In Torpedo...Los!, how is the Reception discussed?
This painting exemplifies Lichtenstein's use of the background/foreground shift and ironic colloquialisms in critical commands. Although most of Lichtenstein's war imagery depicts American war themes, this depicts "a scarred German submarine captain at a battle station". The manner of depiction with the commander's face pressed against the periscope reflects fusions of industrial art of the 1920s and 1930s.  The ironic aspect of this in 1963 is in part due to its temporal displacement referring back to World War II during the much later period of the Cold War. The styling of the balloon content, especially that of the large font characters, is complemented by or complementary to the other traditional visual content of the painting. Lichtenstein's alterations heightened the sense of urgency in the image, however, they also offset that menace by forming a detached work. A November 1963 Art Magazine review stated that this was one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery.
Cold War periscope