Roy Lichtenstein Prints, 1956-97

Book excerpt: Think "Roy Lichtenstein" and you probably conjure up comic strip-based paintings and the colorful dots that comprise them. Lichtenstein intended his now iconic depictions of characters in tense, dramatic situations as commentaries on modern man's plight, in which the media--magazines, television and advertisements--shapes everything, including our emotions. Many of the same concepts behind the artist's paintings apply to the significant number of prints he produced in the latter part of this life. Focused on works created from the mid-50s until his death in 1997, this exhibition catalogue gives a full overview of Lichtenstein's printmaking accomplishments. Accompanying reproductions of the artist's works are essays by two outstanding scholars: Dave Hickey, a MacArthur Award-winning writer on art and culture; and Elizabeth Brown, who wrote her thesis on Lichtenstein at Columbia University, under the tutelage of the late Kirk Varnedoe. Approximately 40 prints are illustrated in this elegant, intimately-scaled book, which highlights a specific body of work from one of the most innovative forces in post-World War II art.