Roy Lichtenstein

Knock Knock, 1961

Brush, pen and india ink

The Sonnabend Collection © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein / VBK Vienna, 2011

The 1960s marked a dramatic change of direction in the art of Roy Lichtenstein: while his earlier works consisted mainly of paintings of American history and the American West, in 1961 he turned to black-and-white drawings. Inspired by advertising and media illustrations as well as by comic strips, Lichtenstein created about seventy impressive black-and-white drawings between 1961 and 1968. These were completely new in terms of subject and style. In the same period, the artist also made numerous black-and-white paintings, whose subjects were very close to those of the drawings. The latter, however, are not to be understood as preparatory studies for the works on canvas; they much rather form a separate, individual group of artworks.

The Albertina presents the black-and-white drawings in conjunction with selected black-and-white paintings for the first time in this special exhibition.

Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-68 is organized by The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

The curator of the exhibition is Isabelle Dervaux, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.