185. MUCH MORE THAN A CARTOONIST by un'Americana a Venezia

In un intervista  Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997), esponente statunitense della Pop Art, ha detto: “In quasi mezzo secolo di carriera ho dipinto fumetti e puntini per soli due anni. Possibile che nessuno si sia mai accorto che ho fatto altro?”. Spesso il destino degli artisti è quello di essere ricordati per una piccola parte della propria produzione. (RR)

There's a major retrospective show in progress at the Art Institute of Chicago, over 160 drawings, paintings and sculptures representing the lifetime production of an artist whose work, upon first viewing, caused Marcel Duchamp to say, "That's what I meant.  That's what I mean."  Hats off to Roy Lichtenstein, an American king of Pop Art who will reign forever alongside Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, and others.  Roy Lichtenstein died of pneumonia in 1997 at the age of 74, just as he was getting interested in "virtual painting," having already passed through myriad phases of a career which took off like a rocket in 1961 when he broke with his early style and began displaying his own iconic Pop Art.  An instructor at the university level who grew up in the 1920s and 30s forever interested in drawing and science, Lichtenstein invented an easel device that could be turned in any direction, allowing a painter to adjust his canvas upside down and sideways.  By 1962, now an acclaimed figure in the world of Pop Art, Lichtenstein was working with Magna paints which dissolve entirely in turpentine; these paints permitted him to produce entirely flat and flawless canvases on which no trace of his hand would be recorded, in accordance with his wishes.  And just what did this master of seamless Pop Art record in paint?  He painted scandalously simple subjects, bringing them to new heights of importance, aesthetic and otherwise, thanks to his painstakingly traditional execution:  commercial ads, scenes from billboards, pictures seen in phone books, famous brands, random objects, room interiors, female nudes, some animals, still life, landscapes, take-offs on famous works, historical figures, and even food items, including the hotdog.  In a century dominated by a growing mass media, Lichtenstein had the vision to paint what he saw.  Above all, Lichtenstein worked at his homemade easel diligently recreating comic book frames, complete with Ben-Day and half-tone dots, not to mention block contours.  Many critics had no idea what he was doing.  Lichtenstein himself said as far back as 1952, "Don't look for ideas.  My purpose in painting is to create an integrated organization of visual elements."  Maybe that's what Duchamp meant to do, too.  In any case, Lichtenstein's second wife, Dorothy, has just said in reference to the ongoing show, "I hope people come away realizing that he did more than some cartoon frames."  Actually, it's hard not to appreciate Lichtenstein's flawless technique, or his tongue-in-cheek humor, or parody.  personally, I find it hard not to chuckle at the vision of a split and buttered baked potato painted to look like a commercial graphic against a field of solid diagonals.  Ditto for the sentimental lines found in the speech bubbles borrowed from DC Comics' "Girls' Romances" and "Secret Hearts."  Something so banale as "Oh, Jeff. . . I love you, too. . . BUT. . ." for more than just a split second becomes bafflingly deep.  Lichtenstein had the courage to go forth and report.  Curator James Rondeau of the Art Institute of Chicago says that Lichtenstein's work is notable for "its insistence on the authority of the artificial."  Lichtenstein also produced some paintings recreating comic book frames dealing with war, science fiction, and mad scientists.  As artist Richard Hamilton said back in 1968, "Reproducing a Lichtenstein is like throwing a fish back into the water."  How can one copy what has already been copied?  Lichtenstein himself called his paintings "crystallized symbols".  As for Pop Art, he termed the genre "industrial painting" as opposed to "American" painting.  Happily, for those living in Europe who want to get close to a Lichtenstein, the retrospective show is coming in 2013, to the Tate Modern in London (February-May) and then on to the Centre Pompidou in Paris (July-Nov.), but first it will make a stop in Washington, D.C. after it leaves Chicago in early September.  For details, consult:   roy.artic.edu/visit   Endlessly interesting, too, is the following site:  lichtensteinfoundation.org.     un'Americana a Venezia