Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 painting “Drowning Girl” is an appropriated image from the 1962 DC comic book, Secret Hearts #83, drawn by Tony Abruzzo. It also incorporates elements of the well-known Hokusai print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”. In keeping with pop art tenets, Lichtenstein borrows from pop culture while removing it from context in order to make his statement. Initial criticisms accused Lichtenstein of merely copying and not creating. But Lichtenstein made conscious choices about the subject of his appropriations, how to crop them, and what to alter. Through these choices Lichtenstein becomes the “author” of his work.
The subject of “Drowning Girl” is a crying woman engulfed by water. By removing any outside elements (her boat and lover are visible in the original), it’s entirely possible she could be drowning in a sea of her own tears. Despite the subject matter, the painting is rendered in bold lines and bright colors. This could be seen as a …show more content…
It’s melodramatic in the extreme. Lichtenstein may be using this figure to criticize an art world taking itself too seriously and suffering for its refusal to lighten up.
In fact, Lichtenstein’s choice of subject matter to appropriate seems in direct opposition to the artistic trend of the period, abstract expressionism. Where AbEx featured soft lines and gestural painting styles, Lichtenstein chose comic art, precise and figurative in nature.
Lichtenstein elevates what was seen as “low brow” art to high art, blurring the objective boundaries between them. Much of the technique and skill required for comic art is equal to that of fine art, with only broad commercial appeal and easy reproducibility separating the two. “Drowning Girl” could be seen as Lichtenstein thumbing his nose at the elitism of art circles that would shun good work based on its intended audience and commercial
The subject of “Drowning Girl” is a crying woman engulfed by water. By removing any outside elements (her boat and lover are visible in the original), it’s entirely possible she could be drowning in a sea of her own tears. Despite the subject matter, the painting is rendered in bold lines and bright colors. This could be seen as a …show more content…
It’s melodramatic in the extreme. Lichtenstein may be using this figure to criticize an art world taking itself too seriously and suffering for its refusal to lighten up.
In fact, Lichtenstein’s choice of subject matter to appropriate seems in direct opposition to the artistic trend of the period, abstract expressionism. Where AbEx featured soft lines and gestural painting styles, Lichtenstein chose comic art, precise and figurative in nature.
Lichtenstein elevates what was seen as “low brow” art to high art, blurring the objective boundaries between them. Much of the technique and skill required for comic art is equal to that of fine art, with only broad commercial appeal and easy reproducibility separating the two. “Drowning Girl” could be seen as Lichtenstein thumbing his nose at the elitism of art circles that would shun good work based on its intended audience and commercial