Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in L.A.

View more than 70 remarkable works by a Pop Art master at the Skirball Cultural Center, now through March 12. Renowned for his inventive interplay of line, dot, and color, Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) shaped a new form of fine art that welcomed a wider public into the 1960s and 1970s art world.

Departing from the intellectual, nonfigurative style of Abstract Expressionism, Lichtenstein depicted everyday objects and drew inspiration from comic books, advertisements, and children’s books. By integrating such popular imagery into the realm of fine art, he invited viewers to recognize the world around them in his work.

Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in L.A. explores how the artist, a vanguard of the Pop Art movement buoyed by a renaissance in printmaking, made fine art accessible to the American public in ways that had not been achieved before. The exhibition features prints from Lichtenstein’s ”Bull Profile” and “Surrealist” series, as well as the iconic Sunrise and Shipboard Girl. Pop for the People also includes work, on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, in which Lichtenstein responded to major national news—namely the portrait Bobby Kennedy (1968) and the provocative Gun in America (1968). The former was commissioned by Time magazine while Kennedy was on the presidential campaign trail, and the latter after the candidate was gunned down in Los Angeles. Both graced the cover of Time, publicizing Lichtenstein’s signature graphic style to a very wide readership and sparking a conversation about gun control that continues to this day.

Additional works demonstrate the depth and breadth of Lichtenstein’s oeuvre, from rare prints to paper plates, clothing, and even turkey shopping bags. The exhibition shows how Lichtenstein’s aesthetic persists even today—in advertising, fashion, and merchandising.

Finally, visitors will be able to walk through a three-dimensional reimagination of Lichtenstein’s 1992 painting Bedroom at Arles, based on a series of the same name by Vincent van Gogh. The installation urges visitors to not just look at the art, but to inhabit it, reinforcing the “what’s mine is yours” ethos of the Pop Art movement.