roy lichtenstein's meditation on art

roy lichtenstein: meditations on art
milan triennale museum, italy
on now until may 30th, 2010

‘untitled’, 1986
private collection
image © designboom

‘meditation on art’ is an exhibition devoted to the work of american pop artist roy lichtenstein
on show at the milan triennale. his work is part of an art historical tradition that
reuses subjects employed by other artists. he was the first to evolve an aesthetic theory that
could transform a copy into an original.

‘figures’, 1977
private collection
image © designboom

roy lichtenstein made use of images in magazines and books, through a technique
that imitated typographical printing.
the artist wanted to give his works an anonymous character.
at first, he copied – with small but significant changes – reproductions of works taken from
printed sources through projections onto large canvases. without any kind of chiaroscuro.

‘self portrait’, 1978
private collection
image © designboom

‘rouen cathedral seen at three different times of the day’, set II, 1969
colonia, meseum ludwig
image © designboom

detail
image © designboom

‘vista with bridge’, 1996
private collection
image © designboom

detail
image © designboom

‘cloud and sea’, 1964
museum ludwig, colonia
image © designboom

detail
image © designboom

‘sunrise’, 1965
private collection
image © designboom

roy lichtenstein in his studio

a notebook collage by roy litchtenstein
image © designboom

at the end of what is a thematic rather than a chronological show, is a room with
drawings, historic documents, notebooks, and instruments used by the artist.

‘girl with beach ball II’, 1977
private collection, courtesy gallery mitchell-innes and nash
image © designboom