BULL HEAD III, 1973: Print from the Bull Head series

 

Roy Lichtenstein’s Bull Head III, 1973, marks the point at which the bull motif becomes almost entirely abstract. Only fragments of the original subject remain recognisable, most notably the horn at the upper left, which sits against a bright yellow background. A bold black line cuts through the centre of the composition, intersected by a blue and white striped rectangle that runs vertically through the image. To the right of this form sits a simple yellow circle, while the far right of the composition is filled with red, blue, and black geometric shapes arranged against a pale blue ground. Through these graphic elements, the image shifts from representation toward a composition dominated by colour, line, and form.

 

Bull Head III belongs to Lichtenstein’s Bull Profile series of 1973, in which the artist explored the progressive simplification of a familiar subject. Across the series, the bull’s features are gradually reduced to basic geometric structures, demonstrating how an image can remain legible even when its naturalistic details are stripped away. Produced using a combination of lithograph, screenprint, and linecut on Arjomari paper, the work reflects Lichtenstein’s interest in layering different printmaking techniques to achieve bold colour fields and sharp graphic contrasts.