Focus on Portrait of Madame Cézanne (Lichtenstein) and explain the abstract.
Portrait of Madame Cézanne (sometimes Portrait of Mrs. Cézanne) is a 1962 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is a quotation of Erle Loran's diagram of one of Paul Cézanne's 27 portraits of his wife Marie-Hortense Fiquet, now in the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia. It was one of the works exhibited at Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. The work became controversial in that it led to a reconsideration of what constitutes art.
Lichtenstein and Loran sparred in the press, and art critics were intrigued by the viewpoints of the two. Loran's view was that Lichtenstein had plagiarized his work, and at one point filed suit. Lichtenstein felt that he was making a statement with his painting on the ridiculous attempt by Loran to explain Cézanne by diagram. The press frequently used the word transformation when crediting Lichtenstein's work, but Lichtenstein attempted not to accept the association of his work with that word.
Paul Cézanne Marie-Hortense Fiquet Philadelphia Roy Lichtenstein pop art Erle Loran's Barnes Foundation Cézanne Erle Loran