Yesterday, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago to check out the Roy Lichtenstein Retrospective, which featured paintings, drawings and sculptures from throughout the artist's expansive career. Almost everyone is familiar with the Lichtenstein comic pop art, but he applied his signature primary colors and bold lines to more than comic book reproductions. For example, I had no idea that he did landscape paintings inspired by the Song Dynasty school. Pretty neat stuff! I'd highly recommend going to anyone who can make it. (The exhibit is open through September, I believe.) The colors and textures are so bold and intense, and my pictures definitely don't do it justice. Also, the exhibit featured several pieces from private collections that couldn't be photographed, but it was such a privilege to see them. Below are some of my favorites that were "legal" to photograph.
The "Classic" Lichtenstein
Landscapes
Nudes
In the "Nudes" room of the exhibit, there was a large wall plaque that started, "Like Matisse and Picasso, Lichtenstein was attracted to the nude female form late in life..." A middle-aged man with glasses and a trench coat was reading the plaque next to me, and he stopped and said, "'Attracted to the nude female late in life,' well
of course! It's not like it's some huge artistic mystery! They just weren't getting any!" I laughed out loud.
And finally, because it's absurd and a little perplexing, a still life:
I love Lichtenstein!
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