Oil, graphite pencil on canvas
48 1/8 x 69 3/16 in. (122.2 x 175.7 cm)
Initialed lower left: rfl; signed and dated verso, upper right: rf Lichtenstein / '61
Classification: painting

Painting

In this catalogue paintings are classified as follows:

Painting is a work with acrylic and/or oil on canvas or on another two-dimensional support (canvas board, wood panel, etc.)

Painting (mural) is a large-scale painting, historically called "mural"

Painting on paper describes a work in acrylic, oil or watercolor on paper or board

Dates

Lichtenstein usually signed and dated a painting on the verso around the time it was finished, inventoried or shipped to a gallery or storage. Some pre-Pop paintings were dated in code (e.g., RLCR 502). 

See also: 8. DATES

Media Lines

Described are all media visible on a painting's recto. Paint is listed first, followed by graphite pencil where present, followed by the support. An inscription's medium is given beneath the media line if different from the painting media.

Acrylic and Oil Paints

The painting media lines in this catalogue are rarely based on technical analysis by a museum or a conservator. They are mostly informed by conversations with the artist's studio assistants, by examination of paint jars and tubes that were kept after the artist's death and by RLF records or Leo Castelli Gallery files. 

In this catalogue, all types of acrylic paint are listed as "acrylic" and all types of oil paint as "oil."

Historically, the brand name "Magna" (acrylic dispersion paint by Bocour Artist Colors, Inc.) has been used to describe all of Lichtenstein's acrylic. RLF records and technical analysis by art museums confirm that the artist did not only use Magna, but at times Liquitex acrylic emulsion paint and, later, Golden Artist Colors acrylic dispersion paint. When Magna production stopped in c. 1990, Lichtenstein bought up large amounts of Magna. He also reached out to Golden who worked with him to devise custom MSA colors in Lichtenstein's hallmark hues.      

Pop paintings and later works were usually painted with both acrylic and oil. It is assumed that around 1962, Lichtenstein experimented with Liquitex and Magna before adopting Magna as the main medium. For paintings of 1962–63, media lines are informed by notes on RL Studio Cards and/or in the Leo Castelli Gallery inventory. In rare instances, media lines were written by the artist on the verso of a work (e.g., RLCR 691). For paintings of 1964 and beyond, solid colors are assumed to be acrylic and dots and diagonals oil. However, it is possible that Lichtenstein continued his experimentation with paints through and after 1964.

Graphite Pencil Underdrawing

A closer look at Lichtenstein's paintings reveals that graphite pencil underdrawing and palimpsest is visible in most of them, starting in the 1960s. Nevertheless, pencil has not historically been mentioned in the related media lines. Due to the artist's well-known intention that his work not appear "too finished," this catalogue includes pencil in media lines. If in question from examination report results or other documentation, the presence of graphite pencil is assumed. When a researcher's examination report confirms that pencil is not visible, it is not included. 

Painting: Other Mediums and Techniques

Canvas
Different types of canvas are not described. A regular type used was #10 cotton duck from New York Central Art Supply. Circular canvases were at least partially ordered there as well. Earlier paintings' canvases are typically finer and sometimes described as "linen" in studio records. 

Sand
In the Imperfect/Perfect and Entablature paintings, grainy areas are visible. Lichtenstein created this texture by adding beach sand, usually to a thick white underlayer over which he applied the final color. 

Sgraffito
This reductive technique of line-making is found in about 25 pre-Pop paintings. 

Stretchers
Stretchers are not included in media lines. Lebron stretchers were standard orders from c. 1972 on, and were typically delivered assembled. A different stretcher brand was introduced once and quickly abandoned.  

Strip frames
Strip frames are not included in media lines. Slightly raised above the edges, strip frames served as a practical protection during shipment and storage movements and were routinely added to paintings at least from the time James dePasquale became Lichtenstein's assistant.   

Painting on Paper: Other Mediums and Techniques

Masking out
Masking techniques are indicated, but the material used (e.g., frisket, small objects) is not identified (e.g., RLCR 219).

Watercolor application
When it is applied in multiple ways, watercolor application method is described, otherwise brush is implied. For example, see RLCR 365, “Watercolor, brushed, smudged by hand and sprayed, with masking out, graphite pencil on paper." 

Dimensions

Painting dimensions are given from canvas edge to canvas edge, excluding original wood strip frames nailed to the edges. 

For multi-panel paintings, if panels are joined, overall dimensions and dimensions of each canvas are given. If panels are separate, only panel dimensions are provided since overall dimensions vary by installation. Lichtenstein usually suggested a distance of approximately 7 inches between canvases for installation. This fact informed spacing of related images in the catalogue entries (e.g., RLCR 1635). 

See also: 10. DIMENSIONS

Signature, Inscriptions, Marks

The artist usually signed and dated his paintings on the canvas verso in charcoal and applied a spray fixative before sending it to a gallery or storage.  

Pre-Pop paintings are often signed or initialed on the recto in oil, or inscribed with the artist's name and other tombstone information on the stretcher or tacking margin. 

See also: 11. INSCRIPTIONS

Read more: Guide to the Catalogue
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Catalogue entry

Artwork: Look Mickey, 1961 (RLCR 643) Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
RLCR 643 (LC D; RL 0057)
Look Mickey
1961
Title Source
Castelli; RL Studio Card
Media
Oil, graphite pencil on canvas
Dimensions
48 1/8 x 69 3/16 in. (122.2 x 175.7 cm)
Inscriptions
Initialed lower left: rfl; signed and dated verso, upper right: rf Lichtenstein / '61
Stretcher: [up arrow indicating top of artwork]
Keyword
Cartoons
Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Exhibitions
1982 Southampton, N.Y, Parrish
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, Roy Lichtenstein: Paintings, August 8–September 19, 1982.
1988 Washington, D.C, NGA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture: Selections for the Tenth Anniversary of the East Building, December 13, 1988–December 31, 1990 (Strick 1988).
1990 New York MoMA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, October 7, 1990–January 15, 1991 (only New York) (Varnedoe and Gopnik 1990a, no. 71 p. 196 color ill.); (Varnedoe and Gopnik 1990b). Traveled to: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, February 23–May 12, 1991; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 21–September 15, 1991.
1993 New York Guggenheim
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, October 7, 1993–January 16, 1994 (Waldman 1993b, no. 19 n.p. facing p. 21 color ill.). Traveled to: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, January 26–April 3, 1994; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montreal, May 26–September 5, 1994; Haus der Kunst, Munich, October 13, 1994–January 9, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994, no. 19 n.p. facing p. 21 color ill.); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany, February 8–April 30, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994, no. 19 n.p. facing p. 21 color ill.); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, June 2–September 3, 1995 (included early works) (Waldman 1994, no. 19 n.p. facing p. 21 color ill.); Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, September 21, 1995–January 7, 1996 (abridged version) (Waldman 1994, no. 19 n.p. facing p. 21 color ill.).
1999 Newark, N.J, Newark Museum
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957–1963, February 18–May 16, 1999 (Marter 1999b, no. 17 n.p. color ill.).
2001 Paris Pompidou
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, Les années Pop, 1956–1968, March 15–June 18, 2001 (Francis, M. 2001, no. 61.34 color ill. [double spread]).
2003 Humlebaek Louisiana
Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, Roy Lichtenstein: All about Art, August 22, 2003–January 18, 2004 (Holm, Tøjner, and Caiger-Smith 2003a, no. 3 n.p. following p. 31 color ill.). Traveled to: Hayward Gallery, London, February 26–May 16, 2004 (as Roy Lichtenstein); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, June 24–September 27, 2004 (as Roy Lichtenstein) (Holm, Tøjner, and Caiger-Smith 2003b, no. 3 n.p. following p. 31 color ill.); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, October 20, 2004–February 22, 2005 (as Roy Lichtenstein) (Holm, Tøjner, and Caiger-Smith 2003b, no. 3 n.p. following p. 31 color ill.).
2012 Chicago Art Institute
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, May 16–September 3, 2012 (Rondeau and Wagstaff, Sheena 2012, no. 8 n.p. color ill.). Traveled to: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 14, 2012–January 13, 2013; Tate Modern, London, February 21–May 27, 2013 (as Lichtenstein: A Retrospective) (Dunne 2012, no. 21 p. 28 color ill.); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, July 3–November 4, 2013 (as Roy Lichtenstein, revised and reorganized) (Dunne 2013, no. 21 p. 28 color ill.); (Pompidou 2013, p. 5 color ill.); (Morineau 2013a, n.p. facing p. 31 color ill. [detail], no. 1 p. 69 color ill.).
Literature
Seiberling 1964
Seiberling, Dorothy (Photographs by John Loengard). "Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?" Life 56, no. 5 (January 31, 1964), p. 80 color ill.
Rublowsky 1965
Rublowsky, John (Photographs by Ken Heyman). Pop Art: Images of the American Dream. New York: Basic Books, 1965, n.p. following p. 48 b/w ill. (with artist in studio).
Der Spiegel 1967
"Lichtenstein: Mythos von Mickey." Der Spiegel, December 11, 1967, p. 161 b/w ill. (in studio).
Hamilton 1968
Hamilton, Richard. "Roy Lichtenstein." Studio International 175, no. 896 (January 1968), p. 20 b/w ill.
Waldman 1969
Waldman, Diane. Roy Lichtenstein. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1969. Exhibition catalogue (1969 New York Guggenheim), p. 13 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Compton 1970
Compton, Michael. Pop Art. London: Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1970, no. 98 n.p. preceding p. 96 b/w ill. (double spread; with artist).
Coplans 1972a
Coplans, John, ed. Roy Lichtenstein. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972, p. 34 b/w ill.
Alloway 1974
Alloway, Lawrence. American Pop Art. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974. Exhibition catalogue (1974 New York Whitney), no. 7 n.p. b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Dubreuil-Blondin 1980b
Dubreuil-Blondin, Nicole. "Roy Lichtenstein: L'atelier d'artiste ou l'auto-référence dans le pop." Parachute, no. 19 (Summer 1980), p. 14 ill.
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Alloway, Lawrence. "Reassessing Roy Lichtenstein." Portfolio (New York) 3, no. 4 (July–August 1981), p. 52 color ill.
Burstein 1981
Burstein, Patricia (Photographs by Arthur Schatz). "Artist Roy Lichtenstein Has Laid Low for a Decade, but He Isn't Reduced to Yard Sales." People 15, no. 22 (June 8, 1981), p. 86 b/w ill. (installation view, 1981 St. Louis Art Museum).
Jodidio 1981
Jodidio, Philip (Photographs by Pascal Hinous). "Roy Lichtenstein and the Comic Process." Connaissance des arts, no. 349 (March 1981), p. 63 color ill.
Zänker 1981
Zänker, Jürgen. "Walter Benjamins Kunstwerk-Aufsatz im Lichte der Pop-Art: Dargestellt am Beispiel Roy Lichtensteins." In Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch: Westdeutsches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, vol. 42, by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag, 1981, no. 1 p. 305 ill.
Cowart 1981b
Cowart, Jack. Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the St. Louis Art Museum, 1981. Exhibition catalogue (1981 St. Louis Art Museum), p. 75 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
De Sercey 1982
Lichtenstein, Roy, and Arnaud De Sercey. "Roy Lichtenstein: Être provacateur est un besoin pour un pientre." Galerie des arts, no. 214 (December 1982), p. 55 b/w ill.
Cowart 1982a
Cowart, Jack. Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980. Translated from the English by Nicolas Hepp. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1982. Exhibition catalogue (1981 St. Louis Art Museum), no. 68 p. 75 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Harrison 1982a
Harrison, Helen A. "A Look at Roy Lichtenstein's Rarely Seen Art." New York Times, August 8, 1982, Long Island Weekly, p. 1 ill. (with artist in studio).
Cowart 1982b
Cowart, Jack. Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980. Translated from the English by Stefania Coppi. Florence: Electa, 1982. Exhibition catalogue (1981 St. Louis Art Museum), p. 45 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Carlin and Wagstaff, Sheena 1983
Carlin, John, and Sheena Wagstaff. The Comic Art Show: Cartoons in Painting and Popular Culture. New York: Fantagraphics Books, 1983. Exhibition catalogue (1983 New York Whitney Downtown), n.p. facing p. 58 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Chávarri 1983
Chávarri, Raúl. "Lichtenstein y Warhol." Cuadernos hispanoamericanos (Madrid), no. 398 (August 1983), n.p. facing p. 395 b/w ill.
Cowart 1983
Cowart, Jack. Roy Lichtenstein 1970–1980. Tokyo: Seibu Museum of Art, 1983. Exhibition catalogue (1981 St. Louis Art Museum), p. 71 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Alloway 1983b
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Haskell 1984
Haskell, Barbara. Blam! The Explosion of Pop, Minimalism, and Performance, 1958–1964. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1984. Exhibition catalogue (1984 New York Whitney), no. 96 p. 77 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Stich 1987
Stich, Sidra. Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization in Modern Art, the '50s and '60s. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Exhibition catalogue (1987 Berkeley UC Art Museum), no. 153 p. 154 b/w ill. [not exhibited].
Busche 1988
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Sandler 1988
Sandler, Irving. American Art of the 1960s. New York: Harper & Row, 1988, no. 59 p. 165 b/w ill.
Busche 1989
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Berri 1990
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Christoph 1994
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Enright 1994
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Knight 1994
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Schipprack 1994
Lichtenstein, Roy, and Annette Schipprack. "Cowboys und Indianer." Focus, no. 42 (October 17, 1994), p. 122 color ill.
BT 1994g
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Collins, B. 2003
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Tøjner 2003a
Tøjner, Poul Erik. "Fra idé til i dag." Louisiana magasin (Humlebaek, Denmark), no. 10 (August 2003), p. 3 color ill.
Fedders 2005
Fedders, Kristin Utter. "Pop Art at the 1964/65 New York World's Fair." PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2005, no. 81 p. 301 b/w ill.
Wattolik 2005a
Wattolik, Eva. Die Parodie im Frühwerk Roy Lichtensteins: Comic-Gemälde 1961–1964. Weimar: Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenchaften, 2005, no. 1 p. 141 color ill.
Bader 2006
Bader, Graham. "Donald's Numbness." Oxford Art Journal 29, no. 1 (March 2006), no. 1 p. 96 b/w ill., front cover color ill.
Bandlow 2006
Bandlow, Karen. "Nicht nur Warhols Mao: Mao Zedong in der Kunst von Roy Lichtenstein und Wang Ziwei." Ostasiatische Zeitschrift (Cologne) n.s, no. 11 (Spring 2006), no. 9 p. 59 color ill.
Bandlow 2007
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Goldberg, I. 2007
Goldberg, Itzhak. "Roy Lichtenstein: La peinture en bulles." Beaux arts magazine (Boulogne), no. 277 (July 2007), p. 66 color ill.
Moorhouse 2007
Moorhouse, Paul. Pop Art Portraits. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2007. Exhibition catalogue (2007 London NPG), p. 44 color ill. [not exhibited].
Bader 2009
Bader, Graham, ed. Roy Lichtenstein. October Files 7. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009, p. 166 b/w ill.
Mitchell-Innes & Nash 2010
Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York. Roy Lichtenstein Reflected. New York: Mitchell-Innes & Nash, 2010. Exhibition catalogue (2010 New York Mitchell-Innes & Nash), n.p. facing p. 45 color ill. [not exhibited].
Bader 2010b
Bader, Graham. Hall of Mirrors: Roy Lichtenstein and the Face of Painting in the 1960s. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2010, no. 2.1 p. 44 b/w ill.
Dervaux 2010b
Dervaux, Isabelle. Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961–1968. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz in association with the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2010. Exhibition catalogue (2010 New York Morgan), fig. 4 p. 32 color ill. [not exhibited].
Dervaux 2011b
Dervaux, Isabelle. Roy Lichtenstein: Black & White, 1961–1968. Translated from the English by Andrea Bargenda, Barbara Holle, Marion Kagerer, Christian Quatmann, and Heike Reissig. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz in association with the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011. Exhibition catalogue (2010 New York Morgan), fig. 4 p. 36 color ill. [not exhibited].
Pommereau 2013
Pommereau, Claude, ed. Roy Lichtenstein au Centre Pompidou. Issy-les-Moulineaux, France: Beaux Arts Éditions, 2013, p. 45 color ill.
Entry Updated October 26, 2023