A major exhibition on Roy Lichtenstein and Pop Art at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation

An exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Roy Lichtenstein (New York, 1923 - 1997), one of the great names of American Pop Art, capable of influencing legions of artists, graphic artists, designers, and advertisers, is coming to the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Traversetolo (Parma). The exhibition, titled Roy Lichtenstein and American Pop Art is scheduled from September 8 to December 9, 2018, and brings together more than 80 works by the New York-based artist and other great protagonists of American Pop Art, from Andy Warhol to Robert Indiana, Tom Wesselmann to James Rosenquist.

Roy Lichtenstein is considered, along with Andy Warhol, the most representative and best-known figure of Pop Art: his works are distinguished by his characteristic style borrowed from the typographic screen, his use of comics in painting, and his pop reinterpretations of the art of the distant and recent past. An art so strong and recognizable that it immediately entered our imagination, and the subject of countless reproductions, becoming almost a consumer phenomenon. Moreover, decades later his paintings continue to attract enormous interest in the art market and have been sold even in recent years for tens of millions of dollars. As a result of his fame and centrality in 20th-century art, Lichtenstein has been the subject of numerous anthological exhibitions around the world, tracing his long career, which began in the 1950s, reached a decisive turning point in the very early 1960s, was definitively consecrated during the same decade, and continued with consistency and constant feedback until his passing in 1997.

The first part of the exhibition, curated by Walter Guadagnini and Stefano Roffi, is devoted to the initial season of Pop Art, those years between 1960 and 1965 in which Lichtenstein’s icons taken from the world of comic strips and advertising were born and compared with the works of Warhol, Indiana, D’Arcangelo, Wesselmann, Ramos, Rosenquist and others, bearing witness to the new society and the new art that reflected it and took the name Pop Art. This period is represented in the exhibition by important works such as Little Aloha (1962) and Ball of Twine (1963), but also by a very rare early work such as VIIP! (1962), and by a remarkable series of graphic works, most notably Crying Girl (1963) and Sweet Dreams, Baby! (1965).

Alongside the works derived from comic strips, certainly his best known, Lichtenstein began a number of series that refer on the one hand to the history of art, and on the other to the great theme ofpictorial abstraction: these are the paintings that testify to the painter’s variety and complexity and that open up new interpretations both of his work and of the whole season of Pop Art. Exemplary in this regard are Robert Indiana’s numerical and literary abstractions (with a valuable FOUR from the 1960s and a famous LOVE sculpture) or Andy Warhol’s Flowers cycle. These series include the Landscapes series and the Friezes series, which began in the early 1970s. The Landscapes start from a natural motif to arrive at absolute abstraction, which also includes the adoption of plastic materials belonging to the contemporary world, in a fascinating short circuit between tradition and innovation. Similarly, the Friezes take a canonical theme from classical art and transform it into pure abstract decoration: a work of nearly three meters granted on loan from the Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne best represents this cycle.

Almost at the same time, another genre is also born, one that comes directly from art history: here then are figures inspired by Picasso and Matisse (but also by Surrealism, such as the very famous Girl with Tear (1977) that arrives on special loan from the Fondation Beyeler in Basel) pretexts to rework and rewrite a history of art and genres through their own language, to cannibalize even the history of images, whether cultured or popular. The exhibition is then punctuated by several series of photographs depicting the artist at work in his studio. The authors are two protagonists of Italian art photography, Ugo Mulas and Aurelio Amendola, who, at different times, portrayed Lichtenstein: in this way one can not only enter the artist’s workshop, but also read the relationship that has always linked Italian culture to the painter.

The exhibition will make it possible to appreciate Lichtenstein in his entirety, addressing all the seasons and themes of his art. For this reason, the exhibition can be viewed by following two complementary paths: considering the different themes according to the traditional chronological order, or analyzing them from different points of view (following precisely Lichtenstein’s methodology) with special attention, in addition to the works on canvas, to the formidable graphic production, an absolutely central moment in the artist’s creative journey. Central also in the public affirmation of Lichtenstein and of Pop Art in general, which precisely in the wide dissemination allowed by graphic art found one of the main reasons for its truly popular success.

The exhibition is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday Sunday and holidays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (ticket office closes one hour before). Closed Mondays. Ticket: 10 euros also valid for permanent collections. Reduced schools 5 euros. Saturdays 4 p.m. and Sundays and holidays 11.30 a.m., 3.30 p.m., 4.30 p.m. Tour of the exhibition with a specialized guide; reservations can be made by e-mail at segreteria@magnanirocca.it, or show up at the museum entrance while places last, cost € 15.00 (admission and guide). The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale, containing essays by the curators and other scholars, such as Stefano Bucci, Mauro Carrera, Mirta d’Argenzio, and Kenneth Tyler, as well as reproductions of all the works on display. The exhibition is made possible thanks to: Fondazione Cariparma, Cariparma Crédit Agricole. Media partners: Gazzetta di Parma, Kreativehouse. With the collaboration of XL Catlin, a world leader in artwork insurance, and AON S.p.A. Technical sponsors: Angeli Cornici, Cavazzoni Associati, Fattorie Canossa, Società per la Mobilità e il Trasporto Pubblico.

Pictured: Roy Lichtenstein, Crying Girl, 1963 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein / SIAE 2018

A major exhibition on Roy Lichtenstein and Pop Art at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation

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