Born in New York City on October 27, 1923, Lichtenstein wanted to be an artist by age fifteen. While in high school, he took Saturday classes at what is now the Parsons School of Design and a summer course at the Art Students League. He received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Ohio State University, after serving in Europe during WWII. In 1961, Lichtenstein stunned the art world by painting images appropriated from comic books and newspaper advertisements—a direct challenge to the dominant ideology of Abstract Expressionism, which avoided kitsch as if it were the plague. Lichtenstein’s delight in mixing high and low culture is a defining characteristic of his legacy.
2024 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
