Roy Lichtenstein: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Roy Lichtenstein built a career out of translation: comic-book panels, newspaper halftones and furniture ads rebuilt as monumental paintings, then the masters of modernism — Picasso, Monet, Mondrian — run back through the same Ben-Day screen. This mix traces the commercial draftsmen he quoted, the Rutgers and New York scenes around him, and the appropriation artists who followed.

The Kynda mix for Roy Lichtenstein

• Key Influence · Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso (1907). Picasso was Lichtenstein's lifelong measuring stick: he painted versions of Picasso canvases in the 1960s, remaking Cubist faces in flat primaries and Ben-Day dots, and spoke of Picasso as the artist every American painter of his generation had to answer to. The fractured, mask-faced figures here are the vocabulary Lichtenstein mechanized — a hand-made distortion converted into the look of cheap four-color printing.
• Influencia Obscura · All-American Men of War #89 by Irv Novick (1962). The source of Whaam!: a DC war comic panel of a fighter firing a rocket, drawn by Irv Novick, whom Lichtenstein had reportedly encountered during Army service. Lichtenstein cropped, enlarged and recomposed the anonymous jobbing artwork, keeping the lettered explosion. Novick's name is almost unknown beside the painting's, which is precisely the asymmetry Pop appropriation created between commercial draftsman and gallery artist.
• Local Roots · 18 Happenings in 6 Parts by Allan Kaprow (1959). Kaprow and Lichtenstein were colleagues teaching at Rutgers in New Jersey around 1960, and Kaprow is credited with pushing Lichtenstein toward everyday commercial imagery as legitimate subject matter. Kaprow's Happenings dissolved art into ordinary objects, gestures and junk materials; that New Brunswick circle, feeding into the Manhattan galleries, is the local scene from which Look Mickey emerged.
• Beyond the Medium · Ballet Mécanique by Fernand Léger (1924). Lichtenstein repeatedly acknowledged Léger's machine-age figures, and Léger's film pushes that logic furthest: faces, gears, bottles and mouths cut into rhythmic, mechanically repeated units. The hard-edged tubular bodies and industrial tempo prefigure Lichtenstein's dot screens and stencil-like contours, and show a painter already treating mass-produced visual culture as the proper material of modern art.
• Peer · Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol (1962). Warhol was making comic-strip paintings when Leo Castelli showed him Lichtenstein's; Warhol reportedly abandoned comics as a result and turned to soup cans and silkscreens. The two anchored American Pop from 1962, both stripping the artist's hand out of painting — Warhol via photo-silkscreen, Lichtenstein via hand-painted Ben-Day dots — and were constantly exhibited and reviewed together.
• From the Canon · Look Mickey by Roy Lichtenstein (1961). The pivot of the career: Donald Duck hooking his own tail, lifted from a children's book, painted with hand-made Ben-Day dots, a speech balloon and lettering. It abandons the Abstract Expressionist handling of his 1950s work entirely and sets out the whole later method — appropriate a printed panel, crop it, enlarge it, standardize the color. Everything from Whaam! to the late nudes follows from this canvas.
• Key Collaborator · Star of Persia I by Frank Stella (1967). Lichtenstein's major print and multiple projects were realized at Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles under master printer Kenneth Tyler, whose technical invention let Pop artists push lithography into dense, perfectly flat industrial color. Stella's Gemini lithograph shows what Tyler's workshop could do with hard-edge geometry and exact registration — the same precision that made Lichtenstein's dot screens printable.
• Legacy · Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons (1994). Koons inherited Lichtenstein's wager that the most banal mass-market object, scaled up and finished immaculately, could carry the authority of monumental sculpture. He has spoken of the Pop generation, Lichtenstein and Warhol foremost, as the precedent for his appropriation of toys, ads and kitsch, and his mirror-polished surfaces extend Lichtenstein's erasure of the artist's hand into fabricated perfection.

What influenced Roy Lichtenstein

• Irv Novick by Irv Novick. Novick is named among the original artists of panels used in Lichtenstein's works. (also via Whaam!, All-American Men of War #89) “These panels were originally drawn by such comics artists as Jack Kirby and DC Comics artists Russ Heath , Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick , and Jerry Grandenetti , who rarely received any credit.” (Wikipedia)
• Piet Mondrian by Piet Mondrian (1872). Lichtenstein reproduced works by Mondrian. (also via Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow) “In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein reproduced masterpieces by Cézanne , Mondrian , and Picasso before embarking on the Brushstrokes series in 1965.” (Wikipedia)
• Pablo Picasso by Pablo Picasso. Lichtenstein made reinterpretations of Picasso's works. (also via Femme au chapeau (after Picasso), Les Demoiselles d'Avignon) “Beyond his comic-inspired paintings, Lichtenstein's wide-ranging career included sculpture, murals, prints, and reinterpretations of canonical works by artists such as Picasso , Monet , and Matisse .” (Wikipedia)
• Russ Heath by Russ Heath. Cronin identifies Heath’s comics art as the source for Lichtenstein’s Blam. “Finally, we turn to the late Heath, who saw his work adapted for the famous Lichtenstein work, "Blam," which is at the Yale University Art Gallery” (CBR)
• Jack Kirby by Jack Kirby. Cronin reports that Lichtenstein used Kirby’s work but does not identify a specific source image. “Heck, while Jack Kirby obviously was so famous that he gave many interviews over the years, Kirby also passed away nearly 25 years ago and as such, there is little in terms of what Kirby thought about his work being used by Lichtenstein,…” (CBR)
• Max Pechstein by Max Pechstein. The article connects Lichtenstein's woodcuts with a medium favored by Pechstein. “Small colored-pencil drawings were used as templates for woodcuts, a medium favored by Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein , as well as Dix and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner .” (Wikipedia)
• Otto Dix by Otto Dix. An exhibition announcement identifies Dix’s portrait as a precedent for Lichtenstein’s Dr. Waldmann. “The White Tree (1980) evokes lyric Der Blaue Reiter landscapes, while Dr. Waldmann (1980) recalls Otto Dix's Dr. Mayer-Hermann (1926).” (Meer)
• Jerry Grandenetti by Jerry Grandenetti. The introduction to Stroud’s interview with Grandenetti identifies comics panels used for two Lichtenstein works. “Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein 's 1962 drawing Jet Pilot is based on a Grandenetti comic-book panel from the cover of DC's All-American Men of War #89 , and Lichtenstein 's 1964 triptych " As I Opened Fire " is based on panels by Grandenett…” (Nerd Team 30)
• Paul Cézanne by Paul Cézanne. Lichtenstein reproduced works by Cézanne. “In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein reproduced masterpieces by Cézanne , Mondrian , and Picasso before embarking on the Brushstrokes series in 1965.” (Wikipedia)
• Ernst Ludwig Kirchner by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The article connects Lichtenstein's woodcuts with a medium favored by Kirchner. “Small colored-pencil drawings were used as templates for woodcuts, a medium favored by Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein , as well as Dix and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner .” (Wikipedia)
• Claude Monet (1840). Lichtenstein made reinterpretations of Monet's works. (also via Rouen Cathedral series) “Beyond his comic-inspired paintings, Lichtenstein's wide-ranging career included sculpture, murals, prints, and reinterpretations of canonical works by artists such as Picasso , Monet , and Matisse .” (Wikipedia)
• Allan Kaprow. The article explicitly says Kaprow heavily influenced Lichtenstein. (also via 18 Happenings in 6 Parts) “In 1960, Lichtenstein started teaching at Rutgers University where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow , who was also a teacher at the university.” (Wikipedia)
• Henri Matisse. Lichtenstein made reinterpretations of Matisse's works. “Beyond his comic-inspired paintings, Lichtenstein's wide-ranging career included sculpture, murals, prints, and reinterpretations of canonical works by artists such as Picasso , Monet , and Matisse .” (Wikipedia)
• Hoyt L. Sherman. Sherman supervised Lichtenstein's studies and is described as influential. “Lichtenstein returned to studies in Ohio under the supervision of one of his teachers, Hoyt L. Sherman , who is widely regarded to have had a significant impact on his future work” (Wikipedia)
• Hokusai by Hokusai. Lichtenstein identifies a Hokusai reference in the water of Drowning Girl. “In the Drowning Girl the water is not only Art Nouveau, but it can also be seen as Hokusai.” (Artforum)
• Abstract Expressionism. Lichtenstein adopted Abstract Expressionism for a period. “It was at this time that he adopted the Abstract Expressionism style, being a late convert to this style of painting.” (Wikipedia)
• Willem de Kooning by Willem de Kooning. Lichtenstein connects his brushstroke paintings to the idea of making a work referencing de Kooning. “I got the idea very early because of the Mondrian and Picasso paintings which inevitably led to the idea of a de Kooning. The brush strokes obviously refer to Abstract Expressionism.” (Artforum)
• Reginald Marsh. Lichtenstein studied under Marsh in summer classes. “In 1939, his last year of high school, Lichtenstein enrolled in summer classes at the Art Students League of New York , where he worked under the tutelage of Reginald Marsh .” (Wikipedia)
• Edgar Degas (1834). Degas's prints inspired Lichtenstein's Landscapes in the Chinese Style series. “Having garnered inspiration from the monochromatic prints of Edgar Degas featured in a 1994 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the motifs of his Landscapes in the Chinese Style series are formed with simulated Ben-…” (Wikipedia)
• Cubism. The article associates Lichtenstein's early work with Cubism. “During this time, he undertook jobs as varied as a draftsman to a window decorator in between periods of painting. [ 2 ] Lichtenstein's work at this time fluctuated between Cubism and Expressionism .” (Wikipedia)
• Expressionism. The article associates Lichtenstein's early work with Expressionism. “During this time, he undertook jobs as varied as a draftsman to a window decorator in between periods of painting. [ 2 ] Lichtenstein's work at this time fluctuated between Cubism and Expressionism .” (Wikipedia)
• Rouen Cathedral series by Claude Monet (1894). Rouen Cathedral Series (Claude Monet) — titan for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• Girls' Romances #105 by Tony Abruzzo (1964). Girls' Romances #105 (Tony Abruzzo) — ghost for Roy Lichtenstein “83, drawn by Tony Abruzzo.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• All-American Men of War #89 by Irv Novick (1962). All-American Men of War #89 (Irv Novick) — ghost for Roy Lichtenstein “These panels were originally drawn by such comics artists as Jack Kirby and DC Comics artists Russ Heath, Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick, and Jerry Grandenetti, who rarely received any credit.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• G.I. Combat #80 by Russ Heath (1960). G.I. Combat #80 (Russ Heath) — ghost for Roy Lichtenstein “These panels were originally drawn by such comics artists as Jack Kirby and DC Comics artists Russ Heath, Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick, and Jerry Grandenetti, who rarely received any credit.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso (1907). Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Pablo Picasso) — titan for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• Ballet mécanique by Fernand Léger (1924). Ballet Mécanique (Fernand Léger) — culture for Roy Lichtenstein (themoviedb.org)
• Steamboat Willie by Walt Disney (1928). Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney) — culture for Roy Lichtenstein (themoviedb.org)
• Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian (1930). Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (Piet Mondrian) — titan for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan (1964). Understanding Media (Marshall McLuhan) — culture for Roy Lichtenstein (openlibrary.org)
• Emil Nolde by Emil Nolde. The article connects Lichtenstein's woodcuts with a medium favored by Nolde.

Peers and kindred spirits

• Andy Warhol (1928). Castelli considered Warhol’s work too close to Lichtenstein’s. (also via Whaam!, Campbell's Soup Cans) “When Karp introduced him to Leo Castelli , Castelli declined, feeling Warhol's work was too close to that of Roy Lichtenstein and concern over potential conflicts within his roster.” (Wikipedia)
• Merce Cunningham (1919). Roy Lichtenstein collaborated with Cunningham's company. “Other artists who have collaborated with MCDC include Daniel Arsham , Tacita Dean , Liz Phillips , Rei Kawakubo , Roy Lichtenstein , Bruce Nauman , Ernesto Neto , Frank Stella , Benedetta Tagliabue , and Andy Warhol .” (Wikipedia)
• Pop Art. The article identifies Lichtenstein as a leading figure of Pop Art. “A leading figure of the Pop Art movement, he is best known for his large-scale paintings inspired by comic books , advertisements, and mass-produced imagery.” (Wikipedia)
• State University of New York at Oswego. Lichtenstein taught at SUNY Oswego. “Lichtenstein began teaching in upstate New York at the State University of New York at Oswego in 1958.” (Wikipedia)
• Retroactive I by Robert Rauschenberg (1963). Retroactive I (Robert Rauschenberg) — collaborator for Roy Lichtenstein “== Leo Castelli Gallery == In New York, the Castellis were two of only three non-artist members (the other was dealer Charles Egan) of the Club, an influential coterie founded in 1949 that included Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg,…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• F-111 by James Rosenquist (1965). F-111 (James Rosenquist) — peer for Roy Lichtenstein “While his works have often been compared to those from other key figures of the pop art movement, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rosenquist's pieces were unique in the way that they often employed elements of surrealism using …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Rutgers University. Lichtenstein taught at Rutgers University. “In 1960, Lichtenstein started teaching at Rutgers University where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow , who was also a teacher at the university.” (Wikipedia)
• Eli Broad. Establishes Broad's acquisition and collecting relationship with Lichtenstein's work. “BILLIONAIRE ART COLLECTOR ELI BROAD STILL REMEMBERS HOW HE MANAGED TO ACQUIRE THIS EARLY PAINTING BY MODERN MASTER ROY LICHTENSTEIN” (PBS NewsHour (public broadcasting))
• Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol (1962). Campbell's Soup Cans (Andy Warhol) — peer for Roy Lichtenstein “There is no exact copy." However, some have been critical of Lichtenstein's use of comic-book imagery and art pieces, especially insofar as that use has been seen as endorsement of a patronizing view of comics by the art mainstream; cart…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Ohio State University. Lichtenstein held an art-instructor post at Ohio State University. “Lichtenstein entered the graduate program at Ohio State University and was hired as an art instructor, a post he held on and off for the next 10 years.” (Wikipedia)
• Great American Nude series by Tom Wesselmann (1961). Great American Nude series (Tom Wesselmann) — peer for Roy Lichtenstein “About the same time, Ivan Karp of the Leo Castelli Gallery put Wesselmann in touch with several collectors and talked to him about Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist's works.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• 0 through 9 by Jasper Johns (1960). 0 through 9 (Jasper Johns) — collaborator for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• 18 Happenings in 6 Parts by Allan Kaprow (1959). 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (Allan Kaprow) — geography for Roy Lichtenstein “=== Breakthrough and Pop Art === In 1960, Lichtenstein started teaching at Rutgers University where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow, who was also a teacher at the university.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Star of Persia I by Frank Stella (1967). Star of Persia I (Frank Stella) — collaborator for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• The Diner by George Segal (1964). The Diner (George Segal) — geography for Roy Lichtenstein
• David Hockney (1937). Lichtenstein and Hockney are identified as contemporaries featured in the same exhibition.
• The Store by Claes Oldenburg (1961). The Store (Claes Oldenburg) — geography for Roy Lichtenstein

Who Roy Lichtenstein influenced

• Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons (1994). Balloon Dog (Jeff Koons) — legacy for Roy Lichtenstein (wikidata.org)
• COMPANION (Passing Through) by KAWS (2010). Companion (Passing Through) (KAWS) — legacy for Roy Lichtenstein
• 727 by Takashi Murakami (1996). 727 (Takashi Murakami) — legacy for Roy Lichtenstein