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Drowning Girl

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Drowning Girl
ArtistRoy Lichtenstein
Year1963
TypePop art
Dimensions171.6 cm × 169.5 cm (67.625 in × 66.75 in)
LocationMuseum of Modern Art, New York City

Drowning Girl (sometimes I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink) is a 1963 painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is painted on canvas using oil paint and synthetic polymer paint. A speech balloon conveys thoughts much as a comic book would, and Ben-Day dots relate to the printing method used in producing comic books. It is considered to fall within the art movement known as Pop art. It has been part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1971.

Drowning Girl's narrative element highlight the cliched melodrama, while its graphics reiterate Lichtenstein's theme of painterly work depicting mechanized reproduction. The work was derived from a panel of a 1962 DC Comics publication, but also references Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as well as both Jean Arp and Joan Miró. It is one of several Lichtenstein works which mentions a hero named Brad who is absent from the picture.

Background

Tony Abruzzo's panel from "Run For Love!" in Secret Hearts, no. 83 (November 1962) was the source for Drowning Girl.

Drowning Girl was derived from Tony Abruzzo's panel from "Run For Love!" in Secret Hearts, no. 83 (November 1962), DC Comics.[1] According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, the painting was part of Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery from September 28 – October 24, 1963 that included Torpedo...Los!, Baseball Manager, In the Car, Conversation, and Whaam!.[2][3] The Museum of Modern Art acquired the work in 1971.[4] The Museum of Modern Art's page for this work on its website explains this work's acquisition as follows: "Philip Johnson Fund (by exchange) and gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright".[5]

Description

Although the changes are not regarded as significant,[6] Lichtenstein made several notable changes from the original source: "In the original illustration, the drowning girl's boyfriend appears in the background, clinging to a capsized boat. Lichtenstein cropped the image dramatically, showing the girl alone and encircled by a threatening wave. He changed the caption from 'I don't care if I have a cramp!' to 'I don't care!' and the boyfriend's name from Mal to Brad."[5] When discussing another work (I Know...Brad), Lichtenstein stated that the name Brad sounded heroic to him and was used with the aim of cliched oversimplification.[7]

Narrative content was in the forefront of much of Lichtenstein's work as a way to engage the viewer.[8] Measuring 171.6 cm × 169.5 cm (67.625 in × 66.75 in), Drowning Girl presents "a young woman who seems to have cried herself a river ... literally drowning in emotion." The melodrama makes it clear that she has been hurt by a "Brad", the name given to several of Lichtenstein's heroes.[9]

Lichtenstein acknowledges that the wave is adapted from Hokusai's famous print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.[10]

The subject's head appears to rest on a wave as if it were a pillow and lies in the water as if it were a bed, creating a blend of "eroticism and final resting place".[11] The painting is representative of Lichtenstein's affinity for single-frame drama that reduces the viewer's ability to identify with it and that abstracts emotion. His use of industrial and mechanical appearance further trivialize the sentiments.[12] Picasso's depictions of weeping women may have influenced Lichtenstein to produce portrayals of vulnerable teary-eyed women, such as the subjects of Hopeless (1963) and Drowning Girl (1963).[13] This is an example of Lichtenstein's post-1963 comics-based women who "look hard, crisp, brittle, and uniformly modish in appearance, as if they all came out of the same pot of makeup." [14]

In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein produced several "fantasy drama" paintings of women in love affairs with domineering men causing women to be miserable, such as Drowning Girl, Hopeless and In the Car. These works served as prelude to 1964 paintings of innocent "girls next door" in a variety of tenuous emotional states.[15] "In Hopeless and Drowning Girl, for example, the heroines appear as victims of unhappy love affairs, with one displaying helplessness...and the other defiance (she would rather drown than ask for her lover's help)."[16] This was painted at the apex of Lichtenstein's use of enlarged dots, cropping and magnification of the original source.[17]

Poul Erik Tøjner refers to this painting as an example of Lichtenstein's "post-coital perdition" works, describing it as the "star witness" of this genre of his works. He notes that the subject is reaching far-flung depths as she acts out of pride.[18] Tøjner perceived eroticism in this painting, likening the open mouth to a vaginal feature and noting the singularity of Lichtenstein using an open mouth. With that in mind, he compares the tears to ejaculate residue.[19]

The image is typical of Lichtenstein's depiction of comic subjects responding to a situation in a cliched manner.[20] The waves are intended to "recall Hokusai as well as the biomorphic forms of Arp and Miro;"[21] just as the source comics were intended to.[22] Lichtenstein has claimed a strong relation between ther original comic book source panel and Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, making this work a bridge between the two.[23] The adaptation of the wave print is said to add a decorative look and feel to the painting, without which the work might be much more alarming to the viewer.[10] Lichtenstein stated the following about this work:

In the Drowning Girl the water is not only Art Nouveau, but it can also be seen as Hokusai. I don't do it just because it is another reference. Cartooning itself sometimes resembles other periods in art – perhaps unknowingly ... They do things like the little Hokusai waves in the Drowning Girl. But the original wasn't very clear in this regard – why should it be I was it and then pushed it a little further until it was a reference that most people will gett ... it is a way of crystallizing the style by exaggeration.

— Sources, [24][25]

Reception

Lichtenstein made Drowning Girl a cornerstone of his career because of "His extraordinary sense of organization, his ability to use a sweeping curve and manipulate it into an allover pattern..."[26] The work is described as "A mix of cliché, melodrama, pathos, and absurdity..."[27] The result of this work is described as "a remarkably impassive style".[28] Drowning Girl presents an "...unmistakeable acknowledgement to the flamboyant linearism of Art Nouveau...".[29] Tøjner states that this is "Lichtenstein's finest formulation of a counter-image to the many explosions in his universe", noting that the drama is past its peak although it may seem to be at a crescendo.[18] He also notes that "the tears are drawn with classic Lichtenstein waxy fullness" despite the surrounding water, which must signal since "naturalistic justification" is absent.[18] A November 1963 Art Magazine review stated that this was one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery.[3] In a December 1964 Art Magazine review of his October 24 – September 19, 1964 Castelli Gallery show, he was referred to as the author of I Don’t Care, I’d Rather Sink (Drowning Girl).[30]

Notes

  1. ^ Waldman, pp. 118–119.
  2. ^ "Chronology". Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  3. ^ a b Judd, Donald. "Reviews 1962–64". In Bader (ed.). pp. 2–4. Whaam!, Torpedo...LOS!, Conversation, In the Car and I Don't Care, I'd Rather Sink, are all broad and powerful paintings. (Castelli, Sept. 28–Oct. 24.) {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ Lanchner, Carolyn (2009). Roy Lichtenstein. Museum of Modern Art. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-87070-770-4.
  5. ^ a b "Drowning Girl: Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923–1997)". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  6. ^ Waldman. p. 113. In both Hopeless and Drowning Girl, for example, Lichtenstein felt it unnecessary to make more than the most minimal changes to the comic-book panels on which he modeled them. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Coplans (ed.). p. 110. Well, I had the idea of 'The Hero' Brad. 'Brad' sounded like a hero to me, so all heroes were to be called Brad—a very minor idea, but it has to do with oversimplification and cliché. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ Waldman. p. 63. Lichtenstein achieved an unusual effect by utilizing text as a dominant feature of the work. Rather than using language as just an accessory to the visual motif, he forced a direct confrontation between the spectator and the message contained within the narrative. While the viewer can be passive in front of an image, it is far more difficult to remain that way when the narrative is sufficiently large enough and aggressive enough so that it encroaches upon the audience's mental space and challenges the spectator to react. Dramas as engrossing as those that were presented on radio and TV or in the movies court a response as the spectator reads:...'I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink – Than Call Brad For Help!' (fig. 106). These emotional outbursts are in marked contrast to the coolness of the technique, a contrast that Lichtenstein emphasizes. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ Hendrickson, Janis (1993). "The Pictures That Lichtenstein Made Famous, or The Pictures That Made Lichtenstein Famous". Roy Lichtenstein. Benedikt Taschen. p. 34. ISBN 3-8228-9633-0. The Drowning Girl (Ill. p. 31) (1963) shows a young woman who seems to have cried herself a river. She is literally drowning in emotion and has abandoned herself to its destructive forces. Brad, the name of the man involved with several of Lichtenstein's "heroines", must have hurt her badly.
  10. ^ a b Hendrickson, Janis (1993). "The Pictures That Lichtenstein Made Famous, or The Pictures That Made Lichtenstein Famous". Roy Lichtenstein. Benedikt Taschen. p. 34. ISBN 3-8228-9633-0. Lichtenstein conceded that this wave was adapted from the Japanese artist Hokusai's famous wave print, which may account for its decorative look. Otherwise, the entire situation is disconcertingly sudden and extreme.
  11. ^ Hendrickson, Janis (1993). "The Pictures That Lichtenstein Made Famous, or The Pictures That Made Lichtenstein Famous". Roy Lichtenstein. Benedikt Taschen. p. 34. ISBN 3-8228-9633-0. She is lying in the watere as if it were a bed, a mixture of eroticism and final resting place.
  12. ^ Hendrickson, Janis (1993). "The Pictures That Lichtenstein Made Famous, or The Pictures That Made Lichtenstein Famous". Roy Lichtenstein. Benedikt Taschen. p. 34. ISBN 3-8228-9633-0. Lichtenstein enjoyed presenting the single-frame climax of a situation, since it reduced the viewer's ability to identify with the crisis and abstracted its emotive force.
  13. ^ Schneider, Eckhard, ed. (2005). Roy Lichtenstein: Classic of the New. Kunsthaus Bregenz. p. 142. ISBN 3-88375-965-1. Being reminded of Picasso's portrayals of weeping women may have catalyzed and heightened his own response toward a thematic impulse that had lain dormant. There is no doubt that comic-strip panels of overwrought women – the tear-drenched Hopeless (1963) and Drowning Girl (1963), for example, are indisputably based on panels in DC comics – have their compositional basis in illustrations in romance comics, and they remain humorous on account of their corny and childish dialogue. But seeing Picasso's work so directly in front of him could have been a strong reminder of how powerful such a troubling subject was.
  14. ^ Coplans (ed.). p. 23. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ^ Waldman. p. 113. In other paintings by Lichtenstein, women are engaged in a series of fantasy dramas. Hopeless (fig. 104), Drowning Girl (fig. 106), and In the Car (fig. 103), all from 1963, and We Rose Up Slowly (fig. 108), 1964, revolve around love affairs in which the men are clearly in control and the women are usually depicted as miserable. These paintings set the state for a series of "girls" in various states of apparent anxiety, nervouseness, or fear, most of whom are portrayed as "the girl next door" or the innocent seductress, as in Blonde Waiting (fig. 112), Oh, Jeff ... I Love You, Too ... But ... (fig. 111), Good Morning Darling, and Seductive Girl, all from 1964. The women protagonists in these dramas enact scenes filled with fabricated emotions. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Waldman. p. 113. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ Rondeau and Wagstaff. p. 32. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ^ a b c Tøjner. "I Know How You Must Feel...". In Holm; et al. (eds.). Roy Lichtenstein: All About Art. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. p. 21. In contrast to this theme of anticipation, we find what I call the 'post-coital perdition' pictures. The star witness here is of course Drowning Girl from 1963, whose drama may seem to be at its climax, but its nevertheless past its peak...The picture is Lichtenstein's finest formulation of a counter-image to the many explosions in his universe – for this maelstrom, implosion par excellence. The girl is sinking into the depths, completely resigned, although her resignation is rooted in pride: rather die than give in to Brad. Although she is lying in water up to her neck, almost under one of the Hokusai-like waves, the tears are drawn with classic Lichtenstein waxy fullness – popcorn tears – and you can assume they are important as a signal, for they can surely have no naturalistic justification in the scene of all-enveloping water. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor= (help)
  19. ^ Tøjner. "I Know How You Must Feel...". In Holm; et al. (eds.). p. 21. Most of all, these tears – like so many other women's tears in Lichtenstein's work – are like the residue of the pornographic cum-shot, thus confirming the post-coital melancholy. Drowning Girl is as far as I know the only picture of a girl whose mouth is open beyond an unmarked white wall of teeth – one could see this vaginal detail as important to the pornographic aura of science. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. ^ Coplans (ed.). p. 15. Lichtenstein's lovers and heroes are full of pathos and at the same time, ironically, fully exposed in their shallowness. They reveal themselves to be programmed: Each responds to a give situation with standard modes of behavior typical of the American culture, whether it is the girl who has quarreled with her lover or is about to tearfully drown (Drowning Girl, 1963)... {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ^ Coplans (ed.). p. 26. ...the form of the waves in Drowning Girl are reconstructed to recall Hokusai as well as the biomorphic forms of Arp and Miró... {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. ^ Coplans (ed.). p. 91. I often transfer cartoon style into art style. For example, the Art Nouveau, flames at the nozzle of the machine gun. It is stylistic way of presenting the lights and darks. In the Drowning Girl the water is not only Art Nouveau, but it can also be seen as Hokusai. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ^ Rondeau and Wagstaff. p. 48. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ Madoff, Steven Henry, ed. (1997). "Focus: The Major Artists". Pop Art: A Critical History. University of California Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-520-21018-2.
  25. ^ Waldman. p. 75. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ^ Waldman. p. 75. His extraordinary sense of organization, his ability to use a sweeping curve and manipulate it into an allover pattern, encompassing waves, hair, and even the text balloon, transformed the initial subject into a major image. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. ^ Morgan, Ann Lee (2007). The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists. Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-19-512878-9. A mix of cliché, melodrama, pathos, and absurdity, Drowning Girl (Museum of Modern Art, 1963) presents a close-up of the composed but tearful face, chic dark-blue hair, and elegantly gesturing hand of a young woman foundering in stylishly drawn waves. Her thoughts appear in a balloon: "I don't care! I'd rather sink – than call Brad for help."
  28. ^ Fineberg, Jonathan (1995). Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being. Harry N. Abrams. p. 263. ISBN 0-8109-1951-6.
  29. ^ Pierre, José (1977). An Illustrated History of Pop Art. Eyre Methuen. p. 94. ISBN 0-413-38370-9. ...the three outstanding successes: I Know…Brad, Hopeless and Drowning Girl, in which we recognize an unmistakeable acknowledgement to the flamboyant linearism of Art Nouveau.
  30. ^ Judd, Donald. "Reviews 1962–64". In Bader (ed.). p. 4. A rich, memorable, and hugely satisfying new show by the author of I Don't Care, I'd Rather Sink (Castelli, Oct. 24–Sept. 19.) {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

References

External links

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