Roy Lichtenstein

Popartuk Knowledge Base

Early Years

Roy Lichtenstein was born into an upper-middle class family in New York on 27th October, in 1923. Up until the age of twelve Lichtenstein attended a public school in the city before moving to the Franklin School for Boys, in Manhattan. Lichtenstein had already taken a great interest in the arts; however, his school offered no art department so he fulfilled his artistic needs outside of his school career, where he also attended many jazz concerts, leading him onto drawing the musicians and their instruments. It wasn’t until his final year at school that Lichtenstein attended summer classes at the Art Students League of New York in 1939.

Artwork Years

After graduating in 1940 it took Lichtenstein over ten years to have his pop art work recognised and taken seriously. It was not until 1951 that he was given a one-man exhibition in New York. After this short lived success Roy Lichtenstein moved to Cleveland where he remained for 6 years before returning to New York where he began teaching in 1960. By 1961 Roy was finally given recognition from his works when his artwork was displayed in a

New York gallery; his entire works were sold before the show had even opened.

Lichtenstein's work today

Today, Lichtenstein is best known for his work ‘Whaaam!’ in 1963, which shows an aircraft firing at its enemy. The piece stands out with its bold red flames and its cartoon like writing. It is currently on display in London’s Tate Modern. However, many copies of this piece have been made in the forms of posters, art prints or canvases. His other, extremely well received and known work was that of ‘Drowning Girl’ in 1963 which is on display in New York’s Museum Of Modern Art.