During the 1950s, Roy Lichtenstein began painting comic book images. Within ten years he was a superstar of American art and one of the best-known artists in the world.
To some people, this is an obvious example of a genius who took something mundane and elevated it to something inspirational. To others, it is an example of a brilliant artist who was also a shameless thief.
What do you think?
You can read more about this topic on Picasso Vs Lichtenstein. The game has two levels for adults and children.
Here is another fabulous art blog: Fake or Fortune . This site is about art forgeries, it will help you learn how to tell a fake from original artwork and how to protect yourself from buying a fake work of art.
Picasso and Lichtenstein were both painters in mid-twentieth century. Picasso is considered a great artist, whereas Lichtenstein is considered a pop artist. Although the two painters were very different, they had many things in common, the most notable similarity being their use of comic books as an inspiration for their artwork.
The style of the two artists was quite similar, and it was hard to compare them when they were alive because Picasso died first in 1973. However, after this time, it was possible to compare the styles of these two artists. Both used bold colors and thick lines, but there were some differences in the details of their work as well as in their choice of subjects. A blog that was started by a group of people who are big fans of Lichtenstein has compared these two artists and presented many pieces that show the similarities and differences between them. The reason that so many people like Lichtenstein’s work is because his works are easy to look at and understand.
In addition to this comparison between the two artists, there is also a game on this blog that helps visitors get more familiar with Lichtenstein’s work by showing them 40 examples of his art and asking them to guess which one was made by him and
Lichtenstein’s best-known work is a series of paintings he produced in the late 1960s, parodying the style of comic strips and advertising. Lichtenstein found irony in taking a serious subject—advertising—and using comic book techniques to present it ironically. This ironic combination of styles was not new; one example is the work of Pablo Picasso in his cubist period (1907–1914).
But while Picasso’s work is abstract, Lichtenstein chose subjects like hands brushing away a piece of dust, or a woman’s face. The result seems to make fun of the subjects themselves, rather than simply their presentation. And it was probably this aspect that made it more acceptable for display in museums and other “serious” venues than his earlier works.
On the left, an original Picasso. On the right, a new painting by Lichtenstein that is based on that Picasso.
Can you tell which is which? Try it here.
It’s not easy, but it’s fun!
Lichtenstein drew his comic book-inspired works with pencil, paint and airbrush on canvas. And the source images were not small: “Whaam!” is about 6 feet tall and “Drowning Girl” about 6-1/2 feet. How could he create such huge images by hand?
The answer lies in a process of reduction. He made color cartoons from which he pulled cutout shapes with adhesive tape. He then pasted those shapes onto plywood boards, tracing around them with a fine brush to make their outlines visible. A projector aimed at the plywood boards would then project that outline image onto a canvas stretched over a wooden frame.
In this way Lichtenstein could work within the dimensions of the original cartoon and still create very large paintings by simply filling in details.
Lichtenstein took the line quality of comic book art, squared it off, and used it to create a kind of pictorial minimalism that made everything in his paintings look as if it could be identified by a single word.
Take the “Whaam!” from the cover of the DC Comics album “Showcase” No. 77 (June 1968). It’s a distilled version of one man’s response to the news that a rocket just blew up a fighter plane. The black background fills the frame—we have no idea what war zone this is or which nationality we’re looking at. There are only two colors: red and yellow—the color of blood and the color of the burst in the sky.
The drawing itself is precise, not quite realistic but not abstract either: The men are simplified versions of actual soldiers; we can see their eyes behind their goggles and on their faces we can read fear. The focus is on their hands: one man holding his rocket launcher, another pushing his plane into position for takeoff. The rocket leaves behind only a trail of smoke and some flames; you can’t tell if there’s actually anything left over. And then, with almost perfect symmetry, there is another explosion at the right edge of this frame—the plane
Lichtenstein’s comics were not subtle. They were consciously drawn in a style that was very plain. In fact, they were so plain that it was hard to look at them without thinking of the word “phonetic.” The art could be read as a comic strip, but it could also be read as an attempt to create universally understandable images that would work across languages and cultures. Lichtenstein’s comics are about the process — about making comics. It is like reading a cookbook even though you’re not hungry because you are interested in how recipes work.
An excerpt from Movie Star:
Some say it’s only a movie star’s business card.
A figure on the screen and an image in a magazine or poster …
But I don’t think so; I think it’s more than that.
It’s an advertisement for happiness …it tells you how to want things.”