Whilst Roy Lichtenstein is well-known for his signature style as a Pop artist - the cartoon-style creations, use of primary colours, bold outlines, Benday dots - there are many elements of his earlier years that are more surprising.
1) In a 1997 interview Lichtenstein said, "What I really want to do is music, but I won't give up my day job!" Born into a musical family, his mother Beatrice was a gifted pianist which likely influenced Lichtenstein’s a life-long interest in music. Born and raised in New York City, he grew up during the city’s vibrant Jazz age and regularly visited concerts at the Apollo theatre as a teenager. In high school, he played in a jazz band and continued to play both the clarinet and piano.
He later infused musical references into many of his artworks. His Composition series demonstrated his close connection to jazz. Sound played a critical role throughout his work, frequently using onomatopoeia to add energy and urgency to his works.
2) Lichtenstein enrolled at Ohio State University in 1940, and studied a wide variety of subjects, including literature, history, botany and two of which he is well known for, drawing and design.
3) His studies were interrupted, by a three-year stint in the army between 1943-46. As part of his training, he completed courses in engineering at De Paul University in Chicago, before serving as a clerk and draftsman across Europe. In 1945 he began combat operations in France and continued quite a bit of drawing in between army tasks, such as maintaining roads and bridges. On a furlough to Paris, he bought three portfolios of reproductions of Rembrandt etchings.
4) In 1945, he was selected to attend a French Language and Civilization course at the Sorbonne in Paris through the Army’s civilian agency AEP program. Lichtenstein began classes in late October. In a later interview, he revealed he passed Picasso’s studio on Rue des Grands-Augustins but decided not to intrude.
5) After his father died in February of 1946 and following his spell in the army, he returned to his studies in Ohio where his courses included History of Renaissance Art and Watercolor Painting. One of his teachers, Hoyt L. Sherman, was widely regarded to have had a significant impact on Lichtenstein’s future work. A new studio that Lichtenstein later went on to fund at Ohio State University was named the Hoyt L. Sherman Studio Art Center, in tribute.
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