Go to our artist list

Biography

Early days and training

Roy Lichtenstein became interested in art very early in life, initially enjoying drawing as a leisure activity. In 1940, he enrolled as an art student at Ohio University. In 1946 he got a job as a teacher in Cleveland, a job that he did intermittently over the next ten years. From 1951 to 1957 he painted subjects linked to the history of the United States. His work at this time fluctuated between cubism and expressionism. He regularly exhibited in galleries in New York. In 1957, he moved to New York and got a job as a lecturer at New Jersey University. This was when he began his pop production began.

Roy Lichtenstein, Pop artist

With Look Mickey in 1961, he used comic book characters in his paintings for the first time. Over the next few years, Roy Lichtenstein found his inspiration in comic books and advertising posters. He enlarged details, usually characters, copying an industrial printing style of rendering (a framework of dots that he painted by hand). Though apparently superficial, his paintings often take a very ironic look at American symbols. From 1961, several of his works were exhibited in a gallery in New York, then, in 1962, he had his first personal exhibition. In the same year, Roy Lichtenstein also took part in the exhibition dedicated to Pop Art: New Painting of Common Objects at the Pasadena Art Museum in California.

Roy Lichtenstein, a unique style

Over the next few years, Roy Lichtenstein applied his individual style to other subjects, such as still life scenes (Cape Code Still Life, 1972) and interiors (Interior with Waterlilies, 1991). He was also inspired by the paintings of Matisse (Artist's Studio, "Dancers", 1974), Van Gogh and Picasso (Stepping Out, 1978). His first retrospective was organised at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967. In the same year, his first personal exhibitions were mounted in Europe, in London, Berne and Amsterdam. Roy Lichtenstein also produced sculptures, including a wide range of public commissions for cities such as Paris, Barcelona, Tokyo and New York. Roy Lichtenstein became one of the major figures of American Pop Art. He died in New York on 29 September 1997, following a bout of pneumonia.

Works

Cowboy, 1957
Navajo, Seated, 1957
Lady, 1960
Look Mickey, 1961 (Schau mal, Mickey)
Whaam!, 1963
Crying Girl, 1964
Grrrrrrrrrrr!!, 1965
Stepping Out, 1978
Painting with Statue of Liberty, 1983

Many of the works can be seen on the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation website (click on "View Lichtensteins in museums")

Useful links

The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
Art Institute de Chicago
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Roy Lichtenstein 's products at Nouvelles Images

> Prints and posters

> Greeting cards