ROY LICHTENSTEIN, THUNDERBOLT, FELT BANNER, EDITION OF 20, 1966
In the mid-1960s, art dealer Robert Graham commissioned Roy Lichtenstein to submit designs for felt banners to be hung outside his Madison Avenue gallery in New York. Having already experimented with ceramic and steel, Lichtenstein thought it an interesting idea to try his hand at working with felt. Posing a radical challenge to the conventions of fine art, his Thunderbolt of 1966 bursts off the wall in an electric moment of three-dimensionality.
The print presents a boldly outlined cartoon hand, set on an indigo background, clutching a lightning bolt. Thunderbolt is one of Lichtenstein's early ventures into capturing essential shapes. As such, the work mirrors the reduced pictorial qualities of Spray Can and Pistol of the same period. Thunderbolt depicts familiar visuals abstracted from everyday life, rendered through the idealised nature of print advertisements. Similar to Foot And Hand, Lichtenstein in this composition utilises partial cropping to invoke a sense of underlying tension.
Populating his assertive comic book hand with simplified circular dot patterns, the artist’s stitched and layered banner takes on an intensity not available in any other medium. Lichtenstein’s use of a felt, later also applied in his Banner IV of 1968, ensures the superbly gesture-free finish of his print.
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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.
