The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center announced Friday a joint acquisition of more than 50 objects by Roy Lichtenstein, whose worldwide fame the Tate Modern in London once attributed to “bright and bold paintings of comic strip cartoons as well as his paintings of everyday objects.”
During a week in which the DMA announced 20 layoffs as part of an 8% reduction in staff and cut back hours by going dark on Tuesdays, the best news of all is that the acquisition arrives as a gift.
It comes from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, which in honor of the late artist’s 100th birthday — today — is also releasing an online resource detailing more than 5,500 of his works. Neither museum has immediate plans to show the Lichtensteins in an exhibition.
Lichtenstein died in 1997, just shy of his 74th birthday, by which time he had long been famous for bright and bold paintings of comic strip cartoons and flamboyant paintings of everyday objects. Lichtenstein’s most celebrated paintings include Whaam!, a 1963 work that captures an aerial disaster; Drowning Girl, also from 1963; and Look Mickey, a 1961 painting of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during a fishing mishap.
Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center, gift of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in Celebration of the Centennial of Roy Lichtenstein.(kevin ryan image)
He’s considered a leading figure in 20th-century American art and a pioneer of the Pop Art movement. His 1962 painting, Masterpiece, sold for $165 million in 2017.
The Dallas-bound gift will consist of “sculptures, drawings, studies and prototypes spanning his 50-year career,” according to the press release shared by the DMA and the Nasher, which describe the gift as “the first joint acquisition” by the next-door neighbors in the Dallas Arts District.
Both museums are calling the 50-plus objects “the largest joint gift made by the Lichtenstein Foundation to date.” The detail breaks down this way: 16 sculptures, 15 drawings, 14 maquettes, two collages, two tracings, one prototype and three sets of studio tools and test objects.
Together, the press release notes, “the works provide insights into the artist’s sculptural process, documenting the painstaking creation of large-scale sculptures through drawings, models and maquettes.”
Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center, gift of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in Celebration of the Centennial of
Roy Lichtenstein.(Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Scu)
The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation says “the two museums will share this study and display collection of the artist’s process and production, which is the only such concentration in the United States.”
In a statement, Nasher director Jeremy Strick called it “thrilling for Dallas that the first joint acquisition of the Nasher Sculpture Center should be such a marvelous group of works by Roy Lichtenstein, one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. In his sculpture as in his painting, Lichtenstein transformed our understanding of the relationship between fine art and popular culture, while also turning his visual language to the critical examination and celebration of key modernist tropes. This extraordinarily generous gift of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation will transform Dallas into an international center for the study of Lichtenstein sculpture.”
DMA director Agustín Arteaga called it “a special day for the Lichtenstein legacy and the city of Dallas. This is not only a recognition for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center, but to the city of Dallas that continues to shine as a national and global destination for arts and culture.”