Cathedral #3 from Cathedral Series
Roy Lichtenstein
American, 1923–1997
1969
A 1969 lithograph in which Roy Lichtenstein translates the idea of a cathedral into a flat, industrial-looking image using his trademark mechanical dot system to test how we produce meaning from reproduction.
From afar the dense field of purple dots resolves into suggestions of arches, a nave, and stained-glass tracery, while up close it becomes a vibrating texture of uniform circular marks.
By applying Pop Art’s commercial dot vocabulary to a traditional subject, Lichtenstein collapsed high and low visual languages and pushed conversations about mechanical reproduction, abstraction, and the viewer’s role in composing an image.
Medium
One from a series of six lithographs (one with screenprint)
Dimensions
composition: 41 13/16 × 27" (106.2 × 68.6 cm); sheet: 48 1/2 × 32 1/2" (123.2 × 82.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Gensburg
Accession
346.1971
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
