Artist's Studio "The Dance"
Roy Lichtenstein
American, 1923–1997
1974
A large oil-and-magna painting in which Lichtenstein compresses a cluttered artist’s studio and classical dancing figures into his bold, graphic, comic-strip style.
You’re first struck by the flat planes of bright yellow, green, gray, and black outlined in thick, cartoonlike lines, with diagonal hatching and simplified shapes—lemons, brushes, and a woven basket occupy the foreground while two stylized, Matisse-like nude dancers float against a patterned backdrop.
By translating high-modern subjects into the vocabulary of commercial printing and comic imagery, this work exemplifies Lichtenstein’s Pop Art project of reframing art history through mechanical-looking surfaces and prompting questions about originality, taste, and the boundary between fine art and mass culture.
Medium
Oil and magna on canvas
Dimensions
8' 1/8" x 10' 8 1/8" (244.3 x 325.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. I. Newhouse, Jr.
Accession
362.1990
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
