Grrrrrrrrrrr!!

File:Our Fighting Forces Number 66 (February 1962).jpg Number 66 (February 1962).|alt=a comic frame with military men and a dog]]

The Lichtenstein foundation notes that the inspiration for this painting is a frame of Our Fighting Forces #66 (February 1962), which was published by National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics). In that frame only a portion of the dog's head is visible and the speech balloon says "Grrrrr!"{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=21895|title=Our Fighting Forces #66|access-date=May 14, 2012|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation|archive-date=February 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207061002/http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=21895l%C3%ADngua%3Dingl%C3%AAs|url-status=dead}} In addition to the painting itself, Lichtenstein produced a small {{convert|5.75|x|4.5|in|cm|abbr=on|1}} graphite on paper study.{{cite web|title=Grrrrrrrrr! (Study)|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_study_details.php?study_id=31606|website=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation|access-date=August 4, 2015|archive-date=February 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207061341/http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_study_details.php?study_id=31606l%C3%ADngua%3Dingl%C3%AAs|url-status=dead}}

The painting was bestowed to the Guggenheim Museum after Lichtenstein's 1997 death, following a promise made in 1992. The museum used Grrrrrrrrrrr!! in the promotional posters for the 1993 exhibition "Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective", which ran from October 7, 1993 – January 16, 1994.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/16/arts/inside-art.html|title=Inside Art|access-date=May 9, 2012|date=January 16, 1998|work=The New York Times|author=Vogel, Carol}}{{cite web|url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past|title=Past Exhibitions: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |access-date=May 9, 2012|publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum}} Other notable exhibitions where this work was shown include "Rendezvous: Masterpieces from the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums" which ran from October 16, 1998 – January 24, 1999 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as "Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation" which traveled to several museums in China between 2007 and 2008.{{cite book|title=Rendezvous: Masterpieces from the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums|date=1998|publisher=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation|location=New York|isbn=0810969165|page=539}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Davidson|editor1-first=Susan|title=Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation|date=2007|publisher=Merrell Publishers Limited|location=London|isbn=9781858943947|page=271}} The work appeared on the cover of the November 1993 issue of ARTnews.{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/frames.htm |title=Chronology |access-date=May 9, 2012 |publisher=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507132503/http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/frames.htm |archive-date=May 7, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news|title=Wham! Blam! Pow! Roy Lichtenstein!|work=ARTnews|volume=92|issue=9|page=cover page|date=November 1993}}

Although Grrrrrrrrrrr!! is derived from what Guggenheim Senior Curator Susan Davidson calls a "low-grade comic strip" that is a typical Lichtenstein source, it is representative of Lichtenstein's fascination with "the atomic language of Ben-Day dots, black outlines and the three primary colors as the elementary vocabulary of low-budget commercial imagery."{{cite book |title=Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation |publisher=Merrell Publishers Limited/Guggenheim Museum Publications/Terra Foundation for American Art |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-8589-4394-7 |editor=Davidson, Susan |pages=249, 271}}

According to Jennifer Blessing of the Guggenheim, "There is also an element of humor in creating fine art out of what has customarily been considered 'low,' a playfulness that is equally evident in the onomatopoeic caption and bellicose expression of the dog in Grrrrrrrrrrr!!"{{cite web|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/2494|title=Roy Lichtenstein: 1923-1997|access-date=May 10, 2012|publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|author=Blessing, Jennifer}}

In 1962, Lichtenstein created Arrrrrff!, an oil and graphite pencil on canvas painting depicting a dog from a subsequent issue of Our Fighting Forces, the series that was the source of Grrrrrrrrrrr!!{{cite web|title=Arrrrrff!|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?decade=60&year=62&work_id=728|website=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation|access-date=August 12, 2015|archive-date=February 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207073904/http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?decade=60&year=62&work_id=728|url-status=dead}} That source depicts the dog by the name of "Pooch" in profile with a text bubble reading "Sniff--Sniff--Sniff--Sniff--Arrrrrff!" above his head. The inspiration for this painting came from Our Fighting Forces #69 (July 1962).{{cite web|title=Our Fighting Forces #69 (h)|url=http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=20470|website=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation|access-date=August 12, 2015|archive-date=February 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207074521/http://image-duplicator.com/sat/sat_source_details.php?source_id=20470|url-status=dead}} Arrrrrff! was sold at Christie's in 1996 for $420,500 to an undisclosed buyer.{{cite web|title=Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923)|url=http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/roy-lichtenstein-arrrrrff-1103662-details.aspx?intObjectID=1103662|website=Christie's|access-date=August 12, 2015}}

• 1965 in art

{{clear}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/2494 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Collection website]
• [http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0376&year=1965&decade=60# Lichtenstein Foundation website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105223151/http://www.image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0376&year=1965&decade=60 |date=November 5, 2015 }}

{{Roy Lichtenstein}}

{{Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1965 paintings

Category:Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein

Category:Paintings in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Category:Dogs in art