Mention pop art and the name Roy Lichtenstein is not far behind. This giant of 20th-century art would have turned 100 at the end of 2023: the Albertina has a lovely centenary retrospective for us.
- Around 89 works across his oeuvre
- …prints, paintings, sculptures…
- Takes us from the 1960s onwards
- Runs Mar 8 – July 14, 2024
- See also:
A centenary & retrospective
(Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, 1963, oil and acrylic on canvas; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Philip Johnson Fund (by exchange) and gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/Bildrecht, Vienna 2024; photo: The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence)
The 100th anniversary of Roy Lichtenstein’s birth on October 27th, 1923 certainly offers a valid reason to undertake a major retrospective just a few months later.
Frankly, any excuse is a good one since it means we get to see the works of a true giant of US and pop art.
Visiting the exhibition feels like connecting viscerally to an iconic personality and style as you view the original images that launched uncountable reproductions.
However, the exhibition includes some surprises for those (like me) only familiar with Lichtenstein’s dot-dominated paintings and prints. More on that below.
Another formal reason for the 2024 timing is a significant donation of around 95 sculptures and related materials late last year by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. This generosity followed an earlier donation of 34 prints (woodcuts, linocuts, lithographs and more).
(Roy Lichtenstein, Figures in Landscape, 1977, oil and acrylic on canvas; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, long-term loan: Museumsfonden © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/Bildrecht, Vienna 2024; photo: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek)
Both gifts were part of the foundation’s activities commemorating the centenary and form a core resource for the exhibition; the Albertina worked with both the foundation and the Roy Lichtenstein Estate in putting the retrospective together.
Not that the displays rely entirely on items from the in-house archives.
Loans of key works from such prestigious institutions as New York’s MoMA help do true justice to Lichtenstein’s oeuvre and achievements in paint, print and sculpture.
The results represent a (perhaps, *the*) highlight of the spring and summer art season in Vienna.
The exhibition even includes Lichtenstein’s first formal pop art painting: 1961’s Look Mickey…on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington. (And a copy of the book that inspired it!)
(Roy Lichtenstein, Little Big Painting, 1965; oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art 66.2 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/Bildrecht, Vienna 2024)
Like Andy Warhol, Lichtenstein has become one of the few artists whose name and works are recognised far beyond art circles thanks to their distinctive style and iconography.
However, we also get to see motifs less familiar to the wider public. For example:
- Landscapes: including unexpected colour combinations and minimalist approaches. I loved, for example, 1996’s Treetops through the Fog and 1964’s blue and white Setting Sun and Sea
- The stylised homages to fellow artists like Dalí and Picasso, including Lichtenstein’s intriguing take on the latter’s Bull series
- Sculptures: I was much taken by the brushstroke sculptures, particularly the representation of the human form in sublime 3D Lichtenstein style
Quite apart from the variety, the thematic and chronological progression also reveals subtle changes in style through time. As such, the exhibition takes us beyond any narrow view of Lichtenstein’s work.
Dates, tickets & tips
Enjoy the retrospective from March 8th to July 14th, 2024. An entrance ticket for or from the Albertina includes access to all the special exhibitions inside, plus the permanent exhibition and the staterooms.
For a bonus dose of Ben Day dots, the concurrent We Love exhibition at the Heidi Horten Collection has a Lichtenstein work among its many highlights. That exhibition runs until late August 2024.
How to get there
See the travel tips at the end of the main Albertina Museum article.
Address: Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna