Brushstroke, 1965: Print by Roy Lichtenstein from the Leo Castelli Gallery

  • Brushstroke, 1965 is a print by Roy Lichtenstein depicting a central brushstroke

    Brushstroke, 1965

    Screenprint on heavy, white wove paper

    Sheet: 23 x 29 in. (58.4 x 73.6 cm), Edition of 280; plus 15 HC's and unknown number of AP

    ©The Estate of Roy Lichtentstein

     BACK TO: LEO CASTELLI GALLERY PRINTS
     

    Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke, 1965 is one of the defining images of the series, translating the gestural language of Abstract Expressionism into the controlled syntax of Pop Art. Set against a blue Ben-Day dot background, a bold yellow and black brushstroke dominates the composition, with stylised drips falling from its lower edge, each filled with flat colour. By isolating and exaggerating the expressive mark, Lichtenstein transforms the spontaneous gesture into a graphic symbol, questioning authorship, emotion and the mythology of the heroic painter.

     

    The print was produced as a screenprint on heavy white wove paper in an edition of 280, with additional hors commerce proofs and artist’s proofs. Published by the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, and printed at Chiron Press, the work measures approximately 74 cm in width. Its scale, crisp registration and saturated colour reinforce the mechanical precision that defines Lichtenstein’s printmaking practice, positioning Brushstroke as a key 1960s Pop Art edition.

  • "I don't have big anxieties. I wish I did. I'd be much more interesting." 

     
    - Roy Lichtenstein
    Ben-Day dots are a commercial printing technique developed in the nineteenth century to create shading and tonal variation through small, evenly spaced coloured dots. Originally used in newspapers and comic books to simulate gradients at low cost, the method became a defining visual element of mid-twentieth-century mass media. Roy Lichtenstein famously enlarged and hand-painted these dots in his works, transforming a mechanical reproduction device into a central aesthetic feature of Pop Art.