''Jet Pilot'' is a 1962 pop art work done in

graphite pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of ...

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...

. Like many of Lichtenstein's works from this time period, it was inspired by a comic book image, but he made notable modifications of the source in his work.

Background

In the mid-1970s the work was owned by Richard Brown Baker, who had acquired the work in May 1963. As of 2013 it is owned by the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

, which also hosts the related work '' Blam''. Lichtenstein was a trained

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

pilot, draftsman and artist as well as a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(WWII) veteran who never saw active combat. His list of aeronautical themed works is extensive. Within that genre, Lichtenstein has produced several works featuring pilots situated in cockpits during air combat such as ''Jet Pilot'' (1962), ''

Brattata ''Brattata'' is a 1962 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein in his comic book style of using Ben-Day dots and a text balloon. The work is held in the collection at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. It is one of several Lichtenstein works f ...

'' (1962), '' Bratatat!'' (1963), and ''

Okay Hot-Shot, Okay! ''Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!'' (sometimes ''Okay Hot-Shot'') is a 1963 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein that uses his Ben-Day dots style and a text balloon. It is one of several examples of military art that Lichtenstein created between 1962 and ...

'' (1963). ''Jet Pilot'' is one of several drawings that Lichtenstein has done in a frottage technique, in a time before he routinely used the

Ben-Day dots The Ben Day process is a printing and photoengraving technique for producing areas of gray or (with four-color printing) various colors by using fine patterns of ink on the paper. It was developed in 1879 by illustrator and printer Benjamin Henr ...

for which he is better known. This work has been on a worldwide tour of Lichtenstein's 1961–68 black-and-white sketches, accompanied by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

artwork. The source of ''Jet Pilot'' was ''All American Men of War'' #89 (January–February 1962,

). ''Jet Pilot'' is one of several comics-based works, including ''

'' and ''Von Karp'', inspired by the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

fighter pilot Johnny Cloud of

' '' The Losers''. The same ''All American Men of War'' issue was the inspiration for several other Lichtenstein paintings, ''Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!'', ''

'', '' Blam'', ''

Whaam! ''Whaam!'' is a 1963 diptych painting by the American artist Roy Lichtenstein. It is one of the best-known works of pop art, and among Lichtenstein's most important paintings. ''Whaam!'' was first exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New Y ...

'' and ''Tex!''

Critical appraisal

Lichtenstein usually simplified from his source material, but in ''Jet Pilot'' the

gun sight A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

is more detailed than in the source. In Lichtenstein's image the line of enemy bullets follows a different path, thereby reducing the suspense caused in the source as the bullets ruptured the pilot's air hose. The work also is related to Lichtenstein's theme of "machine and embodied vision" as exhibited in works such as ''

Crak! ''Crak!'' (sometimes ''Crack!'') is a 1963 pop art lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein in his comic book style of using Ben-Day dots and a text balloon. It was used in marketing materials for one of Lichtenstein's early shows. It is one of severa ...

'', ''Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!'', and ''Bratatat!''.

References

External links

Lichtenstein Foundation website
{{Roy Lichtenstein 1962 works 1962 paintings 20th-century portraits Military art Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein Portraits by American artists Aviation art

Background

Critical appraisal

See also

References

External links