Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-1968

Special Exhibitions

Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-1968
By STAN PARCHIN
August 5, 2010

Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997). Bratatat (1962). Frottage and graphite pencil on paper. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.

New York's Morgan Library & Museum presents Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-1968 from September 24, 2010 to January 2, 2011. The first-of-a-kind special exhibition explores the Pop artist's accomplishments as a draftsman through an important series of 55 large-scale works on paper, selected sketches and related materials.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), known for his brightly colored paintings of subjects derived from popular culture, began to acquire commercial illustrations and comic strips in 1961. Through experimentation, he simulated their techniques of reproduction, namely the famous Benday dots. Drawing played a significant role at this stage in the artist's career, both as a favored medium and a powerful means of translating and transforming his sources of pop iconography.

The Morgan's presentation considers Lichtenstein's black-and-white drawings as a separate body of work because they were not preparatory studies for his paintings. His reasons for creating them remain largely enigmatic. Highlighting the fact that he never drew the Benday dots freehand, the artist's approaches to imitating them and mimicking the effect of mechanical printing are explained. The finished products, inspired by advertisements, comic strips, magazines and mail-order catalogues, continue to challenge accepted notions of artistic originality and authorship.

Also on view are related sketches, joined by newspaper clippings, telephone books and other sources Lichtenstein studied. They demonstrate how household objects and comic-book scenes of war and romance became the two predominant themes of his drawings.

The show's earliest works are the most basic in terms of their design. Their subjects include single items drawn against a blank background and diagrams illustrating the use of products, as can be seen in Foot Medication (1962). Even figures Lichtenstein introduced into these compositions have plain and ordinary features. By 1962, the drawings incorporate the artist's primary visual influences.

Also on view is the only extant part of Lichtenstein's little-known installation at the Aspen Festival of Contemporary Art (1967), in which he drew with black tape on the wall of a white room, outlining its architectural elements. A door with the words Nok!! Nok!! on it is exhibited with unpublished photographs of the entire room.

After its appearance at the Morgan Library & Museum, "Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-1968" travels to the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria (February 4-May 15, 2011).

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