Mr. Bellamy

In 1961, Lichtenstein had developed the technique of emulating the mechanized production techniques, while simultaneously depicting the subjects of pop culture. This extended his pop art to a second dimension. He did so by developing a technique that took Ben-Day dots from small comic book panels and magazine pages to the grand scale of his oversized paintings.

Lichtenstein was a trained United States Army pilot, draftsman and artist as well as a World War II (WWII) veteran who never saw active combat.{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|title=Chronology|access-date=June 9, 2013|publisher=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606071341/http://lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|archive-date=June 6, 2013|df=mdy-all}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Si6QJBrxtRMC&pg=PA71|title=H.C. Westermann at War: Art and Manhood in Cold War America|year=2004|isbn=087413871X|page=71|publisher=University of Delaware Press|author=McCarthy, David}} His list of aeronautical themed works is extensive. Mr. Bellamy depicts an air force soldier, according to some sources.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISeibypYDEcC&pg=PA275|title=The Airplane in American Culture|year=2003|publisher=University of Michigan Press|page=275|isbn=0472068334|editor=Pisano, Dominick A.}} However, other sources claim that the subject is a military officer of unknown branch of service.{{cite web|url=http://themodern.org/collection/mr-bellamy/917|title=Mr. Bellamy|access-date=July 15, 2013|publisher=Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth|author=Thistlethwaite, Mark}} Created in Lichtenstein's breakthrough year, Mr. Bellamy represents an art world inside joke, which was succeeded the following year by Masterpiece, a satirical statement on his own career.Shanes, p. 38 In the work, Lichtenstein presents a wholesome male protagonist heading to an important meeting with a "Mr. Bellamy", who shared a name with one of Lichtenstein's important art world contacts, Richard "Dick" Bellamy, Green Gallery art dealer and director, who was known for presenting new work by unknown artists who had never been shown before.Shanes, p. 87{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|author=Hendrickson, Janis|publisher=Benedikt Taschen|year=1994|isbn=3-8228-9633-0|page=20}} The text balloon says "I am supposed to report to a Mr. Bellamy. I wonder what he's like."{{cite book|title=Pop Art: A Critical History|editor=Madoff, Steven Henry|publisher=University of California Press|year=1997|isbn=0-520-21018-2|page=183}}

In November 1961, Lichtenstein sent Mr. Bellamy to Leo Castelli for sale.{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective|author=Rondeau, James and Sheena Wagstaff|year=2012|publisher=Art Institute of Chicago|isbn=978-0-300-17971-2|page=346}}

The work represents Lichtenstein's "gentle, professorial humor" and his penchant for "corny themes, colors, and postures." Apart from enlarging its size, Lichtenstein presented a "mere copy, lacking artistic originality and creativity" in this work. This subject matter sourced from comic books was regarded as "the lowest commercial and intellectual kind" because of public sentiment on the heels of 1950s United States Senate investigations of connections between comics and juvenile delinquency.

• 1961 in art

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• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUbYYQNyuJIC&pg=PA87|title=Pop Art|year=2009|author=Shanes, Eric|isbn=978-1844846191|publisher=Parkstone Press}}

{{Portal|Comics|Visual arts}}

• [http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0058&year=1961&decade=60 Lichtenstein Foundation website]
• [http://themodern.org/collection/mr-bellamy/917 official museum webpage]

{{Roy Lichtenstein}}

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Category:1961 paintings

Category:20th-century portraits

Category:Military art

Category:Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein

Category:Portraits by American artists