Roy Lichtenstein: Early Black And White Paintings

A key figure in the Pop Art movement, Roy Lichtenstein was inspired by images from comic books, newspaper advertisements, and mail order catalogues, cheaply printed images whose look was as far from "art" as the average person could imagine. With their basic hand drawn line, they were also about as archetypal as image making can get. In response to this dumb beauty of pulp imagery, and to the odd powers of simple black and white images to stimulate our appetite, Lichtenstein made some of his most essential, enduring paintings. The apparently simple paintings of single objects--a tire, a curtain, a sock, a diamond brooch, a golf ball--project riveting clarity, simplicity, and astonishing newness that are the bedrock of his art, and of Pop Art itself.