Roy Lichtenstein was born in Manhattan, New York in 1923 to an upper middle class Jewish Family. His parents are Milton and Beatrice Lichtenstein and he has a younger sister name Renee. In his teen years Roy showed an interest and ability in art by drawing, painting and sculpting. He would also spend a lot of his time in museums. He graduated from Franklin Boys school in 1940 and served in the infantry for a few years in France, Belgium, and Germany. He was one of the artists who brought about the new era of pop art, with contemporaries like Andy Warhol. Roys work could be described as having a comic book effect, using lots of dots to make up the look of solid colour. His work is colourful, tidy, and fun. He explores the themes of love, war, adventure, comic strip cartoon, and everyday items and well known figures like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He pays homage to legendary artists like Van Gogh and Picasso by recreating their works in his own modern style. I think other artists have given him his inspiration as well as items in popular culture.
The colour schemes used in Roy Lichtensteins work are made up of primary colours. One of his more popular characters has yellow hair and that colour yellow is used often. His method involves his iconic benday dots which convey colour and texture and tone. Other creative activities in his work include sculpting. The skills that Roy needed for his work would be drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpting. I am not sure if he was inspired by the material but he certainly used them well.
Roys work communicates the feeling of boldness and power and fun. The work is loud and happy.
Roy made art for himself and for those in the art world and in the public. Some visual references that give clues to when the art was made are things like having an airplane in one painting, showing its after planes are invented. Also the people he drew had a certain look due to their makeup and hair and clothing styles which would show it was done in the 1900s sometime. I don’t think he had much political views to share through his art, but he does showcase war planes and explosions so this could be something he wanted people to know about.
I enjoy Roys work because it is bold and colourful and clear, but it doesn’t change my mood when I look at it.
I found this information on Roy Lichtenstein from this source: https://lichtensteinfoundation.org/biography/
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