Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/roy-lichtenstein-1508" aria-label="More by Roy Lichtenstein" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Roy Lichtenstein</a>
Composition III
ARTIST ROOMS 
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Collection 2015
abstraction
Ben-Day dots
cartoon / comic strip
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
from recognisable sources
inscriptions
leisure and pastimes
man-made
music
music and entertainment
musical note
objects
reading, writing, printed matter
sheet music
symbols and personifications
<p><span>Composition III</span> 1996 is one of three screenprints published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles and recorded in the second volume of the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s prints (Corlett and Fine 2002), the other two being <span>Composition I</span> 1996<span> </span>(Tate AL00378) and<span> Composition II</span> 1996 (Tate AL00379). In these prints Lichtenstein presented arrangements of curving and looping musical staves; no longer fixed on their usual horizontal, linear orientation, the musical notation is set free. Two of the prints – <span>Composition I </span>and <span>Composition III </span>– are vertical in format, while <span>Composition II </span>has a landscape format. The notes and curving staves are set against area of primary colours and the artist’s signature diagonal lines and dots. Music was one of Lichtenstein’s great loves – he played the flute and saxophone and was particularly interested in jazz. These images therefore respond to the freedom and improvisatory nature of this form of music, as well as pointing to the artist’s own exploration of visual composition. This copy of <span>Composition III </span>is number four of thirty-six artist’s proofs aside from the edition of one hundred and eighty-six.</p>
paper print screenprint
14 March 2015 – 10 January 2016
2016-01-10
14 March 2015 – 10 January 2016
2016-01-10
2015-03-14
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2015-03-14
ARTIST ROOMS Roy Lichtenstein
Collection based display
22 October 2016 – 26 February 2017
2017-02-26
22 October 2016 – 26 February 2017
2017-02-26
2016-10-22
Wolverhampton Art Gallery (Wolverhampton, UK)
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk
2016-10-22
ARTIST ROOMS 2016: Roy Lichtenstein
Loan-out
Composition III
object: 1294 × 902 mm
frame: 1456 × 1068 × 46 mm

<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a> 
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Collection 2015
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<p>
<i>Composition III</i> 1996 is one of three screenprints published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles and recorded in the second volume of the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s prints (Corlett and Fine 2002), the other two being <i>Composition I</i> 1996<i> </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-composition-i-al00378" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00378</span></a>) and<i> Composition II</i> 1996 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-composition-ii-al00379" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00379</span></a>). In these prints Lichtenstein presented arrangements of curving and looping musical staves; no longer fixed on their usual horizontal, linear orientation, the musical notation is set free. Two of the prints – <i>Composition I </i>and <i>Composition III </i>– are vertical in format, while <i>Composition II </i>has a landscape format. The notes and curving staves are set against area of primary colours and the artist’s signature diagonal lines and dots. Music was one of Lichtenstein’s great loves – he played the flute and saxophone and was particularly interested in jazz. These images therefore respond to the freedom and improvisatory nature of this form of music, as well as pointing to the artist’s own exploration of visual composition. This copy of <i>Composition III </i>is number four of thirty-six artist’s proofs aside from the edition of one hundred and eighty-six.</p>
<p>Lichtenstein was born in New York, and was a central player in American pop art. He came to prominence in the 1960s, making works based on imagery from comic strips, such as <i>In the Car</i> and <i>Whaam! </i>1963 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T00897</span></a>). In these works he used the Benday dot, common to newspaper and magazine reproduction, to produce works that appeared mechanically reproduced, and which in fact are even more stylised than the cartoons Lichtenstein appropriated. Printmaking was an integral part of his practice throughout his career from the late 1950s through to the 1990s.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Mary Lee Corlett and Ruth E. Fine,<i> The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné: 1948–1997</i>, New York and Washington D.C., revised and updated second edition 2002.<br/>Graham Bader (ed.), <i>OCTOBER Files 7: Roy Lichtenstein</i>, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London 2009.<br/>James Rondeau and Sheena Wagstaff, <i>Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, London and Art Institute of Chicago<i> </i>2012.</p>
<p>Lucy Askew<br/>Senior Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh<br/>August 2014</p>
<p>Amended by Stephen Huyton<br/>Assistant Collection Registrar, ARTIST ROOMS<br/>September 2017</p>
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Summary
2018-02-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
abstraction Ben-Day dots cartoon / comic strip emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities from recognisable sources inscriptions leisure and pastimes man-made music musical note music and entertainment objects reading, writing, printed matter sheet music symbols and personifications