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assistant professor of art at Douglass College, the women’s college of Rutgers
State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey, not far from New
York City. At Rutgers, he meets Allan Kaprow who introduces him to Claes
Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, George Segal, Robert Watts, Robert Whitman and
others involved in the Happenings art scene. During his first year at Rutgers,
Lichtenstein’s work is abstract. His paintings are created by dragging rags
dipped in paint across the canvas to create ribbon-like bands. Sometime in the
early summer of 1961, Lichtenstein paints “Look Mickey,” his first classic
cartoon work to feature the half-tone effect of Benday dots created by dipping a
dog-bristle brush in oil paint. Later that year, Lichtenstein begins to use a
handmade metal screen and a paint roller to create the Benday dots effect on
canvases that feature cartoons and consumer product imagery. In the fall of
1961, Leo Castelli agrees to represent Lichtenstein’s works. Sales quickly follow.
Following a trial separation from Isabel, Lichtenstein moves from his home in
Highland Park, New Jersey, to Broad Street in New York, but they soon
reconcile.
In February of 1962, Leo Castelli showcases Lichtenstein’s works in a solo show
featuring paintings based on serial comic strips and the rudimentary advertising
images of newspaper copy. Over the course of that year, Lichtenstein’s Pop work
is featured in six major exhibitions around the country. The following year he
takes a leave of absence from Douglass, separates again from Isabel and moves
his residence and studio to West 26th Street where he begins a series of soap
opera women and World War II combat motifs he finds in the pages of D.C.
Comics serials. He enlarges his colored-pencil studies onto his canvas using an
opaque projector and begins to use quick drying turpentine- soluble acrylic
paint called Magna for large areas of the canvas but, because it dries too
quickly, he continues to paint the Benday dots in oil now using store-bought
metal perforated screens.
In 1964, Lichtenstein returns to invented imagery with a series of horizon landscape
paintings comprised primarily of Benday dots. Editioned enameled wall
works of landscapes and comic-book imagery along with enameled standing
explosions are included in his third show at Castelli in October of that year.
Lichtenstein’s first mural is installed at the Flushing Meadows Fair Grounds for
the 1964 World’s Fair.
In 1965, separated from Isabel (they officially divorce in 1967) he moves to the
3rd floor of a former German bank in New York’s Bowery. He begins a series of
ceramic heads and stacked cups and saucers. At the same time, he is making
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