It’s not always the face of an artist that comes to mind when we hear their name.  

It's usually that trademark/masterpiece/most-likely-to-end-up-on-a-postcard painting from the artist’s career that's conjured up in the ol’ noodle. So when I say Roy Lichtenstein, you say...Whaam!

This painting is probably the best known of Lichtenstein’s very long and prolific career. He churned out these oversized comic book numbers for as long as he could, and then some. Though some say Roy was one of the geniuses of the art world, there’s a fair number who call him a plagiarist. It’s because he didn’t do much besides blow up pre-existing images and modify them only slightly. Here’s the original for Whaam!, which comes from a 1962 issue of DC Comic’s All-American Men of War. I’ll let you guys decide from there whether he deserves to be called the P word or not. There are critics who say that he did the comic book artist a favor with this copy, because Lichtenstein’s way is bigger, better and way more effective. His version does in fact appear more explosive and violent with its thicker fiery flames and all emphasis on just that one onomatopoeic sound, WHAAM! instead of both WHAAM and WHOOSH.

Lichtenstein’s choice of war comic images may have had something to do with the fact that he had been a soldier in the U.S. army when he was around twenty years old. He never made it to actual combat, so he could’ve been making up for that with the paintings. He said he chose such images because they seemed macho and manly, and this was his tongue-in-cheek way of critiquing that masculine stereotype. It was also probably a reaction to the very macho movement of Abstract Expressionism championed by Jackson Pollock’s drippy, gestural strokes. Pop artists like Lichtenstein were kinda turned off by that whole gimmick and in response, Lichtenstein created a technique in which there was no evidence of the artists “hand”. Super controlled and mechanical compared to the acrobatics of guys like Pollock.

Whaam! was picked up by the Tate Gallery in London in 1966, for a measly £3,940 (around $10,000). Quite a steal for the Tate, because recently one of Lichtenstein’s works was auctioned off for about $43 million (!!!). Not all the Tate trustees were thrilled about this risqué purchase back in 1966, but they’re probably thanking their stars that they didn’t get their way. And they’re probably making a sweet penny in gift shop sales too…chalk one up for the Tate!