BULL VI, 1973: Print by Roy Lichtenstein from the Bull Profile series

Roy Lichtenstein’s Bull VI, 1973, represents the final stage in the progressive simplification of the bull within the Bull Profile series. By this point the original figurative image has been pushed to the limits of abstraction. The bull is no longer clearly visible as an animal, and instead the composition is formed from a sparse arrangement of geometric shapes and graphic lines set against a white ground. In the upper left section of the print, a solid black rectangle sits beside a yellow patch filled with diagonal black lines. To the right of the composition, a large yellow square dominates the image, intersected by a bold black horizontal line and a curved semicircular form.

 

With Bull VI, Lichtenstein completes the conceptual progression that began with the more recognisable figure in Bull I. The subject has been reduced to its most minimal visual components, transforming the bull into a purely abstract composition of colour, line, and geometry. Produced using lithograph, screenprint, and linecut on Arjomari paper, the print reflects Lichtenstein’s interest in combining different printing processes to achieve crisp graphic forms. As the concluding work in the series, Bull VI demonstrates how far a figurative subject can be simplified before it dissolves entirely into an arrangement of shapes and colours.