From Library Journal
Published to accompany an exhibition of the same name mounted in New York City by Mitchell-Innes & Nash, the new representatives of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and Estate, this catalog chronicles the genesis and evolution of Lichtenstein's reconstituted brushstroke. Hickey, a cult figure, author (The Invisible Dragon), and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, opens the catalog with an essay that, while somewhat presumptive in its interpretation of Lichtenstein's intentions, offers keen insights into the period in which the artist came of age. Hickey also reacquaints the reader with the wry wit and shrewd conceptualism of Lichtenstein's artistic transliterations. Denuded of all text, the catalog of plates following Hickey's essay appears to be geared toward encouraging aesthetic appreciation of Lichtenstein's work. However vivid and revelatory on their own, they would be better suited to researchers were titles and dates to appear beside each plate rather than at the book's end. Both exhibition and catalog unearth a body of previously undocumented artistic studies by Lichtenstein and therefore provide fertile but still largely uncharted territory for future scholarship. Recommended for collections focusing on modern art. Savannah Schroll, Smithsonian Institution Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Whiz! Bang! Pop! Blam! Roy Lichtenstein has rendered everything from a comic-book cell and a warplane to a country landscape and a turkey in his trademark style drawn from printed advertisements and cartoons. A master mixer of popular culture and high art, Lichtenstein's painterly use of Benday dots and heavy outlines turned oil paintings into something they had never before come close to. This catalogue chronicles the evolution of his brushstroke and painterly style from the late 50s through the 90s, complete with photographs of the artist at work, and reproductions of paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Critic and scholar Dave Hickey's highly original and compelling personal essay challenges the way we traditionally think about Lichtenstein's art. Essay by Dave Hickey. 11.5 x 10.25 in. 60 color illustrations

About the Author
One of the most beloved and American of Pop artists, Roy Lichtenstein was born in 1923 in New York, and studied there at the Art Students League and later at Ohio State University, in the midst of which he completed a three-year tour of duty in the US Army. His early work was based on American genre and history painting, and took on Cubist and Expressionist styles. His first proto-Pop work was created in 1956; his first Pop Brushstroke painting appeared in 1965. This catalog represents the first major survey of Lichtenstein's work since he died in 1997 in New York.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Whiz! Bang! Pop! Blam! Roy Lichtenstein has rendered everything from a comic-book cell and a warplane to a country landscape and a turkey in his trademark style drawn from printed advertisements and cartoons. A master mixer of popular culture and high art, Lichtenstein's painterly use of Benday dots and heavy outlines turned oil paintings into something they had never before come close to. This catalogue chronicles the evolution of his brushstroke and painterly style from the late 50s through the 90s, complete with photographs of the artist at work, and reproductions of paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Critic and scholar Dave Hickey's highly original and compelling personal essay challenges the way we traditionally think about Lichtenstein's art. Essay by Dave Hickey.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal