Roy Lichtenstein’s early appropriation of the aesthetics of American popular culture made him integral to the development of Pop art. A student of the work of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Paul Klee, Lichtenstein incorporated elements of contemporary art theory and popular print media into his painting. In 1961 he began to replicate the Benday dot system used in mass-circulation printed sources such as comics, newspapers, and billboards; this would become a signature element of his painting and sculpture. By mimicking this industrial method and appropriating images from high and low culture, his work realized a broader accessibility that had not yet been achieved in contemporary art. Some of his most recognizable series evolved from imagery drawn from popular culture: advertising images, war-time comics, and pin-up portraits, as well as traditional painting genres such as landscapes, still lifes, and interiors.
