Description
The source for Head—Red and Yellow was a vacation newspaper advertisement in which a smiling woman throws a beach ball. Lichtenstein appropriated just the woman’s head and depicted it using flat, bright colors. The dots seen on her face and neck replicate the printing industry’s Benday process, developed in 1879 by the newspaper engraver Benjamin Day and used to create tonal variation through size and spacing—the smaller and more closely placed the Benday dots, the darker the tone produced. Lichtenstein did not vary the dots, however; instead, he applied them using a screen with evenly punched holes.
Details
- Work Date:
- 1962
- Dimensions:
- 48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Collection of Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1962. © 2013 Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.