Lichtenstein moved from his hometown of New York to Columbus, Ohio, in 1940 to attend Ohio State University (OSU). In 1943, he was drafted into the US Army during World War II, and he was sent to Europe with his infantry division in late 1944. The young artist painted and sketched throughout his military service. At one point, he even made drawings of enlarged military cartoons for his commanding officer. Following his discharge in early 1946, he returned to OSU to complete his studies. According to Lichtenstein, it was through his extended engagement with the ideas and teachings of artist and OSU professor Hoyt L.Sherman that he began to understand “how to go about learning how to look.” Sherman’s experimental Flash Lab used brief illuminations of words, objects, and projected images in a darkened room, which students were then expected to draw from memory. Lichtenstein recalled that the exercise produced “a very strong afterimage, a total impression.” For Lichtenstein, the lessons of the Flash Lab became an enduring discipline of the eye: “Organized perception is what artis all about.”
.jpg)