Roy Lichtenstein
Girl in Window (Study for World's Fair Mural)
1963
Not on view
Date
1963
Classification
Paintings
Medium
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 68 1/8 × 56in. (173 × 142.2 cm)
Accession number
2002.254
Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President
Rights and reproductions
© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein,all rights reserved
Roy Lichtenstein drew his subject matter from a broad range of sources, including comic books, newspaper ads, and historical works of art. Lichtenstein did not borrow these preexisting images outright, but translated them into his own idiom, “using those symbols to make something else,” as he put it. In 1963, architect Philip Johnson commissioned Lichtenstein to paint a panel for the New York State Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York. Girl in Window is a study for the 20-foot mural, which was installed on the outside of Johnson’s circular Theaterama building. Executed in flat areas of color and Ben Day dots—a technique that mimics commercial printing and that marked his signature Pop style—Lichtenstein depicted the smiling girl as if she was emerging through an open window from inside the building.