American, 1923–1997
Mechanism Cross Section
oil on canvas, 1954
40 x 54 inches
Gift of Messrs. Samuel N. Tomkin and Sidney Freedman, 1956.2
oil on canvas, 1954
40 x 54 inches
Gift of Messrs. Samuel N. Tomkin and Sidney Freedman, 1956.2
artist info
Roy Lichtenstein, like Andy Warhol, was a consummate Pop artist. His appropriation of images from a myriad of sources—advertising, comic-strips, art history, and everyday life—and use of a Ben-Day dot technique derived from commercial printing,
resulted in a style uniquely his own.
Lichtenstein was appointed assistant professor at Douglass College in 1964. It was there that he made the acquaintance of Alan Kaprow, who deeply influenced Lichtenstein's views on the integration of art and culture. He also attended a few "Happenings" (a "total theater," participatory art form that combined situations, theatrical events, and the visual arts), included artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine. Lichtenstein's exposure to the irreverent and often humorous thinking of these fellow young artists inspired him to look to contemporary culture for subject matter.
This early painting, Mechanism Cross Section, is the work of a young artist grappling with the search for his own style. During this time Lichtenstein was also looking to American themes placed within a Cubist grid or structure. Ernst Busch, who made a study of Lichtenstein's early work, draws a correlation between this work and diagrams of machinery with clearly delineated pipes and valves. The painting also resembles some sort of topographical mapping, with tunnels, a bridge, and roads.
Lichtenstein was appointed assistant professor at Douglass College in 1964. It was there that he made the acquaintance of Alan Kaprow, who deeply influenced Lichtenstein's views on the integration of art and culture. He also attended a few "Happenings" (a "total theater," participatory art form that combined situations, theatrical events, and the visual arts), included artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine. Lichtenstein's exposure to the irreverent and often humorous thinking of these fellow young artists inspired him to look to contemporary culture for subject matter.
This early painting, Mechanism Cross Section, is the work of a young artist grappling with the search for his own style. During this time Lichtenstein was also looking to American themes placed within a Cubist grid or structure. Ernst Busch, who made a study of Lichtenstein's early work, draws a correlation between this work and diagrams of machinery with clearly delineated pipes and valves. The painting also resembles some sort of topographical mapping, with tunnels, a bridge, and roads.
