Who Was Roy Lichtenstein and Why Was He So Important? – ARTnews.com

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2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997), with celebrations of his life and work—including upcoming museum exhibitions at the Albertina, the Rose Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art—in the offing.

Aside from Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) is the artist most closely identified with Pop Art. More than that, one could argue that Lichtenstein was the more insistently pop of the pair, as his subject matter, technique, and use of color ultimately derived from a single source—comic books—to which his work remained tied even as it evolved over time.

Within their respective oeuvres, both Warhol and Lichtenstein referenced the dot patterns used to mass-reproduce cartoons and photographs. But as much as this may have linked them in the collective imagination as the key figures of Pop Art, there were major differences between their careers. Not the least of these was the fact that Warhol became far more famous, largely due to the way he transformed the role of artist into a combination of celebrity, scene maker, and commercial entrepreneur.

Lichtenstein was more conventional, sticking to the studio and an interest in art history. He also made no distinction between his public and private selves, even as Warhol adopted a carefully crafted, enigmatic public persona. In other words, Lichtenstein’s view of what it meant to be an artist was fairly modest, best summed up by his observation that “most people think painters are kind of ridiculous, you know?”

Although both artists started out painting by hand, only Lichtenstein kept at it, while Warhol switched to the more mechanical medium of silkscreen. Ironically, he did so largely because his earlier facture was always being compared to Lichtenstein’s, who’d exhibited his paintings before Warhol managed to.

Undoubtedly Warhol left the bigger footprint art-historically. But Lichtenstein blazed an important trail of his own, creating a body of work that was as instantly recognizable and iconic as Warhol’s.

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