Lithograph, screenprint, woodcut on paper and metalised pvc on paper
Tate Modern
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
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>
Reflections on Conversation
ARTIST ROOMS 
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Collection 2015
actions: expressive
adults
Ben-Day dots
body
cartoon / comic strip
clothing and personal items
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
head / face
man
objects
people
spectacles
talking
woman
<p><span>Reflections on Conversation</span> 1990 is from a group of seven <span>Reflections</span> prints which Lichtenstein worked on at Tyler Graphics in Mount Kisco, New York during 1989 and 1990. These prints are recorded in the artist’s catalogue raisonné and described as combining ‘lithography, screenprint, and relief with collage and embossing. Swan Engraving, Bridgeport, Connecticut, processed the magnesium plates.’ (Corlett 1994, pp.221–6). Tate’s copies are part of the sixteen artist’s proofs aside from the edition of sixty-eight. The other prints in the series are: <span>Reflections on Hair</span> 1990 (Tate P12127), <span>Reflections on Brushstrokes</span> 1990 (Tate P12128), <span>Reflections on Crash</span> 1990 (Tate AL00368), <span>Reflections on Girl</span> 1990 (Tate AL00369), <span>Reflections on Minerva</span> 1990 (Tate AL00370) and <span>Reflections on The Scream</span> 1990 (Tate AL00371). In all the <span>Reflection</span> prints, the image is partly obscured by semi-abstract blocks of colour and pattern which simulate reflected light, as if the image is seen behind glass or reflected in another surface. The idea was developed by Lichtenstein in a group of paintings he started in 1988 and which he continued to work on until 1993. Speaking of the paintings series in 1995, the artist explained:</p>
paper print lithograph screenprint woodcut metalised pvc
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
22 September 2017 – 17 June 2018
2018-06-17
22 September 2017 – 17 June 2018
2018-06-17
2017-09-22
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2017-09-22
Roy Lichtenstein
Collection based display
13 July 2019 – 4 January 2020
2020-01-04
13 July 2019 – 7 September 2019
2019-09-07
2019-07-13
Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool, UK)
28 September 2019 – 4 January 2020
2020-01-04
2019-09-28
Hatton Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
2019-07-13
ARTIST ROOMS 2019: Roy Lichtenstein
Loan-out
24 April 2023
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2023-04-24
ARTIST ROOMS Roy Lichtenstein
Collection based display
Reflections on Conversation
object: 1365 × 1699 mm
frame: 1523 × 1857 × 65 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>Reflections on Conversation</i> 1990 is from a group of seven <i>Reflections</i> prints which Lichtenstein worked on at Tyler Graphics in Mount Kisco, New York during 1989 and 1990. These prints are recorded in the artist’s catalogue raisonné and described as combining ‘lithography, screenprint, and relief with collage and embossing. Swan Engraving, Bridgeport, Connecticut, processed the magnesium plates.’ (Corlett 1994, pp.221–6). Tate’s copies are part of the sixteen artist’s proofs aside from the edition of sixty-eight. The other prints in the series are: <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-reflections-on-hair-p12127"><i>Reflections on Hair</i></a> 1990 (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-reflections-on-hair-p12127" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P12127</span></a>), <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-reflections-on-brushstrokes-p12128"><i>Reflections on Brushstrokes</i></a> 1990 (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-reflections-on-brushstrokes-p12128" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P12128</span></a>), <i>Reflections on Crash</i> 1990 (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-reflections-on-crash-al00368" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00368</span></a>), <i>Reflections on Girl</i> 1990 (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-reflections-on-girl-al00369" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00369</span></a>), <i>Reflections on Minerva</i> 1990 (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-reflections-on-minerva-al00370" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00370</span></a>) and <i>Reflections on The Scream</i> 1990 (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-reflections-on-the-scream-al00371" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00371</span></a>). In all the <i>Reflection</i> prints, the image is partly obscured by semi-<a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'">abstract</a> blocks of colour and pattern which simulate reflected light, as if the image is seen behind glass or reflected in another surface. The idea was developed by Lichtenstein in a group of paintings he started in 1988 and which he continued to work on until 1993. Speaking of the paintings series in 1995, the artist explained: </p>
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</p><blockquote>It started when I tried to photograph a print by Robert Rauschenberg that was under glass. But the light from a window reflected on the surface of the glass and prevented me from taking a good picture. But it gave me the idea of photographing fairly well-known works under glass, where the reflection would hide most of the work, but you could still make out what the subject was. Well, I tried to do a few photographs in this manner; but I am not much of a photographer. Later the idea occurred to me to do the same idea in painting; and I started this series on various early works of mine … It portrays a painting under glass. It is framed and the glass is preventing you from seeing the painting. Of course the reflections are just an excuse to make an abstract work, with the cartoon image being supposedly partly hidden by the reflections. </blockquote>
<blockquote>(Roy Lichtenstein, ‘A Review of My Work Since 1961’, in Bader 2009, p.69.)</blockquote>
<p>In making the screenprints in the <i>Reflections </i>series, Lichtenstein appropriated imagery from his past works, and particularly from comic book sources, returning to subject matter he had addressed in the 1960s. Lichtenstein’s approach in these reflection works can therefore be read as a witty comment on the techniques of pop artists who themselves quoted and reused imagery found in popular culture, and perhaps an acknowledgement that his own work had entered into popularised visual culture. The idea of reflection in these works also has a precedent in earlier works by Lichtenstein in which mirrors and reflections on glass play a key part, for example, in works derived from comic strips such as <i>In the Car</i> 1963<i> </i>(Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, GMA 2133). </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>
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<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Mary Lee Corlett, <i>The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné: 1948–1993</i>, New York and Washington D.C. 1994.<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
actions: expressive adults Ben-Day dots body cartoon / comic strip clothing and personal items emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities head / face man objects people spectacles talking woman