Order and Ornament: Roy Lichtenstein’s Entablatures

Order and Ornament: Roy Lichtenstein’s Entablatures
-Sept 27, 2019–Mar 22, 2020-

HIGHLIGHT

The first exhibition at the Whitney devoted to Lichtenstein’s work since the transformative gift of the Roy Lichtenstein Study Collection, this capsule presentation provides a focused look at a single pivotal series, highlighting the artist’s inventive processes and techniques across drawings, collages, prints, photographs, and archival materials.

Image courtesy of © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Order and Ornament: Roy Lichtenstein’s Entablature

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

September 27, 2019 – March 22, 2020

This exhibition will present a diverse array of works on paper by Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997) related to his Entablatures series from the 1970s. Inspired by the architectural facades and ornamental motifs he encountered around Wall Street and elsewhere in Lower Manhattan, the series addresses many of Lichtenstein‘s central artistic themes while demonstrating a unique emphasis on texture, surface, relief, and reflectivity.

Image courtesy of © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Named after the horizontal structures that sit atop the columns in Classical Greek architecture, Lichtenstein’s Entablatures represent a distinctly American derivative, one based in revivalist, industrialized architectural imitations that were built en masse in the early twentieth century. By isolating clichéd symbols of-in the artist’s words – “imperial power” and “the establishment”, Lichtenstein traces the effect of mass production and replication on cultural forms. A sustained investigation into pattern and repetition, the Entablatures also underscore the echoes of Classical order embedded within Minimalist sculpture and Color Field painting.