Roy Lichtenstein: Reading between the Dots

October 2012 - Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. Harry Cooper, the Gallery's consulting curator for Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective—on view from October 14, 2012 to January 13, 2013—presents an overview of the first major exhibition of the artist's work since his death in 1997. In this opening-day lecture recorded on October 14, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Cooper reviews some of the 136 works in the exhibition, including Lichtenstein's greatest paintings from all periods of his career, as well as drawings and sculptures. The retrospective presents Lichtenstein's expansive legacy—the classic early pop paintings based on advertisements, comic-book treatments of war and romance, versions of paintings by the modern masters, and series including Brushstrokes, Mirrors, Artist's Studios, Nudes, and Chinese Landscapes.