The Self-Portraits of Roy Lichtenstein: Some Reflections and Re-Definitions

Various paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, the most cerebral of Pop artists, raise the issue of self portraiture. The artist initially presents himself with his palette before an easel. The source of an early pre-Pop portrait indicates his selfeffacing humor. There are also abstract self portraits inspired by the work of the Futurist painter, Severini. Most problematic of all is Lichtenstein's "Self Portrait" (1978) in which a blank mirror appears on top of a t-shirt. The depiction of an artist wearing a beret in his studio and "Man Hit by the 21st Century" are also identified as self portraits. Lichtenstein clearly liked to be portrayed. Photographs by Rudy Burckhardt, Robert Mapplethorpe as well as portraits by Chuck Close and Andy Warhol establish that he enjoyed being portrayed. Lichtenstein clearly mocked the notion of any kind of unconscious revelations provided by a frontal self portrait. I believe that if Roy Lichtenstein wanted to paint a self-portrait, he would have. His self portraiture, as I intend to demonstrate, appears in many significant ways.