ROY LICHTENSTEIN, BULL V, BULL PROFILE SERIES, LITHOGRAPH, SCREEN PRINT AND LINE CUT ON ARJOMARI PAPER, EDITION OF 100, 1973
Bull Profile series by Roy Lichtenstein, an outstanding figure of Pop Art, is a composition of six prints created in 1973. The Bull Profile Series is manufactured through different media, showing the development of printing techniques as well as the transformation of art forms. All prints in the sequence represent a bull, but the manner of representation differs, mapping a gradual shift from figuration to abstraction.
In Bull V, the metamorphosis is nearly complete. All shapes presented in this work are angular and mechanical. In addition to the block colouring and comic book style disposition, the work has an underlying comedic tone. The composition has been dislocated from the centre and pushed towards the right, leaving an empty white space in the left corner of the canvas. The corner is framed by one bright yellow and one light blue line, both abruptly ending in dark blue shapes. These formations resemble the hindlegs and hooves of the cattle, implying that the bull has been flipped to its side.
Lichtenstein deliberately chose to execute the prints in the Bull Profile series using a combination of lithography, screen print and line cut. The progression from naturalism to radical simplification is intimately associated with these printing processes, mirroring the trajectory of the series as a whole.
Find out more about Bulls by Roy Lichtenstein.
ABOUT ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Born in Manhattan in 1923, Roy Lichtenstein was a leading figure in the Pop Art movement during the second half of the 20th century. His distinctive artistic style is inspired by the visual language of consumerism and advertising that pervaded American popular culture at the time, and his work recalls a society of widespread commercialism that has remained powerfully relevant to this day. Learn more about Roy Lichtenstein.
