Happy Birthday, Roy Lichtenstein! (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: Happy Birthday, Roy Lichtenstein!

88 years ago today, a teeny-tiny Roy Lichtenstein was born, a man who would change the course of American art forever. As one of the forefathers of Pop Art, it was Lichtenstein who helped popularize the idea that fine art and massed-produced commodities were not mutually exclusive. This week as we watch Occupy Wall Street's art sub-committees fight the corporatization of the art world we can see just how totalizing Lichtenstein's impact was. As he once said, "The idea of painting being the tool of monopoly capitalism is what Pop art is about."

Through his depictions of homemaking and consumerism, Lichtenstein turned the traditional bohemian artist trope on its head. Together with Pop Artists like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, Lichtenstein helped create an American aesthetic which was fast-paced, approachable and anti-elitist. Suddenly his cartoonscapes, dripping with drama and wit, were hanging in museums and selling for millions; distinctions between high and low art no longer existed.

Have you wished the Birthday Roy a hearty congratulations? Leave your best memories of Pop Art's papa below.

Roy Lichtenstein

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