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Lot Essay
Vicki! I-I Thought I Heard Your Voice!, 1964 is an icon of Pop art. Roy Lichtenstein's comic book works define the artist in the public imagination and are emblematic of all Pop. Seeking a truly mechanical working method and inspired by industrial New York street and subway signs, Lichtenstein rendered Vicki! in enamel. Unlike his paintings which mimic a mechanical process, Vicki! is truly fabricated and comes closest to realizing the Pop spirit.
With the impending threat of kitsch infringing further and further onto fine art, Lichtenstein's images, taken directly from romance and war comics, were a true affront. The barbarians had breached the gate. Melodramatic and overwrought, but lacking a larger narrative context, Vicki! lays bare the thin veneer of America's 1950s stereotypes of gender roles. The man, obscured from the back, creates a frame for Vicki's face. Needy, she looks for the support women were supposed to find in their men. The fallacy of these roles is apparent in the image's sheer absurdity. Lichtenstein was not a didactic though, and Vicki! remains a captivating image. Deftly painted, funny, visually stunning and poignant Vicky! is a Pop icon.
With the impending threat of kitsch infringing further and further onto fine art, Lichtenstein's images, taken directly from romance and war comics, were a true affront. The barbarians had breached the gate. Melodramatic and overwrought, but lacking a larger narrative context, Vicki! lays bare the thin veneer of America's 1950s stereotypes of gender roles. The man, obscured from the back, creates a frame for Vicki's face. Needy, she looks for the support women were supposed to find in their men. The fallacy of these roles is apparent in the image's sheer absurdity. Lichtenstein was not a didactic though, and Vicki! remains a captivating image. Deftly painted, funny, visually stunning and poignant Vicky! is a Pop icon.