Roy Lichtenstein: Biography & Artwork

Roy
Lichtenstein

Bringing comic books and advertisements into the realm of ‘high art’, Roy Lichtenstein is considered one of the founding figures of Pop Art. If you are looking to buy or sell a Lichtenstein original print or edition, browse artwork available from our network and enquire to speak to the team. We offer free and confidential valuations and market advice on any Lichtenstein print, with zero obligation to sell.

Biography

A key pillar of the Pop Art movement, Roy Lichtenstein's works redefined Contemporary art through their signature comic-book and advertisement inspired language. Lichtenstein's distinctive artistic style, inspired by comic books, advertising and consumerism in post-war America, remains powerfully relevant today.

Born in New York on 27 October 1923, Lichtenstein developed a lifelong love of jazz and art after visiting museums and concerts with his mother and younger sister. He studied painting and drawing under American painter Reginald Marsh and later enrolled at Ohio State University, where he trained as a classical painter. After serving briefly in the US army, Lichtenstein went on to teach at Ohio State University. Although exhibited his works throughout the 1950s, he struggled to find his style.

Lichtenstein's breakthrough moment came in 1961, when he made his first Pop Art work, Look Mickey, at 37 years old. An iconic Lichtenstein artwork, the painting was based on an illustration from the book Donald Duck Lost And Found, owned by one of Lichtenstein’s sons. It marked the first time Lichtenstein fused painting with pop culture. He would later remember the direction as 'brave, risky and so far from anything I’d been taught in art schools. It was saying something about real life, and it wasn’t done as a joke. But I knew that it couldn’t be taken seriously.'

'Is he the worst artist in America?' asked a Life magazine article about Lichtenstein in 1964. Nonetheless, the artist was enjoying critical acclaim – not just in the United States but worldwide – alongside his contemporaries Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Claes Oldenburg. Lichtenstein’s most famous works include Whaam!, Drowning Girl and Crying Girl – all of which are underscored with parody and satire, transforming mainstream motifs and clichés into works of art. 'Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn't look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself,' he said. The way he has blurred the distinction between popular culture and so-called high art has paved the way for artists like KAWS and Takashi Murakami today.

Lichtenstein’s work includes more than 5,000 paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures, now housed in the world’s most prestigious institutions and collections – including the Tate Modern in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

In 1966, Lichtenstein said that Cubism, Cartooning and Commercial Art were his clearest influences. Although he is best known for his comic book style artworks, Lichtenstein referenced art history, ranging from classical Chinese scroll paintings to Abstract Expressionism.
'Artists have often converted the work of other artists into their own style,' Lichtenstein admitted. He has recreated masterpieces from Claude Monet’s Haystacks to Picasso’s portraits and Jackson Pollock’s sweeping brushstrokes in his signature Benday dots. 'I’m interested in my work’s redeveloping these classical ways, except that it’s not classical, it’s like a cartoon. I’m interested because of the impact it has when you look at it.'
In 1949, Lichtenstein married his first wife Isabel Wilson, with whom he had two sons. The couple separated in 1962. Dramatic paintings of romance and conflict – from explosive war scenes like Whaam! to the heartbroken Drowning Girl and Engagement Rings – soon followed, possibly a reflection of Lichtenstein’s own hopes and disappointments surrounding his personal life. 'I was interested in anything I could use as a subject that was emotionally strong. Usually love, war, or something that was highly charged and emotional subject matter,' the artist later recalled.
Lichtenstein married his second wife Dorothy Herzka in 1968. They lived together in Southampton, New York, from 1970 until Lichtenstein’s death in 1997. Dorothy is now president of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.