Roy Lichtenstein: Mural With Blue Brushstroke

by Calvin Tomkins

An in-depth record of the working process behind pop artist Roy Lichtensteinâ s largest piece everâ a five-story-tall mural.

The Art of Roy Mural with Blue Brushstroke is the rare record of a master artistâ s work from conception to completion. Photographer Bob Adelman documents a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at the massive five-story-high mural Lichtenstein was commissioned to produce for the AXA Equitable Center in New York City, including exclusive interviews with the artist. Rarely has the public been offered such a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at the genesis of a major work of art. A colorful, complex, and bold performance, the mural combines references to the giants of twentieth-century art with cartoon â blastâ symbols, magazine advertisements, a piece of Swiss cheese, and other images and artifacts of contemporary life that have always fascinated the artist. Only Lichtenstein, â the supreme virtuoso of Popâ (New York Times), could have created such an extraordinary masterpiece.

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128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Calvin Tomkins has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1960. He wrote his first fiction piece for the magazine in 1958, and his first fact piece in 1962. His many Profile subjects have included Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Philip Johnson, Julia Child, Georgia O’Keeffe, Leo Castelli, Frank Stella, Carmel Snow, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Frank Gehry, Damien Hirst, Richard Serra, Matthew Barney, and Jasper Johns. He wrote the Art World column from 1980 to 1988. Before joining The New Yorker, he was a general editor of Newsweek, a post he held from 1957 through 1959. In 1955, he joined Newsweek as an associate editor. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including “The Bride and the Bachelors,” “Merchants and Masterpieces,” “Living Well Is the Best Revenge,” “Off the Wall,” “Duchamp: A Biography,” and “Lives of the Artists.” A revised edition of his Duchamp biography came out in 2014.