Roy Lichtenstein
BICENTENNIAL POSTER (AMERICAN: THE THIRD CENTURY), 1975
Screenprint in yellow, red, green, olive, gray, blue,
and black, on smooth white wove paper
Sheet: 34 15/16 x 23 5/8 inches
Image: 30 ½ x 22 1/16 inches
35 x 23 5/8 in
88.7 x 60 cm
79/200
Available at Surovek Gallery
The centennial celebration of the life of Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) began last April, when the United States Post Office held a ceremony at the Whitney Museum to unveil a set of Forever Stamps of the artist’s works.
The honors continue, with a current retrospective at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. The Albertina has had a collaborative relationship with the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, which donated about 100 works to the museum’s permanent collection.
The retrospective is a collection of works from the museums permanent collection and works on loan from private collectors and major museums, including MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Roy Lichtenstein was one of the most influential artists and teachers of the twentieth century. His talent earned him many honors, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York and the National Medal of Arts, bestowed by President Bill Clinton in 1995, just two years before his death from pneumonia in 1997, at just 73.
The remembrances will continue with a centennial exhibition at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in September and a retrospective at the Whitney planned for the Fall of 2026.
Roy Lichtenstein: A Centennial Exhibition will be on view at the Albertina through July 14, 2024.
In the 1980s, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) turned his attention away from A-list celebrities and turned his focus to historical figures, endangered species, Renaissance masters and religious icons.
His series of portraits of Saint Apollonia was inspired by a work by Italian master Piero della Francesca and by Warhol’s Byzantine Catholic upbringing.
Apollonia was an interesting choice of subject. She was a Christian deaconess who was attacked by a mob in Alexandria, Egypt in 249 AD. The mob insisted on her renouncing her faith. When she refused, the mob beat her and knocked out her teeth. Her attackers lit a fire and threatened to burn her. Before they could act, Apollonia jumped into the fire and was burned to death. She became the patron saint of dentistry.
One of the intriguing aspects of Warhol’s Saint Apollonia, available at Surovek Gallery, is his use of thick layers of screenprint ink to reproduce the cracks in della Francesca’s original version. Warhol's version is also twice as large as della Francesca’s.
Saint Apollonia is a nod to an Old Master by a Modern Master.
Please contact us if you would like more information about the work of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol available at Surovek Gallery.
References:
Steven Pollock. Roy Lichtenstein: From The Ridiculous To The Sublime. The Brooklyn Rail. April 2024.
Jennifer Landes. Roy Lichtenstein at 100. The East Hampton Star. March 27, 2024.
