Roy Lichtenstein

Composition II

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About this artwork

This is one of three ‘Composition’ prints Lichtenstein produced at Gemini G.E.L. master printmakers in Los Angeles. The usually straight, parallel lines of musical staves are liberated here into curving and looping waves. Music was one of Lichtenstein’s great loves – he played the clarinet in his youth, and learnt the saxophone at the age of 70. During the late 1930s, he visited New York’s vibrant jazz clubs and jazz became a lifelong passion. This print responds to the creative and improvisatory nature of this style of music. It also acts as a playful visual pun on the artist’s own fascination with the arrangement of line, form and colour in the composition of artworks.

Updated before 2020

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  • artist:
    Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) American
  • title:
    Composition II
  • date created:
    1996
  • materials:
    Screenprint on paper
  • measurements:
    90.20 x 114.00 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Collection 2015
  • accession number:
    AL00379
  • gallery:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein