painting the word WHAAM! in all capital letters above the explosion. WHAAM! happens to be the title of this painting and Lichtenstein did the same sort of technique in the last painting I described Blam!. Lichtenstein painted this piece for all the same reasons he painted Blam!. He wanted to focus on war and the aspect of war.
However I believe Lichtenstein wanted to get deeper into the war aspect by trying to prove that war can also hurt the ones on your side. In this painting, a pilot has hurt another pilot in which I believe was an accident, but Lichtenstein created to show sort of a comic book comedy to determine that accidents happen. “Whaam!” is based on an image from ‘All American Men of War’ published by DC comics in 1962. Throughout the 1960’s, Lichtenstein frequently drew on commercial art sources such as comic images or advertisements, attracted by the way highly emotional subject matter could be depicted using detached techniques. Transferring this to a painting context, Lichtenstein could present powerfully charged scenes in an impersonal manner, leaving the viewer to decipher meanings for themselves. Although he was careful to retain the character of his source, Lichtenstein also explored the formal qualities of commercial imagery and techniques. In these works as in “Whaam!”, he adapted and developed the original composition to produce an intensely stylized painting” (Lobel, Michael. 95). Giving this information, I realized that Lichtenstein was doing this painting for more entertainment reasons, because it was published by DC comics. Those who read DC comics aren’t looking for depth in art, but for entertainment.
While searching deep into this piece of art, I noticed a great metaphor. In Whaam! the plane that has been shot down may be a symbol of the comic book style of painting. After the 1960’s Lichtenstein gave up on his comic style characters and ideas, to get more into the works of Picasso, and Mondrian and big artists like them. Since this was one of Lichtenstein’s last paintings that showed a character of comic style, maybe he wanted to get deeper in his meaning. The plane exploding and being ruined, possible is being compared with the times of comic book style back in the 1960’s, and the plane is going down, because the time has come for Lichtenstein to end the style as well. “Roy Lichtenstein’s works may at first have appeared trapped within a limited format; but as he kept exploring, he continued to discover new range and diversity. His works became unmistakably American as he progressed—pop icons were used to (arguably) portray the events that were occurring in his own life. For example, he painted the images of attractive young woman in distress (“Drowning Girl” and “Frightened Girl”) as his marriage was breaking up in the mid-1960’s. Particularly poignant is his canvas “In the Car,” which illustrates a strained and chilly silence between a young couple in a car” (“ARTtalk” par. 11). This source here gives me the idea that Lichtenstein knew he was becoming an artist with better ideas and a bigger ego. This concludes me to believe that Lichtenstein gave up on the comic style of characters, because he knew he was more than that and wanted to express it through his work. However after doing some research I discovered I was right, for those reasons, but he also gave up for others. “By the late 1960’s, pop art had faded and Lichtenstein stopped using comic book characters as source material, focusing instead on works that were reminiscent of Picasso, C,zanne, and Mondrian. True to his style, he treated these works much the same as Andy Warhol handled the images of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley—as brand names of popular culture” (“ARTtalk” par. 11).

Lichtenstein was a man who had creativity in his work, and sometimes even hid some clever clues to how he was painting his paintings. While analyzing the two paintings Whaam! and Blam!, a connection by Lichtenstein may have been created. This connection may not have been what Lichtenstein was searching for while creating these two fine pieces of work, but maybe he was trying to create a mystery. In the first painting Blam!, it is of a plane being blown up and a man falling out. The painting was created in 1962 which was before the painting Whaam!. At first Lichtenstein probably painted Blam! for the style of war, but as the year went by, he may have decided to add to the painting. Whaam! was painted in 1963, a year after Blam! and in this painting, it is of a pilot who shoots down another plane probably by mistake. However, the mystery by Lichtenstein could be that the plane is the same plane from Blam!, that is being shot down and explodes. Lichtenstein may have done this as a mystery for his fans to solve while searching through his work. At first when Lichtenstein painted Whaam!, there may have not been another plane being shot down. Then as he figured out he has a painting of a plane being brought down, he added it to the work of Whaam! to give it the cool explosion everyone loves.

Discovering this mystery, first up was looking at the titles of the paintings, and realizing that they rhyme and are basically the same word accept for some minor differences. They also mean the same thing in a way, which could be destruction, because the word destruction can easily be interpreted with the sound effects “Whaam! and Blam!. Then looking at the dates in which the two pieces of art were created, it helped to figure out they were only a year apart. Lastly, came the idea that if Lichtenstein painted a plane being shot down, there has to be something that shot it down. Once he painted Whaam! Lichtenstein may have thought that the man in the plane could be the reason of the plane being brought down in Blam!. All of these fine ideas may have been the inspiration Lichtenstein used to create two of his very famous and beautiful paintings.

Roy Lichtenstein was a man of many mysteries and talents, and expressed them in his paintings. His unique comic book style was very well known, and he was recognized as one of the best of the style. His paintings depict many meanings, and can be viewed in any way necessary. However, Lichtenstein should always be remembered as one of the best artist during the emergence of pop art.




















Works Cited

“ARTtalk.” A Little Art History. November, 1997.
http://www.arttalk.com/archives/vol-08/artv0801-1.htm

Great source from the internet, I got much information from this. Described my artist wonderfully and gave me some good stuff on his style of painting.

Cavallaro, Dani. Art for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., 2000.

Here they describe the basics of art, and what is used for it. I got some nice information with this source. I found out what Lichtenstein uses to create his work, along with being able to view some paintings from other artists who use the same style as Lichtenstein for their work.

Janson, Anthony F. and Janson, H.W. History of Art. 5th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 1997.

This was a great source that could be used for any type of art. It focuses on all art types, and I found some great information for my artist. This includes an interview with my artist, a couple paintings from my artist, and some information about how he uses his art and how it inspires him.

Kleiner, Fred S. and Tansey, Richard G. Gardner’s Art Through The Ages. 10th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.

This source focuses on how Gardner believes art has changed throughout the years. I found some good information on my artist in this source and he was mentioned as a unique artist of his time.

Lenin Imports. Biography Roy Lichtenstein. March 23, 2009
http://www.leninimports.com/roy_lichtensteinb.html

Great website I found information on for Roy Lichtenstein. I used it in my paper and it helped me to analyze some points I made in my paper.

Lobel, Michael. Image Duplicator: ROY LICHTENSTEIN AND THE EMERGENCE OF POP ART. Ed. Walter Cahn. Yale University, 2002.

Great book I got from the library, and I used many pieces of information in my paper from this source. Worked out well for me.




Lucie-Smith, Edward. Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists. September 1991.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/lichtenstein.html

Here I found some great information about the life of my artist. It was an article from a biography of Roy Lichtenstein that I found from a website. This should really help me in writing my biography of my artist.

Wilkins. David G and Zaczek, Iain. The Collins Big Book of Art – From Cave Art to Pop Art. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.

This source gave me some good information about my artist, because it focused on pop art, which is the main focus of my artist. In this source, I found out that Lichtenstein believes it is hard to find anyone who doesn’t appreciate his work.




















Works Consulted

CoppleStone, Trewin. Art in Society – A Guide to the Visual Arts. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1983.

This source focused on how art is important, and the different styles of art. I found much information from this source. I found out what Lichtenstein focuses his art work on and how it is important. I also discovered how critics view his work.

Frazier, Nancy. The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History. New York: Penguin Reference, 2000.

This was more of a useless source for me. I found only a small piece of information. It was a dictionary of art, and basically gave me the answer to where Lichtenstein adopted his work. In the end, this actually could turn out too help me.


Gebhardt, Volker. The History of Art – An Illustrated Historical Overview. New York: Barron’s, 1997.

This source was an overall view of art throughout many years. I didn’t really find much information here, but I found a piece of artwork from my artist to focus on during my research.

Hartt, Frederick. Art – A History of Painting · Sculpture · Architecture. Vol. 2. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1976. 2 Vols.

Here I found out about the history of my artist and his unique style of painting. It told me how he came about his work, and I also found another piece of work by my artist to focus on. This source was a good piece of information.

Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. Ed. Dorothy Lichtenstein. Dr. Jack Cowart, Cassandra Lozano,
Natasha Sigmund. 2007. Foundation Staff, NY New York.
http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/frames.htm

This is a great source I found information about my artist from a website of my artist. Basically all I need to know I can get from this website.

Napoliello, Michael Jr. 101 Things I Don’t Know About Art. Newport Beach, CA: Literary Press, 2004.
This was another source that focused on the basics of art. I learned from it, but found barely any information about my artist. One thing I found was a nice piece of work by my artist that I can use for evaluation.