Who?
This art work, “Crying girl” was made by Roy Lichtenstein on 1963. The medium is offset lithography on lightweight, off-white wove paper. However, because I don’t have those materials, I used Acrylic paint. It is located in the United States, Milwaukee Art Museum. Roy Lichtenstein has many other famous art works such as “Hopeless (1963)”, “Happy tears (1964)”, and “Girl with ball (1961)”.
When and Why?
1960s was the time when United States enjoyed an unusual period of economic and political growth. This art work looks like a comic book, or one picture on the magazine, or the television advertisement. The reason why Roy Lichtenstein drew this picture is that the Post World War II generation enjoyed the popular culture, which is the new type of mass communication. We could deduce that in this period, people liked common thing rather than something precious and expensive. People might have felt comfortable with common thing through many different types of mass media.
What?
One woman is crying with terrifying face on the picture. She watched her right side and her blond hair flaw back in the wind. I think the woman is pursued by an offender. Her eyes are haunted with terror. This picture is a long way from abstract or non-representational. The picture is very clear with thick black outlines, so we can easily see what is going on in the picture.
Formal Qualities?
The most important thing is the think black outlines. Roy Lichtenstein always distinguishes every part of his picture with outlines. In this picture, he only used 4 colors, which are black, red, white, and Yellow. Those colors are all vivid colors. By using few colors, I think he tried to make people to focus on the face of the woman only. In addition, he draw red dots on the skin rather than just color it in one color. The proportion of the woman is more like real person. Even though Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings look like a one page of the comic book, it is more close to the realistic description rather than abstract painting.
Style?
The style of this picture is pop art. It is the modern art in the 1960’s that used the imagery of mass media, mass production, and mass culture. This picture shows that comic books, television advertisements, or the magazine were became a famous culture in New York. Although the UK first started pop art style, Americans are more enthusiastic about pop art style and pop art flourished in New York after finishing War. That was the time between 1950s and 1960s.
References
· Evans, Marrion Bobby. "The Difference Between Art Styles, Schools and Movements." About Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fpainting.about.com%2Fcs%2Fpaintinghistory%2Fa%2Fartstyles.htm>.
· "Pop Art." Pop Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2015. <http://www.artmovements.co.uk/popart.htm>.
· "Pop Art Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2015. <http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm>.
· Gersh-Nesic, Beth. "The History of Pop Art (1950s-1970s)." About Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2015. <http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Pop-Art-Art-History-101-Basics.htm>.
· "Pop Art." Moma Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2015. <https%3A%2F%2Fwww.moma.org%2Flearn%2Fmoma_learning%2Fthemes%2Fpop-art>.
· Pensum. "Claes Oldenburg: I Am for an Art." Artist Statements. N.p., 03 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 Aug. 2015. <https://artiststatements.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/claes-oldenburg-i-am-for-an-art/>.
· "Pop Art." - the Art of Popular Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2015. <http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/pop_art.htm>.
- "Crying Girl | Milwaukee Art Museum." Crying Girl | Milwaukee Art Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015. <http://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=13085>.