THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM TO HOLD FIRST EXHIBITION DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO ROY LICHTENSTEIN’S BLACK-AND-WHITE DRAWINGS

Press release date: 
Friday, July 9, 2010

INSPIRED BY COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND COMIC STRIPS, THE WORKS WERE ESSENTIAL TO THE ARTIST’S DEVELOPMENT AND ADD AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER TO THE STORY OF POP ART AND THE HISTORY OF DRAWING

Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961–1968, Opens September 24, 2010

**Press Preview: Thursday, September 23, 10 a.m. until noon** RSVP: (212) 590.0393, media@themorgan.org

Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) has long been considered one of the key figures in the development of Pop Art. His signature brightly colored paintings are cornerstones of museum collections the world over. His subject matter drawn from visual fragments of popular culture is emblematic of an entire movement.

An extraordinary new exhibition organized by The Morgan Library & Museum, opening September 24, presents an important series of large-scale, black-and-white works as a group for the first time and examines Lichtenstein’s less known exploration of the medium of drawing. Created during the early and mid-1960s, the fifty-five drawings on view offer a revealing window into the development of Lichtenstein’s art, as he began for the first time to appropriate commercial illustrations and comic strips as subject matter and experimented stylistically with simulating commercial techniques of reproduction—the famous Benday dots. The work represents an essential and original contribution to Pop Art as well as to the history of drawing. Roy Lichtenstein: The Blackand-White Drawings, 1961–1968, is on view through January 2, 2011.

Download: