''Mural with Blue Brushstroke'' is a 1986

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

painting by

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

that is located in the atrium of the Equitable Tower (now known as the

AXA Center Axa Equitable Center (originally the Equitable Tower or Equitable Center West) is an office skyscraper at 787 Seventh Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1986 and design ...

) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The mural was the subject of the book ''Roy Lichtenstein: Mural With Blue Brushstroke''. The mural includes highlights of Lichtenstein's earlier works.

Detail

Lichtenstein was commissioned to create a large public work in the Equitable Tower. He was offered the commission in 1984 and began design work that fall. Like his 1973–1974 Artist's Studio series works, such as ''

Artist's Studio—Look Mickey ''Artist's Studio—Look Mickey'' (sometimes ''Artist's Studio, Look Mickey'', ''Artist's Studio – Look Mickey'' or ''Artist's Studio No. 1 (Look Mickey)'') is a 1973 painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is one of five large-scale studio inte ...

'', ''Mural with Blue Brushstroke'' copies or reworks many of his own work as well as a few works of other artists. Several objects in the mirror had previously been incorporated in ''Artist's Studio—Look Mickey'': the door, part of a mirror and an entablature. The beach ball from '' Girl with Ball'' is held by Léger-like forms rather than a young woman, and the top part of the ball is now a sunrise for a landscape with randomly placed dots. A light blue "

brushstroke ''Brushstroke'' is a sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein. There are two copies. The original was created in 2001 for the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. The second was delivered to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ...

" represents a waterfall. The combination of images is a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

. Lichtenstein used his standard large canvas easel. He "selected the motifs, he made a series of drawings and then collaged them together to make a maquette, measuring 34.25 by 17.5 inches, which became the working plan for the actual mural." Images were selected, and slides of the collage were projected onto the building wall. From these slides, the outline of the mural was drawn by Lichtenstein and his assistants David Lichtenstein, Robert McKeever, Arch O'Learhy, Brian O'Leary, James di Pasquale, and Fernando Pomalaza. The outlines were filled in with color on the plaster wall. The mural took six weeks to complete. The mural incorporates 18 colors, more than triple his usual palette of the

primary color A set (mathematics), set of primary colors or primary colours (see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) consists of colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamu ...

s plus black and white. Lichtenstein had a strong preference for rectangular canvases. Analysis of his work refers to non-rectangular canvases as imperfect paintings and are described as being characteristic of

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in M ...

. ''Mural with Blue Brushstroke'' is regarded as Lichtenstein's first 'imperfect' painting due to the depiction of a carpenter's triangle and French curve. It is an extreme sort of imperfection because the painting extends beyond the frame.

Critical review

The Mural offers "a hedonistic view of earthly insignificance." When the mural opened, Michael Brenson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the event as "an event of major artistic importance. It marks a commitment to art on the part of a prominent American corporation that is as generous and innovative as any before." This is an example of a

that serves to "structurally anchor a whole complex composition..." The work is composed of "a cacophony of images" that serve as a "montage of his earlier subjects." The work is the embodiment of commercialism shrouded in the "aura of artistic fame".

Notes

References

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External links

Lichtenstein Foundation websiteLichtenstein Foundation detail website
{{Roy Lichtenstein 1986 paintings Murals in New York City Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein

Detail

Critical review

See also

Notes

References

External links