Lichtenstein's Girl

            Roy Lichtenstein created many striking works of art, one of which was titled Girl created in 1963. This piece was created by using a lithograph on white paper. Lichtenstein used a style that is similar to comic strips and subject matter that reflected pop culture. Lichtenstein was an avant-garde artist who stepped out of the box.

Lichtenstein’s use of comic book style helps express his feelings toward early 20^th century culture. The Girl utilizes bright primary colors; shades of blue, red and yellow. Then he uses dark bold lines and Benday dots that together form rich tones, and an interesting texture. Even though Lichtenstein takes his inspiration from advertisements and comics created near the same time, he changes the image to focus on his message about pop culture, though his messages are not always obvious. The lithograph Girl seems to be emphasizing something that is not captured in the artwork itself. I say this because; she is pushed to the right of the piece creating an asymmetrical balance with the bright blue on the left. Her face is tilted to the side, with her bight blue eyes focused on something in the same direction. The girl’s hands even appear to be pointing off the page. The way that the girl’s mouth was depicted seems that maybe she was in the middle of a conversation, the piece almost seems to be lacking a speak bubble. Lichtenstein was said to have used a rotating easel in order to create art that was enthralling from all angles.

Roy Lichtenstein’s collection of art work is very different from abstract expressionism which was popular during the same time he was creating his art. Instead his work captures a different essence, Lichtenstein said his work is ''anti-contemplative, anti-nuance, anti-getting-away-from-the-tyranny-of-the-rectangle, anti-movement and anti-light, anti-mystery, anti-paint-quality, anti-Zen, and anti- all of those brilliant ideas of preceding movements which everyone understands so thoroughly.” In a way Lichtenstein is forcing viewers to stare in the eye of their pop culture, in the process of doing so his work could be considered avant-garde.

For an artist to be considered avant-garde they must be politically radical and/or technically radical. To be politically radical one must reference the current world and try to help move forward. I would say that Lichtenstein is politically radical because he used commercial advertisement in a way that showcases his thoughts and feelings about popular culture. He is even more political when he uses war imagery like his painting Torpedo…LOS!, which could be referencing use of nuclear weapons in warfare. Though his art does not suggest a particular way to fix or move forward with the current issues, it should still be considered politically radical and avant-garde. To be considered technically radical an artist must be able to create art that is different from work that is being made at the same time. I think that his work is extremely technically radical. He utilizes Benday dots that were at the time reserved for art in comics and in art created mechanically. Lichtenstein’s art mainly uses primary colors that create an overall artificial look which is very different from most work produce before his time. Lichtenstein was an avant-garde artist who was noticed for his bright interesting art that was focused on popular culture.

Resources:

http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lichtenstein-roy.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/30/arts/roy-lichtenstein-pop-master-dies-at-73.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/arts/design/11roy.html?_r=1