The Heavier-than-Air Machine
1953
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color woodcut on Japanese paper
Dimensions
image: 31.4 x 38.3 cm (12 3/8 x 15 1/16 in.) sheet: 42.6 x 52.4 cm (16 3/4 x 20 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein
Accession Number
1996.56.21
Art Historical Context
Created in 1953, *The Heavier-than-Air* is an early print by Roy Lichten, the iconic Pop Art pioneer best known for his bold comic-book-inspired works of the 1960s. This color woodcut on delicate Japanese paper—measuring 31.4 x 38.3 cm—captures Lichtenstein's experimentation phase, before his signature style took flight. Woodcuts, one of the oldest printmaking techniques, involve carving designs into wood blocks and hand-printing layers of color, offering a tactile, handcrafted contrast to later mechanical reproductions. The title whimsically nods to humanity's quest for flight, evoking early...
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...