Study for "Expressionist Head"
1980
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite and colored pencil on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 22.2 x 14.6 cm (8 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy Lichtenstein and David and Mitchell Lichtenstein in memory of Jane B. Meyerhoff
Accession Number
2005.22.9
Art Historical Context
Roy Lichtenstein's *Study for "Expressionist"* (1980) offers a fascinating glimpse into the late career of one of Pop Art's most iconic figures. Best known for his bold, comic-strip-inspired paintings from the 1960s, Lichtenstein turned his satirical eye toward modernism in the 1980s, playfully mimicking styles like Abstract Expressionism. This intimate drawing, executed in graphite and colored pencil on laid paper, served as a preparatory study for a larger work, capturing an exaggerated, distorted head that nods to the raw emotional intensity of Expressionist portraits—think Ernst Ludwig Kir...
About the Artist
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was born on October 27, 1923, in New York City to Milton Lichtenstein, a real estate broker, and Beatrice Werner Lichtenstein, a homemaker with musical training, in an upper-middle-class German-Jewish family. Growing up on the Upper West Side, he displayed early artistic talent, sketching jazz musicians and visiting museums like the Museum of Modern Art. In 1939, he studied painti...