Roy Lichtenstein Chronology: the 1990s
1990
R.L. begins Interior series; for some of these, he uses the technique of
painting with sponges.
Sherrie Levine appropriates several of R.L.'s comic-strip paintings and prints in
her 1990 mixed-media work Collage/Cartoon.
Oct. 7-Jan. 15, 1991. MoMA presents High and Low: Modern Art and Popular
Culture, an exhibition of 20th-century art along with source materials and
related ephemera, organized by Kirk Varnedoe and Adam Gopnick. Some of
R.L.'s comic-book sources are shown for the first time.
1991
April 2-June 16. Two of R.L.'s Interior paintings shown in the Whitney
Museum's 1991 Biennial exhibition.
April 25. Receives Brandeis University's Creative Arts Award.
May 15-Oct. 31. R.L.'s Modern Head, a 32-foot-high sculpture based on his
1974 metal, wood, and polyurethane sculpture at the Santa Anita Fashion Park
in Arcadia, California, is installed in Battery Park City in Lower
Manhattan.
Autumn. In collaboration with Saff Tech Arts, located in Oxford, Maryland,
begins making enamel prints (on stainless steel with wooden frames) based on
Monet's late waterlily paintings Nymphéas.
1992
July. Inspired by the work of Catalan artist Antoni Gaudí, R.L. creates
Barcelona Head, a 64-foot-high sculpture made of colored ceramic tiles,
commissioned for the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. It is installed
there on the site of the former naval yard where Christopher Columbus docked
his ships.
Sept. 24-Jan. 19, 1993. MoMA presents Henri Matisse: A Retrospective,
organized by John Elderfield with the assistance of Beatrice Kernan.
Oct. R.L.creates a sculpture based on the image of an African mask in his
painting Interior with African Mask. It is fabricated at Tallix foundry, in
versions of galvanized steel, tin-plated bronze, zinc-plated bronze, and
pewter, in editions of six.
1992-93
Dec. 6-March 7. The Museum of Contemporary Art , Los Angeles presents
Hand-Painted Pop: American Art in Transition, 1955-62, organized by Paul
Schimmel and Donna De Salvo, devoted exclusively to the early years of the
Pop art movement in the U.S. It includes R.L.'s pre-1960s works such as
Washington Crossing the Delaware I and several of the semi-abstract drawings
of cartoon characters that he made in 1958, such as Donald Duck. The show
travels to two other U.S. museums.
1993
May. Frederick Tuten's book, Tintin in the New World: a Romance is
published by Willianm Morris. R.L. contributes the cover image which
features the character Tintin originally created by Belgian artist Hergé.
July 9. R.L. receives an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art,
Kensington Gore, London.
July-Aug. Creates Large Interior with Three Reflections, a mural consisting
of a 30-foot-long triptych and three additional panels for the Revlon
Corporation in New York. The mural contains his first reference to a female
nude and is shown for the first time in Oct. at his retrospective at the
Guggenheim Museum.
Oct. R.L.completes Brushstroke Nude, a 12-foot-high painted aluminum
sculpture fabricated at Tallix. The work debuts on the sidewalk in front of
the Guggenheim for his retrospective.
Oct.8-Jan. 16, 1994. The Guggenheim Museum presents Roy Lichtenstein, a
retrospective survey of R.L.'s paintings and sculpture, organized by
Waldman. The exhibition travels to The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los
Angeles; Museé des Beaux-Arts, Montreal; Haus der Kunst, Munich;
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Palais des Beaux-Arts, de Bruxelles; and concludes
it tour at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio.
Oct. 23-Nov. 27. R.L.'s new series of paintings featuring Tintin premiere at
Leo Castelli Gallery.
Nov. R.L.'s painting Grrrrrrrrrrr!, 1965 appears on the cover of ARTtnews.
Dec. 23. R.L. receives Amici de Barcelona from Mayor Pasqual Maragall,
L'Alcalde de Barcelona.
Begins a series of works featuring the female nude.
1994
Jan. Lou Ann Walker's book Roy Lichtenstein: The Artist at Work is published
by Lodestar. The book, designed to teach children 8-12 years of age about
art, includes photos by Michael Abramson of R.L. in his studio.
Jan. 13. Lichtenstein is honored at The 95th Annual Artists Award Dinner at
The National Arts Club in Manhattan.
Jan.21-April 3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Degas Landscapes.
May. R.L. unveils designs for the hull and sails for PACT 95's yacht, Young
America. An entry in the race to defend the America's Cup, on the hull is
the image of a mermaid, the largest work R.L. has ever created.
June. R.L. completes a 53 foot mural commission to be installed in Times
Square in New York.
Oct. The Prints of Roy Lichtentein: A Catalogue Raisonne by Mary Lee Corlett
is published by Hudson Hill Press. The book appears in conjunction with his
print retrospective which opens that month at the National Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. The show later travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art and to the Dallas Art Museum.
Nov. 19 -Dec. 17. First series of R.L.'s nudes is shown at Leo Castelli
Gallery.
Nov. R.L.'s Girl with Hair Ribbon, 1965 is sold to the Tokyo Museum of
Contemporary Art for 6 million dollars
1995
March 31. The New York Times publishes, "At the Met with Roy Lichtenstein"
by their chief art critic, Michael Kimmelman. The piece is one in a series
of interviews with major international artists on their most treasured
artworks at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
June 8 R.L. donates Composition III, 1995 based on the motif of musical
notes to The Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies. 175 copies of the
print are scheduled to hang in U.S. embassies throughout the world.
Sept. 22. Dedication of the Hoyt L. Sherman Studio Art Center at Ohio State
University.
Oct. 5. R.L. receives the National Medal of Arts at a gala ceremony in
Washington, D.C. Presenting the award are President and Mrs. Clinton.
Nov. 10. R.L. receives Kyoto Prize from Inamori Foundation, Kyoto, Japan.
Inspired by the monotype and pastel landscapes of Edgar Degas which he sees
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, R.L. begins a large series of works which
he refers to as Chinese Landscapes. Creates last self -portrait works which
he entitles Coup de Chapeau.
1996
May 19. R.L. is awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from George
Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Sept. 21-Oct.26. Roy Lichtenstein: Landscapes in the Chinese Style is
presented at Leo Castelli Gallery. It is R.L.'s last exhibition at the
gallery prior to his death.
Dec. The National Gallery becomes the largest repository of R.L.'s prints
after it receives a gift from the artist of 154 of his prints and 2 of his
books spanning his career from 1948-1993.
R.L. embarks on a series of sculptures based on brushstrokes and drips.
Continues to explore the theme of interiors some of which he refers to as
Virtual Paintings which feature various colored outlines instead of only
black.
R.L. creates a painting entitled Mickasso a play on the Disney character
Mickey Mouse and Picasso's cubist style.
1997
April 30. David Sylvester interviews R.L. in New York. The interview
becomes the last one ever given by the artist.
May. Singapore Brushstroke, 1997, R.L.'s last major outdoor sculpture
comprised of 6 large pieces is installed at the Pontiac Marina in Singapore.
June 15 - Nov. 9. La Biennale di Venezia, XLVII Esposizione Internazionale
d'Arte opens. New works by R.L. including House II, 1997, a composite
construction with fiberglass of a house exterior, are shown at the Italian
pavilion in the exhibition, Future, Present , Past curated by the
Biennial's commissioner, Germano Celant.
Sept. 5 - Oct. 7 Galerie Lawrence Rubin in Zurich presents an exhibition of
new interior paintings by R.L. Sylvester's interview is published in the
catalogue.
Sept. 29. R.L. dies at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan from
complications due to pneumonia.
Oct. Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London publishes Some Kind of Reality: Roy
Lichtenstein interviewed by David Sylvester in 1966 and 1997 to accompany an
exhibition of six new paintings by R.L. on view at the gallery from Oct.
23 - Nov. 27.
Nov. 6 - Dec. 31 Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago presents the recent
drawings and sculpture by R.L., an exhibition planned prior to the artist's
death which includes several of his latest interiors and house
constructions.
Nov. 10. Christie's sells Kiss II, 1962 to Tokyo Fujii Gallery for 6.05 mil.
1998
March. Artis Inc., a consortium of Japanese museums, organizes The Prints of
Roy Lichtenstein-Cosmos of His Art. The show travels throughout Japan.
May 24 - Sept. 27 Fondation Beyeler in Riehen Switzerland dedicates their
space to an exhibition of 70 of R.L.'s works spanning the course of his
career.
July 9 - Oct.18. Museo del Palacio Bellas Artes in Mexico City presents Roy
Lichtenstein, Pintura, Escultura y Grafica.