Roy Lichtenstein: Stepping Out - Essay Example

Roy Lichtenstein: Stepping Out Introduction Today Roy Lichtenstein, along with Andy Warhol, is recognized as a seminal artist of the 20th century Pop art movement. Pop art implemented a variety of methods, oftentimes mass screen-printing, in its exploration and co-optation of pervading trends in popular culture. While Warhol was perhaps the leading figure in the movement Lichtenstein gain large-scale prominence. The two artists differed in fundamental ways. Warhol fetishized archetypical cultural images, such as Campbell’s Soup Can and Marilyn Monroe, in oftentimes-repetitive fashion.1 Lichtenstein, conversely, implemented cartoon imagery as a means of parodying a number of subject matters. In the case of both artists it seems that there was a subtle sociological critique of the vapidity of culture or even the capitalist apparatus. Lichtenstein created a wide array of work and much of it has gained positions of prominence among art theorists. One such work is Lichtenstein’s ‘Stepping Out’ (currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art). While the work is slightly obscure in meaning, this essay argues that objective meaning can be gleamed from thorough analysis. Specifically, this essay argues that Lichtenstein created this artwork to project societys stereotypes on women. It follows that this research considers meaning in Lichtenstein’s ‘Stepping Out,’ as well as a variety of elements that contribute to a contextual understanding of the work. Analysis Lichtenstein created the work in 1978 in New York City. This work implements Lichtenstein’s traditional comic book style, while adopting a slight cubist aesthetic. It is created with oil and magna on canvas and measures 86 x 70 in. Lila Acheson Wallace purchased the work in 1980. The work then passed through a series of accessions before finally becoming situated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘Stepping Out’ implements Lichtenstein’s traditional comic book imagery. The painting, Fig. 1 in the appendix, features two individuals. Seemingly these individuals are a woman and a man, however Lichtenstein uses cubist like forms to obscure easy and clear distinctions. The male figure seems to be identifiable though traditional social conventions of dress; he is wearing a hat, has short-trimmed hair, as well as a suit and tie. Conversely, the woman does not take on complete form; instead her face is depicted not in the traditional form of the human head, but as a canvas. She only has one eye, which is slanted vertically. She has long blonde-hair, red lips, and a yellow dress that seems to further situate her with feminine identification. The division between the man and woman is blurred such that they seem to dissolve into each other; this perspective on singularity is further witnessed through Lichtenstein’s slight use of pointillism on the right side and left side of the woman and man’s faces, respectively. Finally, the background of the work is divided into strong black and white, the white is on the woman’s side and the black is on the man’s side. Aesthetic analysis of Lichtenstein’s ‘Stepping Out’ reveals a considerable number of insights. Upon its debut the work was well received. One recognizes that by 1978 Lichtenstein’s reputation as a Pop artist was well established and this surely factored into its positive reception. In terms of meaning, interpretations differ widely from different critics. Indeed, the very post-modern elements of the work invite such multiple-critical voices. In terms of objective elements one recognizes that there is a degree of inter-textuality in the work. The male in work is based on Fernand Leger’s 1944 painting ‘Three Musicians;’ however Lichtenstein’s version is the mirror image of Leger’s earlier work.2 Additionally the female in the painting is clearly influenced by Picasso’s cubist style, in the multi-dimensional and slightly surrealist juxtapositions. In terms of the specific meaning this elements form, this essay contends that the primary emphasis is the society’s stereotypes on women. This perspective has been supported by art theorists who note, “this work is a criticism of how a man has often wanted to see a woman as simple, as just a “pretty face”, without too much substance, and how a woman may accommodate herself to this unjust, contemptuous way of seeing her.”3 One recognizes that there is considerable visual evidence supporting this interpretation of the work. While the male figure in the painting is fully figured, the corresponding female is featured with a painting canvas for a face. While such an element could indicate that the female is a work of art, in the context of this specific work it seems to encourage an interpretation of the female as constituted by the juxtaposed elements. Specifically, she becomes a stereotype of a blonde haired, red-lipped pretty face. This view is contrasted with the man who is instead pictured in the aforementioned full figured form. The blurring of the two through pointillist methods and adjacency seems to point towards the recognition that they are together in a form of matrimony or significant bond. The man’s eyes are further ensconced in the abstract shade of the woman’s blonde hair. Such combinatory effects create a signification that seems to advance the notion of the male as viewing the female only in terms of beauty or outward expressiveness, while the male conversely is viewed in terms of a more whole entity. One recognizes both a concern with simplified form, but perhaps more importantly the early exploration of notions of the post-modern. One recognizes the juxtaposition between Lichtenstein’s aesthetic style with cubist and surrealist perspectives; this juxtaposition of form seems to represent a subsequent inclusion of multiple voices of knowledge and understanding. Such recognitions coincide with the parallel emergence of post-modern theoretical elements in the humanities, including the increasing challenge made to traditional gender roles. One recognizes that while the work functions as a social critique unto itself, it also functions within the broader ranging oeuvre of Pop art. This is an important consideration as some of the levels of institutional critique that emerged in the later part of the 20th century argued that the artifact functioned as art as long as it operated within the larger spectrum of art-historical criticism. While the painting was created in the late 1970s one recognizes that it emerges from the 1960’s Pop art aesthetic. The work itself is both linked to pervading trends in Pop art – a consideration of style over substance, cartoon-like form – as well as historical art practices – oil on canvas.4 Furthermore, it’s noted that Pop art regularly implements images that are removed from their context of origin.5 Within this specific work both the man as borrowed from the inter-textual elements of Leger’s work, and the woman as clearly and overtly influenced from Picasso’s cubist style demonstrates past images reconditioned into new forms. The comic book form that Lichtenstein implements is also adopted from mass culture, a characteristic element of Pop art. Additionally, the post-modern notion that displaces the recognition of ‘high’ art as the most privileged art form is reflected directly in Lichtenstein’s ‘Stepping Out’. In these regards, the work implements this comic book ‘mass culture’ form as a means of legitimate social critique. Additionally, it’s important to consider the work in the spectrum of Lichtenstein’s own work. One considers as a foundational understanding that Lichtenstein, just as in his other work, implemented oil and magna on canvas. Within the spectrum of Lichtenstein’s work this specific painting operates in the middle ground between his overt exploration of celebrity and his comic exploration of parody and other such dark themes, such as Lichtenstein’s seminal ‘Whaam!’ painting. Lichtenstein also previously implemented a comic book panel form. In these regards, one work would be placed next to another to form a narrative like explication of events. After 1965 Lichtenstein is recognized as having largely abandoned this form. With ‘Stepping Out’ one recognizes the implementation of a more traditional form of narrative – one singular panel – albeit in a distinctly post-1960 pop culture context.6 Lichtenstein’s work would go on to influence later graphic novels, particularly in terms of his comic book panel forms. While there hasn’t been a great implementation of such cubist forms per panel in each work, one recognizes that future potentials would be the implementation of cubist panels to narrative work. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has examined Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘Stepping Out’. Within this context of understanding it has examined the historical creation of the work, as well as its formal elements of construction. Furthermore the essay examines meaning and subtext that has been contained in the work. As such, the broader art-critical contextual position of the work is considered, including its position within Lichtenstein’s canon and that of Pop art. Furthermore, specific interpretive analysis is implemented arguing that Lichtenstein created this artwork to project societys stereotypes on women. References Hapgood, Susan, Neo-Dada: Redefining Art, 1958-62. New York: Universe Books, 1994. Livingstone, M., Pop Art: A Continuing History, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990 Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Metropolitan Museum of Art -- Stepping Out." Last modified 2012. Accessed April 27, 2012. http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/210002332. Tansey, R., Gardners Art Through the Ages, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1980. Warhol, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, from A to B and back again. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975 Weiner, Steven. stevenweiner, "Simplicity and Complexity: Roy Lichtensteins “Stepping Out”." Last modified 2012. Accessed April 27, 2012. http://www.stevenweiner.net/Site/Lichtenstein.html. Appendix Fig. 1 Stepping Out Read More