Lichtenstein A Retrospective, Tate Modern Museum, London

For as long as I can remember I have loved Roy Lichtenstein. I wasn't always sure of the name but always loved the comic book style of paintings. I am huge fan of pop art in general along with Andy Warhol.

When I saw on the Culture Show that the Tate Modern was holding a Lichtenstein - A Retrospective exhibition I got online and bought some tickets.

The exhibition had a lot of paintings and sculptures including some of the more well known ones including Whaam! Drowning Girl and  Masterpiece. Looking up close at the comic style paintings - benday dot style - they are just fascinating. The amount of detail and meticulous repetition is just mind boggling.  I really don't think that pictures of the paintings do them justice, they look like screen prints or reproductions and not a piece of art.

I was really surprised to see the art I never knew Lictenstein did, I will admit I was a little naive and just thought he did the comic prints. Some of the most beautiful in the collection were the Chinese landscape portraits such as Landscape with Philosopher -  which was breath-taking and kind of poetic.

Some have said that he merely copied pictures but the skill he displays in those paintings is excellent. He also ventured into sculpture with art deco pieces and his two sided bust which has a blonde on one side a a blue haired girl on the other which looks a little bit like a Katy Perry cover and again I never knew existed.



The exhibition had 12 rooms dedicated to different phases and themes of his work with 125 paintings and sculptures in total.

The Tate's website said: "The artist’s rich and expansive practice is represented by a wide range of materials, including paintings on Rowlux and steel, as well sculptures in ceramic and brass and a selection of previously unseen drawings, collages and works on paper. Room after room pays tribute to his extraordinary oeuvre, celebrating the visual power and intellectual rigour of Roy Lichtenstein’s work."

The exhibition ended on Monday but if you ever get a chance to see it again do so and the Tate already has a couple of Lichtenstein paintings which you can see for free. 

I really enjoyed it and was fascinated by it all.

For more on the Tate visit - http://www.tate.org.uk/