Roy Lichtenstein Two Paintings: Dagwood, 1984 is a vivid, colorful piece that demonstrates the clever work of Lichtenstein’s varied oeuvre. The work is centered around the juxtaposition between subjects that evoke the artist’s own personal and artistic history, as well as the history of art. By placing an abstract Expressionist image next to a cartoon figure, he is calling attention to pop-culture as it continues to emerge and evolve, and the profundity of Abstract Expressionism. “Lichtenstein recalls that he thought of using an image of Dagwood when he first used images of Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Wimpy, but that he dropped the idea when he abandoned famous cartoon images in favor of anonymous ones. In his pairing of Dagwood with an abstract painting, the cartoon figure is no longer submerged in the overall image, as it was in the proto-pop paintings, but is treated as its rival and its equal.” (Waldman).

A harsh, vivid yellow that acts as a buffer and separates the two separate works dominates the field of vision, as it bleeds from the strip that runs top to bottom in the center, bits of yellow bustling through the negative spaces in both the left and right sides of the image; Dagwood Bumstead, falling on the right, a look of confusion and suspense contorts his face. On the left, a fragment of yellow is boldly outlined in the upper section of the separate composition. Diagonal lines blend the two compositions, providing them with a familiarity to one another that distracts from an otherwise separated concept.

Created in 1984, Roy Lichtenstein Two Paintings: Dagwood is a woodcut and lithograph on Arches 88 paper. This work is hand signed and dated by Roy Lichtenstein (New York, 1923 – New York, 1997) in pencil in the lower right margin. Numbered from the edition of 60 in pencil in the lower right margin.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Roy Lichtenstein Two Paintings: Dagwood, 1984 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Corlett, Lee Mary. The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein A Catalogue Raisonné 1948-1997. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2002. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 207.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Roy Lichtenstein Two Paintings: Dagwood, 1984 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.