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ROY LICHTENSTEIN
(American, 1923-1997)
Painting in Gold Frame, from Paintings series, 1984
Color lithograph (aluminum), woodcut, screenprint and collage on white
wove paper
43 1/16 x 32 7/8” image
36 x 46 1/4” sheet
Purchase: University of Kentucky Annual Giving Fund 84.21
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Interpretive Text
Painting in Gold Frame
Roy Lichtenstein was a pioneer of the Pop Art movement, best known for his oversized comic book-style images. Early on, he found inspiration in images of everyday life, which he would transform by giving uniformity to colors and shapes. He appropriated the bold black outlines and Ben Day dots of commercial art to develop his signature style, a streamlined shading pattern adapted from photoengraved reproductions. (His first Pop painting, Look Mickey of 1961, led to Life magazine publishing the article asking, “Is he the worst artist in America?”) Throughout the 1950s and like many artists of his generation, Lichtenstein painted in both abstract and figurative modes as part of his search for a style.