Art (Art History)

Roy Lichtenstein





Title: In The Car
The date the Artwork was made:1963
Media it was made: Paint
Size of the work:172.00 x 203.50cm canvas
Where it currently lives: National Galleries of Scotland

Roy Lichtenstein is a well-known artist throughout several countries around the world. Lichtenstein devoted his life to drawing and painting. Although Lichtenstein spent some of his early life as a commercial artist; Lichtenstein immediately transitioned into advertisement art. He accomplished a lot of remarkable artworks; some of them are being displayed in different exhibitions in various countries. The artwork by Lichtenstein I am studying is titled "In The Car".

Established in 1963, In the Car was produced on a 172.00 x 203.50cm canvas. It is painted and fits into the category of Pop Art. Lichtenstein's influence towards this piece of artwork is based on a comic book called ‘Girls’ Romances” which debuted in February and ended in October 1971. The symbolism behind his illustrations is also based on adopting war and romance comics as his source on his art. His work is overflowing with colour and emotion. The scene is taken place inside a car where a close-up view of a dark-haired, handsome man, looking at his lovely blonde companion cloaked in a leopard patterned clothing as The background is coloured grey which indicates that Lichtenstein wants us to concentrate on the characters in the art. The black & white coloured stripes symbolise action, although it has multiple amounts of lines, Lichtenstein made it so the lines don’t prevent us from concentrating on the main points or characters. The top and bottom of the art are painted red to signify that the illustration is a comic strip. Lichtenstein excluded the speech bubble above the characters’ head. Despite the number of details, the art style is basic itself by only using primary colours and black and white.

The position of the subjects and graphic details are crucial to have a positive effect on art. In this illustration, he precisely placed several subjects on the canvas. Lichtenstein did a sensational job on putting details in his illustration. Techniques applied in the artwork can also be valuable depending on what the artist’s focused topic. Most of Lichtenstein’s art is comic strips which then means he frequently uses a technique called ‘Benday dots’. Benday dots are commonly used in comic books to add texture on the background. Lichtenstein did not use complicated colours on his art but he did add tones and shadows to make the art pop out. By just adding little details like using black acrylic paint in the hair, he already made the art look astonishing. The gesture and expressions of the characters in the art are also necessary to make the illustration seem interesting. Both characters in this art are odd. Obviously, they look like they are not having a great time based on their facial expression. The face of the man in the car is fierce. While secretly glancing to the young pinked lipped woman; his wild stare began looking like he is seeking to get her attention. Roy Lichtenstein has done a lot more comic strips and other illustrations. This is one of the remarkable art that made him famous. The art itself is filled with intensity due to the facial expressions of the characters.

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The artwork of Roy Lichtenstein strongly connects to my ideas of my artworks. Lichtenstein's works relate to comics, specifically comic strips. His idea is really good for my why or topic as there are so few artists that do their artworks based on religion and apply comic techniques. His ideas on how he uses comic strips as bases of his artwork are where I got my idea from and his idea significantly impacts my folio.