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{{Short description|Painting by Roy Lichtenstein}}
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{{Infobox Painting| image_file=Roy Lichtenstein Whaam.jpg
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{{Infobox artwork| image_file=Roy Lichtenstein Whaam.jpg
| backcolor=#FBF5DF | backcolor=#FBF5DF
| image_size=400px
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| title=Whaam! | title=Whaam!
| artist=] | artist=]
| year=1963 | year=1963
| type=] | movement= ]
| material= ] ] and ] on ]
| height=170
| height_metric=172.7
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'''''Whaam!''''' is a 1963 ] painting by American artist ]. A prominent example of ], it is widely regarded as one of Lichtenstein's most important and influential works. It was exhibited at the ] Gallery in New York City in 1963, and purchased by the London ] in 1966. It has been exhibited at ] since 2006. '''''Whaam!''''' is a 1963 ] painting by the American artist ]. It is one of the best-known works of ], and among Lichtenstein's most important paintings.<ref></ref> ''Whaam!'' was first exhibited at the ] in New York City in 1963, and purchased by the ], London, in 1966. It has been on permanent display at ] since 2006.


The left-hand panel shows a fighter plane firing a rocket that, in the right-hand panel, hits a second plane which explodes in flames. Lichtenstein adapted the image from several ] panels, with the primary source being a panel illustrated by ] from a 1962 ]. Lichtenstein transformed the source by presenting it as a diptych while altering the relationship of the graphical and narrative elements. ''Whaam!'' is regarded for the temporal, spatial and psychological integration of its two panels. The painting's title is integral to the action and impact of the painting, and displayed in large ] in the right panel.
Lichtenstein studied as an artist before and after serving in the ] in ]. He practiced anti-aircraft drills in basic training, then was sent to pilot training but the program was canceled. He went on to create a broad array of ], and depicted aerial combat in several works. ''Whaam!'' is part of a series on war that he worked on between 1962 and 1964, and with '']'' (1964) is one of Lichtenstein's two large war-themed paintings.


Lichtenstein studied as an artist before and after serving in the ] during ]. He practiced anti-aircraft drills during basic training, and he was sent for pilot training but the program was canceled before it started. Among the topics he tackled after the war were romance and ]. He depicted aerial combat in several works. ''Whaam!'' is part of a series on war that he worked on between 1962 and 1964, and along with '']'' (1964) is one of his two large war-themed paintings.
''Whaam!'' portrays an explosion of flames as a ] successfully shoots down another plane with an ]. Lichtenstien based the image on elements of panels of several ] stories. He transformed his primary prototype—a single panel from a ] published in 1962—by dividing the composition into two panels and altering the relationship of the graphical and narrative elements. The work is admired for the temporal, spatial and psychological unity of its two panels, which Lichtenstein conceived as a contrasting pair. The painting's title is displayed in the large ] in the right panel.

Lichtenstein has drawn criticism for not giving credit or compensation to the artists from whose works the painting's composition was derived. Despite controversy surrounding its artistic merit, originality and ethical propriety, Lichtenstein's comics-based work has since become popular with collectors and is now widely accepted as ].


==Background== ==Background==
Lichtenstein left ], where he had been studying painting and drawing, to serve in the United States Army between February 1943 and January 1946—during and after ] (WWII). After entering training programs for languages, engineering, and pilot training, all of which were canceled, he served as an orderly, draftsman, and artist in noncombat roles.<ref name=Chron/><ref name="HWaW">{{cite book| author = McCarthy, David| coauthors = Horace Clifford Westermann| title = H.C. Westermann at War: Art and Manhood in Cold War America| url = http://books.google.com/?id=Si6QJBrxtRMC&pg=PA71| year = 2004| publisher = University of Delaware Press| isbn = 0-87413-871-X| page = 71 }}</ref> Among his duties as an orderly at ] was enlarging ]'s '']'' cartoons.<ref name=Chron/> He was sent to Europe with an engineer battalion, but did not see active combat. In 1943 Lichtenstein left his study of painting and drawing at ]<!--Wikipedians do not use "The" as part of Ohio State's name; it is considered a marketing gimmick, and routinely deleted.--> to serve in the U.S. Army, where he remained until January 1946. After entering training programs for languages, engineering, and piloting, all of which were canceled, he served as an orderly, draftsman and artist in noncombat roles.<ref name=Chron/><ref name="HWaW">{{cite book|author1=McCarthy, David |author2=Horace Clifford Westermann |name-list-style=amp | title = H.C. Westermann at War: Art and Manhood in Cold War America| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Si6QJBrxtRMC&pg=PA71| year = 2004| publisher = University of Delaware Press| isbn = 978-0-87413-871-9| page = 71 }}</ref> One of his duties at ] was enlarging ]'s '']'' cartoons.<ref name=Chron/> He was sent to Europe with an engineer battalion, but did not see active combat.<ref name=Chron/> As a painter, he eventually settled on an ] style with parodist elements.<ref name="Busche">{{cite encyclopedia |publisher=Oxford University Press]|encyclopedia=] |author=Busche, Ernst A.|title=Roy Lichtenstein |date=16 October 2013 |orig-date=2003 |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T050915}}</ref> Around 1958 he began to incorporate hidden images of cartoon characters such as ] and ] into his abstract works.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lobel| first = Michael| title = Image Duplicator: Roy Lichtenstein and the Emergence of Pop Art| year = 2002| publisher = Yale University Press| isbn = 978-0-300-08762-8| pages = 32–33 }}</ref>


A new generation of artists emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s with a more objective, "cool" approach characterized by the ]s known today as ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm|title=Minimalism|access-date=2013-08-17|date=<!--unknown but likely after 2009 when this foundation was created and before this accessdate of 2013-08-17-->|author=Wolf, Justin|publisher=The Art Story Foundation|archive-date=27 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427161956/https://www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theartstory.org/movement-hard-edge-painting.htm|title=Hard-Edge Painting|access-date=2013-08-17|date=<!--unknown but likely after 2009 when this foundation was created and before this accessdate of 2013-08-17-->|author=Wolf, Justin|publisher=The Art Story Foundation|archive-date=3 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045734/http://www.theartstory.org/movement-hard-edge-painting.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ] painting,<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhMS8Ii73ZkC&q=Systemic+Painting%2C&pg=PA37|author=Alloway, Lawrence|editor=Battcock, Gregory|title=Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology|chapter=Systemic Painting|isbn=978-0-520-20147-7|year=1995|publisher=University of California Press|pages=37–39|access-date=29 October 2020|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154051/https://books.google.com/books?id=lhMS8Ii73ZkC&q=Systemic+Painting%2C&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> the ] movement,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Chilvers, Ian |author2=John Glaves-Smith |name-list-style=amp |title=A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-19-923965-8|year=2009|page=503}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10457|title=Art Terms: Fluxus|publisher=], all of which re-defined the ] contemporary art of the time. Pop art and neo-Dada re-introduced and changed the use of imagery by ] subject matter from commercial art, consumer goods, art history and mainstream culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm|title=Pop art|access-date=2013-08-17|date=<!--unknown but likely after 2009 when this foundation was created and before this accessdate of 2013-08-17-->|author=Wolf, Justin|publisher=The Art Story Foundation|archive-date=6 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706034045/http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art/appropriation|title=Appropriation/Pop Art|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|access-date=2013-09-06|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411112534/https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art/appropriation/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lichtenstein achieved international recognition during the 1960s as one of the initiators of the pop art movement in America.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stavitsky, Gail |author2=Roy Lichtenstein |author3=Twig Johnson | title = Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian encounters| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=faq887v4vSgC&pg=PA7| year = 2005| publisher = Montclair Art Museum| isbn = 978-0-8135-3738-2| page = 7| access-date = 15 July 2016| archive-date = 14 December 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161214211439/https://books.google.com/books?id=faq887v4vSgC&pg=PA7| url-status = live}}</ref> Regarding his use of imagery ] curator ] observed that Lichtenstein was interested in "challenging the notion of originality as it prevailed at that time."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Drawings of Roy Lichtenstein|author=Rose, Bernice|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|isbn= 978-0-87070-416-1|year=1987|page=17}}</ref>
According to Mark Thistlethwaite of the ], by the late 1950s, comic books were regarded in the US as material of "the lowest commercial and intellectual kind". Public antipathy led to ] investigations in the early 1950s that studied connections between comics and ].<ref name="MB">{{cite web|url=http://themodern.org/collection/mr-bellamy/917|title=Mr. Bellamy|accessdate=2013-07-15|publisher=]|author=Thistlethwaite, Mark}}</ref> However, during the late 1950s and early 1960s, some American painters began to adapt the imagery and motifs of comic strips on canvas. Lichtenstein made drawings in 1958 of comic strip characters, and ] produced his earliest comics-based paintings in 1960. Lichtenstein, unaware of Warhol's work, produced '']'' and ''Popeye'' in 1961.<ref name="L72">{{cite book| last = Livingstone| first = Marco| title = Pop Art: A Continuing History| year = 2000| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-500-28240-4| pages = 72–73 }}</ref> He moved away from his earlier ] works in 1961 to works based on cartoons, and within a few years these works took up more serious themes, such as romance and depictions of the armed forces in wartime.<ref name="RLMoMA">{{cite book| author = Lanchner, Carolyn| title = Roy Lichtenstein| url = http://books.google.com/?id=LG8xJ-LRHJkC&pg=PA11| year = 2009| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-87070-770-1| pages = 11–14 }}</ref> Lichtenstein said that at the time, "I was very excited about, and very interested in, the highly emotional content yet detached impersonal handling of love, hate, war, etc., in these cartoon images."<ref name="RLMoMA">{{cite book| author = Lanchner, Carolyn| title = Roy Lichtenstein| url = http://books.google.com/?id=LG8xJ-LRHJkC&pg=PA11| year = 2009| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-87070-770-1| pages = 11–14 }}</ref>


]
Lichtenstein made many works with an aeronautical theme.<ref>{{cite book| last = Pisano| first = Dominick| title = The Airplane in American Culture| url = http://books.google.com/?id=ISeibypYDEcC&pg=PA275| year = 2003| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-472-06833-4| page = 275| editor = Pisano, Dominick A. }}</ref> When discussing these works he stated that "the heroes depicted in comic books are fascist types, but I don't take them seriously in these paintings—maybe there is a point in not taking them seriously, a political point. I use them for purely formal reasons."<ref>{{cite book| last = Naremore| first = James| title = Modernity and Mass Culture| url = http://books.google.com/?id=CeEfBGnsbkwC&pg=PA208| year = 1991| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-253-20627-8| page = 208| editor = Naremore, James and Patrick M. Brantlinger }}</ref> It has been suggested that the painting belongs to the same anti-war genre as ]'s '']'', but this suggestion is dismissed by Bradford R. Collins: he considers it to be a revenge fantasy and vehicle for Lichtenstein's anger towards his first wife Isabel while they were in the middle of a bitter divorce battle (they separated in 1961, and divorced in 1965).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3109436|title=Modern Romance: Lichtenstein's Comic Book Paintings|author=Collins, Bradford R.|work=]|volume=17|issue=2|date=Summer 2003|pages=60–85|accessdate=2013-07-19}}</ref>
Lichtenstein's early comics-based works such as '']'' focused on popular animated characters. By 1963 he had progressed to more serious, dramatic subject matter, typically focusing on romantic situations or war scenes.<ref name="RLMoMA">{{cite book| author = Lanchner, Carolyn| title = Roy Lichtenstein| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LG8xJ-LRHJkC&pg=PA11| year = 2009| publisher = Museum of Modern Art| isbn = 978-0-87070-770-4| pages = 11–14| access-date = 29 October 2020| archive-date = 26 November 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131126213309/http://books.google.com/books?id=LG8xJ-LRHJkC&pg=PA11| url-status = live}}</ref> Comic books as a genre were held in low esteem at the time. Public antipathy led in 1954 to examination of alleged connections between comic books and ] during ];<ref name="MB">{{cite web|url=http://themodern.org/collection/mr-bellamy/917|title=Mr. Bellamy|access-date=2013-07-15|publisher=Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth|author=Thistlethwaite, Mark|archive-date=17 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517220300/http://www.themodern.org/collection/Mr-Bellamy/917|url-status=live}}</ref> by the end of that decade, comic books were regarded as material of "the lowest commercial and intellectual kind", according to Mark Thistlethwaite of the ].<ref name="MB"/> Lichtenstein was not a comic-book enthusiast as a youth,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-pop-art-tate|title=Roy Lichtenstein outgrew term pop art, says widow prior to Tate show|access-date=2013-06-15|date=18 February 2013|work=]|author=Brown, Mark|archive-date=23 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423010229/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-pop-art-tate|url-status=live}}</ref> but was enticed as an artist by the challenge of creating art based on a subject remote from the typical "artistic image".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/whaam-artist-roy-lichtenstein-was-not-a-fan-of-comics-and-cartoons-8500222.html|title=Whaam! artist Roy Lichtenstein was 'not a fan of comics and cartoons'|access-date=2013-06-15|date=18 February 2013|work=]|author=Clark, Nick|archive-date=2 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702221858/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/whaam-artist-roy-lichtenstein-was-not-a-fan-of-comics-and-cartoons-8500222.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Lichtenstein admitted he was "very excited about, and very interested in, the highly emotional content yet detached impersonal handling of love, hate, war, etc., in these cartoon images."<ref name="RLMoMA" />


Lichtenstein's romance and war comic-based works took comic book heroic subjects from a small panel on the page and depicted them on a monumental scale.<ref>{{cite book| author = Schneckenburger, Honnef and Fricke Ruhrberg| title = Art of the 20th Century| url = http://books.google.com/?id=069rL6vA1BAC&pg=PA321| year = 2000| publisher = ]| isbn = 3-8228-5907-9| page = 321| editor = Ingo, Walter F. }}</ref> The large dimensions of ''Whaam!'' are consistent with the generally large canvases in use at that time by the ].<ref name="smart">{{cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9888768/Lichtenstein-at-Tate-Modern-review.html|title=Lichtenstein, at Tate Modern, review|accessdate=2013-06-15|date=2013-02-23|work=]|author=Smart, Alastair}}</ref> His collection of comic-inspired works from this period has been described by the Tate Gallery as "a fascinating, thought provoking and often witty compendium of images".<ref name=tatecomp/> Lichtenstein's romance and war comic-based works took heroic subjects from small source panels and monumentalized them.<ref>{{cite book| author1 = Schneckenburger, Honnef| author2 = Fricke Ruhrberg| name-list-style = amp| title = Art of the 20th Century| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=069rL6vA1BAC&pg=PA321| year = 2000| publisher = Taschen| isbn = 978-3-8228-5907-0| page = 321| editor = Ingo, Walter F.| access-date = 29 October 2020| archive-date = 19 October 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154040/https://books.google.com/books?id=069rL6vA1BAC&pg=PA321| url-status = live}}</ref> ''Whaam!'' is comparable in size to the generally large canvases painted at that time by the abstract expressionists.<ref name="smart">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9888768/Lichtenstein-at-Tate-Modern-review.html|title=Lichtenstein, at Tate Modern, review|access-date=2013-06-15|date=23 February 2013|work=]|author=Smart, Alastair|archive-date=28 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170528012951/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9888768/Lichtenstein-at-Tate-Modern-review.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is one of Lichtenstein's many works with an aeronautical theme.<ref>{{cite book| last = Pisano| first = Dominick| title = The Airplane in American Culture| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ISeibypYDEcC&pg=PA275| year = 2003| publisher = University of Michigan Press| isbn = 978-0-472-06833-3| page = 275| editor = Pisano, Dominick A. }}</ref> He said that "the heroes depicted in comic books are fascist types, but I don't take them seriously in these paintings—maybe there is a point in not taking them seriously, a political point. I use them for purely formal reasons."<ref>{{cite book| last = Naremore| first = James| title = Modernity and Mass Culture| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CeEfBGnsbkwC&pg=PA208| year = 1991| publisher = Indiana University Press| isbn = 978-0-253-20627-5| page = 208| editor = Naremore, James and Patrick M. Brantlinger| access-date = 29 October 2020| archive-date = 19 October 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154041/https://books.google.com/books?id=CeEfBGnsbkwC&pg=PA208| url-status = live}}</ref>

Lichtenstein had not been a comic book collector as a youth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-pop-art-tate|title=Roy Lichtenstein outgrew term pop art, says widow prior to Tate show: New insights come as most comprehensive show of artist's work ever attempted brings together 125 paintings and sculptures|accessdate=2013-06-15|date=2013-02-18|work=]|author=Brown, Mark}}</ref> His second wife, Dorothy, has claimed that Lichtenstein "was not a fan of comics and cartoons," but rather was enticed by the challenge of creating art based on a subject that was remote from the typical "artistic image".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/whaam-artist-roy-lichtenstein-was-not-a-fan-of-comics-and-cartoons-8500222.html|title=Whaam! artist Roy Lichtenstein was 'not a fan of comics and cartoons'|accessdate=2013-06-15|date=2013-02-18|work=]|author=Clark, Nick}}</ref>


==History== ==History==
''Whaam!'' adapts a panel by ] from the "Star Jockey" story from issue No. 89 of ]' '']'' (Feb. 1962).<ref name="Tate_Whaam">{{cite web
] #89, January–February 1962 (DC Comics)]]
''Whaam!'' adapts a ] panel drawn by ] from the "Star Jockey" story of the January–February 1962 ]' '']'' issue #89.<ref name="Tate_Whaam">{{cite web
|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=8782 |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=8782
|work=Tate Collection |work=Tate Collection
Line 41: Line 40:
|first=Roy |first=Roy
|last=Lichtenstein |last=Lichtenstein
|access-date=2013-06-26
|accessdate=2013-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0137&year=1963&decade=60|title=1960s: Whaam!|accessdate=2012-05-23|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref><ref name="RLDW104b">{{cite book|author=Waldman|page=104|chapter=War Comics, 1962–64|quote=}}</ref> The original comic panel is part of a dream sequence in which fictional World War II ] pilot, Johnny Flying Cloud, "the Navajo ace", foresees himself flying a ] in the future, shooting down other jet planes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/comics-and-art-james-talks-to-rian-hughes-about-image-duplicator/|title=Comics and art – James talks to Rian Hughes about Image Duplicator|author=Bacon, James|accessdate=2013-07-19|date=2013-05-13|work=Forbidden Planet}}</ref><ref name=yale>{{cite web | url = http://yalepress.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/character-sketch-the-comic-that-inspired-roy-lichtenstein/ | title = Character Sketch: The Comic That Inspired Roy Lichtenstein | accessdate = 2013-06-23 | publisher = ]}}</ref> In Lichtenstein's painting, both the attacking plane and the target plane have been replaced by different aircraft. ] suggests that Lichtenstein substituted the attacking plane from the subsequent issue #90 (March–April 1962), from the story "Wingmate of Doom" illustrated by ], and that he may have substituted the target plane with a ] drawing from the "Aces Wild" story in the same issue.<ref name=TPoL/> The painting also omits the speech bubble in which the pilot exclaims "The enemy has become a flaming star!".
|archive-date=10 September 2008
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910163154/http://tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=8782
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0137&year=1963&decade=60|title=1960s: Whaam!|access-date=2012-05-23|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation|archive-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224163736/http://www.image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0137&year=1963&decade=60|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} The original forms part of a dream sequence in which fictional World War II ] pilot Johnny Flying Cloud, "the ] ace", foresees himself flying a ] while shooting down other jet planes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/comics-and-art-james-talks-to-rian-hughes-about-image-duplicator/|title=Comics and art – James talks to Rian Hughes about Image Duplicator|author=Bacon, James|access-date=2013-07-19|date=13 May 2013|work=Forbidden Planet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704154647/https://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/comics-and-art-james-talks-to-rian-hughes-about-image-duplicator/|archive-date=4 July 2013}}</ref><ref name=yale>{{cite web | url = http://yalepress.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/character-sketch-the-comic-that-inspired-roy-lichtenstein/ | title = Character Sketch: The Comic That Inspired Roy Lichtenstein | access-date = 2013-06-23 | publisher = Yale University Press | archive-date = 24 June 2013 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130624230147/http://yalepress.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/character-sketch-the-comic-that-inspired-roy-lichtenstein/ | url-status = live }}</ref> In Lichtenstein's painting, both the attacking and target planes are replaced by different types of aircraft. ] suggests that Lichtenstein substituted the attacking plane with an aircraft from "Wingmate of Doom" illustrated by ] in the subsequent issue (#90, April 1962),<ref name="TPoL"/> and that the target plane was borrowed from a ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://comicsalliance.com/russ-heaths-comic-about-being-ripped-off-by-roy-lichtenstein-will-give-you-a-new-appreciation-for-the-hero-initiative/|title=Russ Heath's Comic About Being Ripped off by Lichtenstein|date=7 November 2014 |access-date=28 September 2020|archive-date=18 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918042826/https://comicsalliance.com/russ-heaths-comic-about-being-ripped-off-by-roy-lichtenstein-will-give-you-a-new-appreciation-for-the-hero-initiative/|url-status=live}}</ref> drawing in the third panel of page 3 of the "Aces Wild" story in the same issue No. 89.<ref name="TPoL"/> The painting also omits the speech bubble from the source in which the pilot exclaims "The enemy has become a flaming star!"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/feb/29/art|title=Whaam! but no Oomph!|access-date=2013-08-05|date=29 February 2004|work=]|author=Cumming, Laura|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105638/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/feb/29/art|url-status=live}}</ref>


]' '']'' No. 89 (Feb. 1962)]]
A smaller, single panel oil painting made by Lichtenstein around the same time, ''Tex!'', has a similar composition, with a similar plane at the lower left shooting a missile at a second plane that is exploding in the upper right, with a word bubble.<ref name=tatecat/> The same issue of ''All American Men of War'' was the inspiration for at least three other Lichtenstein paintings, '']'', '']'' and '']'', in addition to ''Whaam!'' and ''Tex!''<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4381129|title=High & Low: Modern Art & Popular Culture: Searching High and Low|accessdate=2013-07-19|author= Armstrong, Matthew|volume=2|issue=6|date=Autumn 1990|publisher=]|pages=4–8, 16–17}}</ref> The graphite pencil sketch, '']'' was also from that issue.<ref name="ID 3163">{{cite web | url = http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=3163&year=1962&decade=60# | title = Jet Pilot | accessdate = 2013-06-24 | publisher = LichtensteinFoundation.org}}</ref> Several of Lichtenstein's other comics-based works are inspired by stories about Johnny Flying Cloud written by ] and illustrated by Novick, including '']'', '']'' and ''Von Karp''.<ref name=yale/>
A smaller, single-panel oil painting by Lichtenstein around the same time, ''Tex!'', has a similar composition, with a plane at the lower left shooting an ] at a second plane that is exploding in the upper right, with a word bubble.<ref name=tatecat/> The same issue of ''All-American Men of War'' was the inspiration for at least three other Lichtenstein paintings, '']'', '']'' and '']'', in addition to ''Whaam!'' and ''Tex!''<ref>{{cite journal|title=High & Low: Modern Art & Popular Culture: Searching High and Low|journal= Moma|author= Armstrong, Matthew|volume=2|issue=6|date=Autumn 1990|pages=4–8, 16–17|jstor=4381129}}</ref> The graphite pencil sketch, '']'' was also from that issue.<ref name="ID 3163">{{cite web | url = http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=3163&year=1962&decade=60# | title = Jet Pilot | access-date = 2013-06-24 | publisher = Lichtenstein Foundation | archive-date = 10 November 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141110053954/http://image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=3163&year=1962&decade=60 | url-status = live }}</ref> Several of Lichtenstein's other comics-based works are inspired by stories about Johnny Flying Cloud written by ] and illustrated by Novick, including ''Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!'', '']'' and ''Von Karp''.<ref name=yale/>


Lichtenstein repeatedly depicted aerial combat between the United States and the ].<ref name=HWaW/> In the early and mid-1960s, he produced "explosion" sculptures, taking subjects such as the "catastrophic release of energy" from paintings such as ''Whaam!'' and depicting them in freestanding and relief forms.{{sfn|Alloway|1983|p=56}} In 1963, he was parodying a variety of artworks, from advertising and comics and to "]" modern masterpieces by ], ], ] and others. At the time, Lichtenstein noted that "the things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire."<ref name="CtoaPAm">{{cite web|url=http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=61860#.UbHwPtjxGF8|title=Christie's to offer a Pop Art masterpiece: Roy Lichtenstein's Woman with Flowered Hat|access-date=2013-06-07|work=ArtDaily|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154046/https://artdaily.cc/#.UbHwPtjxGF8|url-status=live}}</ref>
]
Lichtenstein held his first solo exhibition at the ] in New York City, from February 10 to March 3, 1962. It sold out before its opening.<ref name="RLOF4">{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: October Files|editor=Bader, Graham|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-262-01258-4|page=2|chapter=Reviews 1962–64|author=Judd, Donald|quote=}}</ref> The exhibition included '']'', '']'' and ''The Refrigerator''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Roy Lichtenstein: Mural With Blue Brushstroke|author=Tomkins, Calvin|isbn=0-8109-2356-4|page=25|year=1988|publisher=]|quote=}}</ref> According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, ''Whaam!'' was part of Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery from September 28 to October 24, 1963, that also included '']'', '']'', '']'', ''Conversation'', and '']''.<ref name="Chron">{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|title=Chronology|accessdate=2013-06-09|publisher=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref><ref name="RLOF4">{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=2–4|chapter=Reviews 1962–64|author=Judd, Donald|quote=}}</ref> Marketing materials for the show included the ] artwork, '']''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/search.php?string=Crak&search_year=&search_series=|title=Search Result: CRAK!|accessdate=2013-06-26|publisher=LichtensteinFoundation.org}}</ref><ref name="RLGB">{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein|editor=Bader, Graham|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-262-01258-4|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael|pages=118–20}}</ref>


Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition was held at the ] in New York City, from 10 February to 3 March 1962. It sold out before its opening.{{sfn|Judd|2009|pp=2–4}} The exhibition included '']'',<ref name=TPR>{{cite book|title=The Pop! Revolution|author=Marquis, Alice Goldfarb|page=37|chapter=The Arts Take Center Stage|isbn=978-0-87846-744-0|year=2010|publisher=MFA Publications}}</ref> '']'', '']'' and ''The Refrigerator''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: Mural With Blue Brushstroke|author=Tomkins, Calvin|isbn=978-0-8109-2356-0|page=25|year=1988|publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc.}}</ref> According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, ''Whaam!'' was part of Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery from 28 September to 24 October 1963, that also included '']'', '']'', '']'', ''Conversation'', and '']''<ref name="Chron">{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm |title=Chronology |access-date=2013-06-09 |publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606071341/http://lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm |archive-date=6 June 2013 }}</ref>{{sfn|Judd|2009|pp=2–4}} Marketing materials for the show included the ] artwork, '']''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://image-duplicator.com/search.php?string=Crak&search_year=&search_series=|title=Search Result: CRAK!|access-date=2013-06-26|publisher=Lichtenstein Foundation|archive-date=12 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312125702/http://image-duplicator.com/search.php?search_series=&search_year=&string=crak|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Lobel|2009|pp=118–120}}
Throughout the 1960s, Lichtenstein repeatedly depicted aerial combat between the United States and the ].<ref name=HWaW/> In the early and mid-1960s, he produced "explosion" sculptures, taking subjects such as the "catastrophic release of energy" from paintings such as ''Whaam!'' and depicting them in freestanding and relief forms.{{sfn|Alloway|1983|p=56}} In 1963, Lichtenstein was parodying a variety of artworks, from "]" commercial illustrations and comics and to "]" modern masterpieces by ], ], ] and others. At this time in his career, Lichtenstein noted that "the things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire."<ref name="CtoaPAm">{{cite web|url=http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=61860#.UbHwPtjxGF8|title=Christie's to offer a Pop Art masterpiece: Roy Lichtenstein's Woman with Flowered Hat|accessdate=2013-06-07|date=|work=]}}</ref> Although the Lichtenstein Foundation website says that Lichtenstein did not begin using his ] technique until the autumn of 1963,<ref name="Chron">{{cite web|url=http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm|title=Chronology|accessdate=2013-06-09|publisher=Roy Lichtenstein Foundation}}</ref> Lichtenstein described his process for producing comics based art as follows:


The Lichtenstein Foundation website says that Lichtenstein began using his ] technique in 1962.<ref name="Chron"/> in 1967 he described his process for producing comics-based art as follows:
{{Quote|text=As directly as possible&nbsp;... From a cartoon, photograph or whatever, I draw a small picture—the size that will fit into my opaque projector&nbsp;... I don't draw a picture to reproduce it—I do it in order to recompose it&nbsp;... I project the drawing onto the canvas and pencil it in and then I play around with the drawing until it satisfies me.<ref name="RLMoMA">{{cite book| author = Lanchner, Carolyn| title = Roy Lichtenstein| url = http://books.google.com/?id=LG8xJ-LRHJkC&pg=PA11| year = 2009| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-87070-770-1| pages = 11–14 }}</ref>}}


{{Blockquote|text=I do them as directly as possible. If I am working from a cartoon, photograph or whatever, I draw a small picture—the size that will fit into my opaque projector&nbsp;... I don't draw a picture in order to reproduce it—I do it in order to recompose it&nbsp;... I go all the way from having my drawing almost like the original to making it up altogether.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lobel| first = Michael| title = Image Duplicator: Roy Lichtenstein and the Emergence of Pop Art| year = 2002| publisher = Yale University Press| isbn = 978-0-300-08762-8| pages = 26–27 }}</ref>}}
''Whaam!'' was purchased by the ] in 1966.<ref name=Chron/> In 1969, Lichtenstein donated what he called a "pencil scribble", his initial graphite on paper sketch entitled ''Drawing for <nowiki>'</nowiki>Whaam!<nowiki>'</nowiki>''.<ref name="RLDfW1">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-drawing-for-whaam-t01131|title=Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing for 'Whaam!' 1963|accessdate=2013-07-18|publisher=]}}</ref> The painting has been displayed at ] since 2006.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/about/press-office/press-releases/tate-modern-opens-first-major-rehang-its-collection-support-ubs|title=Tate Modern opens first major rehang of its Collection with the support of UBS|publisher=]|date=2013-07-19|date=2006-05-22}}</ref> Both works were included as part of the largest-ever Lichtenstein retrospective that visited the ] from May 16 to September 3, 2012, the ] in ] from October 14, 2012, to January 13, 2013, the Tate Modern in London from February 21 to May 27, 2013, and ] from July 3 to November 4, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/roy-lichtenstein_n_1533997.html|title='Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective' Debuts At The Art Institute of Chicago (PHOTOS)|accessdate=2013-06-08|date=2012-05-22|work=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2280553/Pop-goes-Tate-The-iconic-works-Pop-artist-Roy-Lichtenstein-brought-new-exhibition.html|title=Pop goes the Tate! Iconic works of Roy Lichtenstein brought together for exciting new exhibition at the Tate Modern|accessdate=2013-06-07|date=2013-02-19|work=]|author=Kirkova, Deni}}</ref> Richard Morphet, an art historian, was an assistant ] at the Tate at the time that ''Whaam!'' was being contemplated for acquisition. Morphet suggested as justification for buying ''Whaam!'' that the painting seemed to address several issues at the same time: "history painting, Baroque extravagance, and the quotidian phenomenon of mass-circulation comic strips."<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat|publisher=]|accessdate=2013-07-19|date=2013-07-17|title=Is Lichtenstein a great modern artist or a copy cat?|author=Sooke, Alistair}}</ref>

]
''Whaam!'' was purchased by the ] in 1966.<ref name=Chron/> In 1969, Lichtenstein donated his initial graphite-on-paper drawing ''Drawing for {{'}}Whaam!{{'}}'', describing it as a "pencil scribble".<ref name="RLDfW1">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-drawing-for-whaam-t01131|title=Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing for 'Whaam!' 1963|access-date=2013-07-18|publisher=Tate Gallery|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002123223/http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-drawing-for-whaam-t01131|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Tate, Lichtenstein claimed that this drawing represented his "first visualization of ''Whaam!'' and that it was executed just before he started the painting."<ref name=CotTGCoMAotWbBA>{{cite book|author=Alley, Ronald|title=Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists|publisher=Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet|page=436|year=1981|location=London|isbn=978-0-85667-102-9}} as cited in {{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-drawing-for-whaam-t01131/text-catalogue-entry|title=Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing for 'Whaam!' 1963|access-date=2013-08-11|publisher=Tate.org|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002122747/http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-drawing-for-whaam-t01131/text-catalogue-entry|url-status=live}}</ref> Although he had conceived of a unified work of art on a single canvas, he made the sketch on two sheets of paper of equal size—measuring {{convert|14.9|x|30.5|cm|in|sp=us|abbr=on}}.<ref name=CotTGCoMAotWbBA/> The painting has been displayed at ] since 2006.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/about/press-office/press-releases/tate-modern-opens-first-major-rehang-its-collection-support-ubs|title=Tate Modern opens first major rehang of its Collection with the support of UBS|publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2013-07-19|date=22 May 2006|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002122557/http://www.tate.org.uk/about/press-office/press-releases/tate-modern-opens-first-major-rehang-its-collection-support-ubs|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2012–13, both works were included in the largest Lichtenstein retrospective yet exhibited, visiting the ], the ] in Washington, D.C., the Tate Modern in London and the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/roy-lichtenstein_n_1533997.html|title='Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective' Debuts At The Art Institute of Chicago (PHOTOS)|access-date=2013-06-08|date=22 May 2012|work=]|archive-date=8 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608135009/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/roy-lichtenstein_n_1533997.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


==Description== ==Description==
''Whaam!'' depicts a fighter aircraft in the left panel firing a rocket into an enemy plane in the right panel, which disintegrates in a red-and-yellow explosion. The cartoon style is emphasized by the use of the ] lettering ''"WHAAM!"'' in the right panel, and a yellow-boxed caption with black lettering at the top of the left panel. The textual exclamation "WHAAM!" can be considered the graphic equivalent of a ]<ref name="RLDW105">{{cite book|author=Waldman|page=105|chapter=War Comics, 1962–64|quote=}}</ref> (other onomatopoeic works by Lichtenstein include '']'' and '']'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrporter.com/journal/journal_issue101/6#1|title=The Report: Mr Roy Lichtenstein|accessdate=2013-06-23|date=2013-02-12|publisher=MrPorter.com|author=}}</ref> ''Whaam!'' depicts a fighter aircraft in the left panel firing a rocket into an enemy plane in the right panel, which disintegrates in a vivid red-and-yellow explosion. The cartoon style is emphasized by the use of the ] lettering ''"WHAAM!"'' in the right panel, and a yellow-boxed caption with black lettering at the top of the left panel. The textual exclamation "WHAAM!" can be considered the graphic equivalent of a ].{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=105}} This was to become a characteristic of his work—like others of his onomatopoeic paintings that contain exclamations such as '']'' and '']''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrporter.com/journal/journal_issue101/6#1|title=The Report: Mr Roy Lichtenstein|access-date=2013-06-23|date=12 February 2013|publisher=MrPorter.com|archive-date=29 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629065016/http://www.mrporter.com/journal/journal_issue101/6#1|url-status=live}}</ref>


One of Lichtenstein's war series of images, it combines "brilliant color and narrative situation".{{sfn|Alloway|1983|p=20}} The painting is large in scale, measuring 4.0 × 1.7 m (13&nbsp;ft 4 in × 5&nbsp;ft 7 in).<ref name=Tate_Whaam/> Lichtenstein employed his usual comic-book style: stereotyped imagery in bright primary colors with black outlines, and extensive use of mechanical printer's ]<ref name=TAML/> ''Whaam!'' departs from Lichtenstein's earlier works such as ''Step-on-Can with Leg'' and ''Like New'', in that the panels are not two variations of the same image.<ref name="RLDW104b"/> ''Whaam!'' is one of Lichtenstein's series of war images, typically combining vibrant colors with an expressive narrative.{{sfn|Alloway|1983|p=20}} ''Whaam!'' is very large, measuring 1.7 m × 4.0 m (5&nbsp;ft 7 in × 13&nbsp;ft 4 in).<ref name=Tate_Whaam/> It is less abstract than ''As I Opened Fire'', another of his war scenes.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=105}} Lichtenstein employs his usual comic-book style: stereotyped imagery in bright primary colors with black outlines, coupled with imitations of mechanical printer's ].<ref name="TAML">{{cite book| author1 = Strickland, Carol| author2 = John Boswell| name-list-style = amp| title = The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=n39T-zRGI90C&pg=PA174| year = 2007| publisher = Andrews McMeel Publishing| isbn = 978-0-7407-6872-9| page = 174| access-date = 29 October 2020| archive-date = 19 October 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154107/https://books.google.com/books?id=n39T-zRGI90C&pg=PA174| url-status = live}}</ref> The use of these dots, which were invented by Benjamin Day to simulate color variations and shading, are considered Lichtenstein's "signature method".<ref name=RLfhtv/> ''Whaam!'' departs from Lichtenstein's earlier diptychs such as ''Step-on-Can with Leg'' and ''Like New'', in that the panels are not two variations of the same image.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}}


{{multiple image
]
| align = left
Although Lichtenstein was inspired by, and strove to remain faithful to, the source images, he made the paintings in a traditional way, starting with a sketch which he adjusted to improve the composition and then projected on to a canvas to make the finished painting.<ref name=tatecomp/> In the case of ''Whaam!'', the sketch is on two pieces of paper, and the finished work is painted with ] ] and ] on canvas.<ref name="tatecat">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-catalogue-entry|title=Catalogue entry|publisher=]|accessdate=2013-07-19}}</ref> It was originally conceived as a single panel but evolved into a diptych. The sketch suggests that the "WHAAM!" motif would be coloured white, although it is yellow in the finished work.<ref name=RLDfW1/> The technique that Lichtenstein employed for this painting involved painting with layers that took enough time to dry that their shape and color could be manipulated. The paint was applied using a scrub brush and handmade metal screen to produce Ben-Day dots via a process that left physical evidence behind.<ref name=PApRLda7/><ref name=W>{{cite journal|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/wow|title=WOW!, Lichtenstein: A Retrospective at Tate Modern II|author=Dunne, Nathan|work=Tate Etc.|issue=27|date=2013-05-13 (Spring 2013)}}</ref> The Ben-Day dots technique enabled Lichtenstein to give his works a mechanically reproduced feel. Lichtenstein said that the work is "supposed to look like a fake, and it achieves that, I think".<ref name=RLfhtv>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/feb/23/roy-lichtenstein-heresy-to-visionary|title=Roy Lichtenstein: from heresy to visionary|accessdate=2013-07-26|date=2013-02-22|author=Churchwell, Sarah|work=]}}</ref> These dots, which were invented by Benjamin Day to "recreate gradations of shading", were considered Lichtenstein's "signature method".<ref name=RLfhtv/>
| direction = vertical
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| image1 = Drawing for 'Whaam!' cropped 2.JPG
Lichtenstein split the composition of the original single panel into two to reinforce separation of action and result.<ref name="RLDW104b"/> The left panel features the attacking plane—placed at a diagonal to create a sense of depth—below the text balloon, which Lichtenstein has relegated to the margin above the plane.<ref name=RLDW104b/> In the right panel, the exploding plane—depicted head-on—is outlined by the flames, accompanied by the bold exclamation "WHAAM!".<ref name=RLDW104b/> Although separate, with one panel containing the missile launch and the other its explosion, representing two distinct events,<ref>{{cite book|title=Art Since 1960|edition=second|publisher=]|author=Archer, Michael|isbn=0-500-20351-2|chapter=The Real and its Objects|year=2002|page=25|quote=}}</ref> the two panels are clearly linked spatially and temporally, not least by the horizontal smoke trail of the missile.{{sfn|Coplans|1972|p=39|ps=: "...&nbsp;''Whaam I'' (1963), on the other hand, is a diptych with a clearly linked pictorial narrative&nbsp;..."}} Lichtenstein commented on this piece in a July 10, 1967, letter: "I remember being concerned with the idea of doing two almost separate paintings having little hint of compositional connection, and each having slightly separate stylistic character. Of course there is the humorous connection of one panel shooting the other."{{sfn|Coplans|1972|p=164}}
| width1 =
| alt1 =
| caption1 = Cropped and edited portion of ''Drawing for {{'}}Whaam!{{'}}'' (1963). Lichtenstein marked sections of "Drawing" with color notations for the final work, such as the "w" for white in the above titular letters.<ref name=RLDfW1/>


| image2 = Just whaam no bg.svg
] may have been written by ].]]
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Lichtenstein altered the composition to make the image more compelling, by making the exploding plane more prominent compared to the attacking plane than in the original.<ref name="RLDW104b"/> The smoke trail of the missile has become a horizontal line. The flames of the explosion dominate the right panel,<ref name=RLDW104b/> but the pilot and the airplane in the left panel are the narrative focus.<ref name=RLDW105/> They exemplify Lichtenstein's painstaking detailing of physical features such as the aircraft's cockpit.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Bader|pages=123–24|chapter=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity|author=Lobel, Michael|quote=}}</ref> The other element of the narrative content is a ] that contains the following text: "I pressed the fire control&nbsp;... and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky&nbsp;..."<ref name="PApRLda7">{{cite web|url=http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1997/Pop-Art-pioneer-Roy-Lichtenstein-dead-at-73/id-43b85ac8a5a6ab361d2adb164e6a10ce|title=Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein dead at 73|accessdate=2013-06-15|date=1997-09-29|agency=]|author=Monroe, Robert}}</ref> This is among the text believed to have been written and revised by Kanigher for ''All-American Men Of War'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/jun/01/guardianobituaries.usa|title=Robert Kanigher: The man who put Sergeant Rock in a hard place|accessdate=2013-07-28|date=2002-05-31|author=Gravett, Paul|work=]}}</ref><ref name=WBaFS>{{cite web|url=http://blog.comicsgrid.com/2011/04/whaam-becoming-a-flaming-star/|title=Whaam! Becoming a Flaming Star|accessdate=2013-07-28|date=2011-04-04|author=Priego, Ernesto|work=]|volume=1}}</ref> although there is some doubt about this claim.<ref name=TPoL/> The yellow word "WHAAM!", altered from the red in the original comic panel and white in the pencil sketch, links the yellow of the explosion below it with the textbox to the left and the flames of the missile below the attacking plane.
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| caption2 = Same portion of finished work, ''Whaam!'', but the planned white letters were yellow, as rendered above.


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Lichtenstein borrowed both comic book techniques and subjects,<ref name="TAML">{{cite book| last1 = Strickland| first1 = Carol| last2 = Boswell| first2 = John| title = The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern| url = http://books.google.com/?id=n39T-zRGI90C&pg=PA174| year = 2007| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-7407-6872-7| page = 174 }}</ref> mimicking the style while adapting the subject matter.<ref name=TGEoAA/> He explained that "Signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter. There are certain things that are usable, forceful and vital about commercial art." He was attracted to using the cool, formal style to depict emotive subjects, leaving the viewer to interpret the artist's intention.<ref name="tatecomp">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-illustrated-companion|title=Illustrated companion|publisher=]|accessdate=2013-07-19}} published in {{cite book| last = Wilson| first = Simon| title = Tate Gallery: An Illustrated Companion| edition = revised| year = 1991| publisher = Tate Gallery| isbn = 0-295-97039-1| page = 242 }}</ref> He adopted a simplified color scheme and commercial printing-like techniques. The borrowed technique was "representing tonal variations with patterns of colored circles that imitated the half-tone screens of Ben Day dots used in newspaper printing, and surrounding these with black outlines similar to those used to conceal imperfections in cheap newsprint."<ref name="TGEoAA">{{cite book| author = Joan M. Marter| title = The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art| url = http://books.google.com/?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&pg=PA158| year = 2011| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-19-533579-1| page = 158| editor = Marter, Joan }}</ref> ] asserts that this is an adaptation of the ] style associated with ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/pov/tintinandi/special_tintinamerica.php#.UcDzjtjxGF9|title=Essay: Tintin in America|accessdate=2013-06-19|date=circa 2006-07-11|publisher=]|author=Bengal, Rebecca}}</ref> Lichtenstein once said of his technique: "I take a cliche and try to organize its forms to make it monumental."<ref name="PApRLda7">{{cite web|url=http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1997/Pop-Art-pioneer-Roy-Lichtenstein-dead-at-73/id-43b85ac8a5a6ab361d2adb164e6a10ce|title=Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein dead at 73|accessdate=2013-06-10|date=1997-09-29|agency=]|author=Monroe, Robert}}</ref>
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Although Lichtenstein strove to remain faithful to the source images, he constructed his paintings in a traditional manner, starting with a sketch which he adjusted to improve the composition and then projected on to a canvas to make the finished painting.<ref name=tatecomp/> In the case of ''Whaam!'', the sketch is on two pieces of paper, and the finished work is painted with ] ] and ] on canvas.<ref name="tatecat">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-catalogue-entry|title=Catalogue entry|publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2013-07-19|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002122627/http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-catalogue-entry|url-status=live}}</ref> Although the transformation from a single-panel conception into a diptych painting occurred during the initial sketch, the final work varies from the sketch in several ways. The sketch suggests that the "WHAAM!" motif would be colored white, although it is yellow in the finished work.<ref name=RLDfW1/><ref name=CotTGCoMAotWbBA/> Lichtenstein enlarged the main graphical subject of each panel (the plane on the left and the flames on the right), bringing them closer together as a result.<ref name=CotTGCoMAotWbBA/>

Lichtenstein built up the image with multiple layers of paint. The paint was applied using a scrub brush and handmade metal screen to produce Ben-Day dots via a process that left physical evidence behind.<ref name=PApRLda7>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/43b85ac8a5a6ab361d2adb164e6a10ce|title=Pop Art pioneer Roy Lichtenstein dead at 73|access-date=2013-06-15|date=29 September 1997|work=]|author=Monroe, Robert|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002092052/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1997/Pop-Art-pioneer-Roy-Lichtenstein-dead-at-73/id-43b85ac8a5a6ab361d2adb164e6a10ce|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=W>{{cite journal|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/wow|title=WOW!, Lichtenstein: A Retrospective at Tate Modern II|author=Dunne, Nathan|journal=Tate Etc.|issue=27|date=13 May 2013|access-date=19 July 2013|archive-date=25 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625202528/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/wow|url-status=live}}</ref> The Ben-Day dots technique enabled Lichtenstein to give his works a mechanically reproduced feel. Lichtenstein said that the work is "supposed to look like a fake, and it achieves that, I think".<ref name=RLfhtv>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/23/roy-lichtenstein-heresy-to-visionary|title=Roy Lichtenstein: from heresy to visionary|access-date=2013-07-26|date=22 February 2013|author=Churchwell, Sarah|work=]|archive-date=13 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113154912/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/23/roy-lichtenstein-heresy-to-visionary|url-status=live}}</ref>

Lichtenstein split the composition into two panels to separate the action from its consequence.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} The left panel features the attacking plane—placed at a diagonal to create a sense of depth—below the text balloon, which Lichtenstein has relegated to the margin above the plane.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} In the right panel, the exploding plane—depicted head-on—is outlined by the flames, accompanied by the bold exclamation "WHAAM!".{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} Although separate, with one panel containing the missile launch and the other its explosion, representing two distinct events,<ref>{{cite book|title=Art Since 1960|edition=second|publisher=Thames & Hudson|author=Archer, Michael|isbn=978-0-500-20351-4|chapter=The Real and its Objects|year=2002|page=|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/artsince196000arch/page/25}}</ref> the two panels are clearly linked spatially and temporally, not least by the horizontal smoke trail of the missile.{{sfn|Coplans|1972|p=39|ps=: "...&nbsp;''Whaam I'' (1963), on the other hand, is a diptych with a clearly linked pictorial narrative&nbsp;..."}} Lichtenstein commented on this piece in a 10 July 1967, letter: "I remember being concerned with the idea of doing two almost separate paintings having little hint of compositional connection, and each having slightly separate stylistic character. Of course there is the humorous connection of one panel shooting the other."{{sfn|Coplans|1972|p=164}}

Lichtenstein altered the composition to make the image more compelling, by making the exploding plane more prominent compared to the attacking plane than in the original.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} The smoke trail of the missile becomes a horizontal line. The flames of the explosion dominate the right panel,{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=104}} but the pilot and the airplane in the left panel are the narrative focus.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=105}} They exemplify Lichtenstein's painstaking detailing of physical features such as the aircraft's cockpit.{{sfn|Lobel|2009|pp=123–124}} The other element of the narrative content is a ] that contains the following text: "I pressed the fire control&nbsp;... and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky&nbsp;..."<ref name="PApRLda7"/> This is among the text believed to have been written by ''All-American Men of War'' editor ].<ref name="TPoL"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jun/01/guardianobituaries.usa|title=Robert Kanigher: The man who put Sergeant Rock in a hard place|access-date=2013-07-28|date=31 May 2002|author=Gravett, Paul|work=]|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314052311/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jun/01/guardianobituaries.usa|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=WBaFS>{{cite web|url=http://blog.comicsgrid.com/2011/04/whaam-becoming-a-flaming-star/|title=Whaam! Becoming a Flaming Star|access-date=2013-07-28|date=4 April 2011|author=Priego, Ernesto|work=The Comics Grid, Journal of Comics Scholarship|volume=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002102214/http://blog.comicsgrid.com/2011/04/whaam-becoming-a-flaming-star/|archive-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> The yellow word "WHAAM!", altered from the red in the original comic-book panel and white in the pencil sketch, links the yellow of the explosion below it with the textbox to the left and the flames of the missile below the attacking plane.

Lichtenstein's borrowings from comics mimicked their style while adapting their subject matter.<ref name=TGEoAA/> He explained that "Signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter. There are certain things that are usable, forceful and vital about commercial art." Rebecca Bengal at ] wrote that ''Whaam!''{{'s}} graphic clarity exemplifies the ] style associated with ], a cartoonist whose influence Lichtenstein acknowledged.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/tintinandi/special_tintinamerica.php#.UcDzjtjxGF9|title=Essay: Tintin in America|access-date=2013-06-19|date=2006-07-11|publisher=PBS|author=Bengal, Rebecca|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002174314/http://www.pbs.org/pov/tintinandi/special_tintinamerica.php#.UcDzjtjxGF9}}</ref> Lichtenstein was attracted to using a cool, formal style to depict emotive subjects, leaving the viewer to interpret the artist's intention.<ref name="tatecomp">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-illustrated-companion|title=Illustrated companion|publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2013-07-19|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002123743/http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897/text-illustrated-companion|url-status=live}} published in {{cite book| last = Wilson| first = Simon| title = Tate Gallery: An Illustrated Companion| edition = revised| year = 1991| publisher = Tate Gallery| isbn = 978-0-295-97039-4| page = 242 }}</ref> He adopted a simplified color scheme and commercial printing-like techniques. The borrowed technique was "representing tonal variations with patterns of colored circles that imitated the half-tone screens of Ben Day dots used in newspaper printing, and surrounding these with black outlines similar to those used to conceal imperfections in cheap newsprint."<ref name="TGEoAA">{{cite book| author = Busche, Ernst A.| title = The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&q=%22would+appear+to+accept+the+environment+as+revealed+by+his+reference+material+as+part+of+American+capitalist+industrial+culture%22&pg=RA2-PA158| year = 2011| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-533579-8| page = 158| editor = Marter, Joan| editor-link = Joan Marter| access-date = 29 October 2020| archive-date = 19 October 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154043/https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&q=%22would+appear+to+accept+the+environment+as+revealed+by+his+reference+material+as+part+of+American+capitalist+industrial+culture%22&pg=RA2-PA158| url-status = live}}</ref> Lichtenstein once said of his technique: "I take a cliche and try to organize its forms to make it monumental."<ref name="PApRLda7"/>


==Reception== ==Reception==
The painting was, for the most part, well received by art critics when first exhibited. A November 1963 ''Art Magazine'' review by ] described ''Whaam!'' as one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery.{{sfn|Judd|2009|pp=2–4}} In his review of the exhibition, '']'' art critic ] described Lichtenstein's technique as "typewriter pointillism&nbsp;... that laboriously hammers out such moments as a jet shooting down another jet with a big BLAM". According to O'Doherty, the result was "certainly not art, time may make it so", depending on whether it could be "rationalized&nbsp;... and placed in line for the future to assimilate as history, which it shows every sign of doing."<ref>{{cite news|author=O'Doherty, Brian|date=27 October 1963|title=Lichtenstein: doubtful but definite triumph of the banal|work=]|page=21, section 2}}</ref><!--Surely there are more sources than this - its fairly mild praise - it must have been widely covered if the Tate moved in shortly afterwards--> The ] in London acquired the work in 1966, leading to heated argument amongst their trustees and some vocal members of the public. The purchase was made from art dealer ], whose asking price of £4,665 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|4665|1966}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} currency) was reduced by negotiation to £3,940 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|3940|1966}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} currency).<ref name="Bailey" /> Some Tate trustees opposed the acquisition, among them sculptor ], painter ] and the poet and critic ].<ref name="Bailey" /> Defending the acquisition, art historian Richard Morphet, then an assistant ] at the Tate, suggested that the painting addresses several issues and painterly styles at the same time: "history painting, Baroque extravagance, and the quotidian phenomenon of mass-circulation comic strips."<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat|publisher=BBC|access-date=2013-07-19|date=17 July 2013|title=Is Lichtenstein a great modern artist or a copy cat?|author=Sooke, Alistair|archive-date=19 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719023637/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat|url-status=live}}</ref> '']'' in 1967 described the acquisition as a "very large and spectacular painting".<ref>{{cite news|title=Spectacular piece of Pop art|work=]|date=3 January 1967|page=6, col E|issue=56829}}</ref> The Tate's director, ], later said that the work aroused more public interest than any of its acquisitions since World War II.<ref name="Holden">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/work-week-whaam-roy-lichtenstein|title=Work of the Week: Whaam! by Roy Lichtenstein|author=Holden, Duncan|publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2013-07-19|date=18 February 2013|archive-date=22 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722151942/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/work-week-whaam-roy-lichtenstein|url-status=live}}</ref>
''Whaam!'''s grand scale and dramatic depiction make it a historic work of pop art.<ref name=HoMA/> With '']'', Lichtenstein's other monumental war painting, ''Whaam!'' is regarded as the culmination of Lichtenstein's dramatic war-comics works.<ref>{{cite book|author=Waldman|page=95|chapter=War Comics, 1962–64|quote=}}</ref> ''Whaam!'' is less abstract than ''As I Opened Fire''.<ref name="RLDW105"/> It is widely described as either Lichtenstein's most famous work,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.repfineart.com/reproduction-oil-paintings/roy-lichtenstein|title=Roy Lichtenstein: American artist|accessdate=2013-06-06|publisher=Reproduced Fine Art, Inc.}}</ref> or, along with ''Drowning Girl'', as one of his two most famous works.<ref>{{cite book| last = Cronin| first = Brian| title = Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent?: And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia!| url = http://books.google.com/?id=MBzPzzJwxwEC&pg=PA153| year = 2012| publisher = ]| isbn = 978-1-101-58544-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-18/news/sns-rt-art-lichtensteinlondon-pix-tvl6n0bi7ai-20130218_1_roy-lichtenstein-lichtenstein-show-comic-books|title=Lichtenstein show in UK goes beyond cartoon classics|accessdate=2013-06-08|date=2013-02-18|work=]|author=Collett-White, Mike}}</ref> It is described, along with Warhol's ] prints, as one of the most famous works of pop art.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Edgar| first1 = Andrew| last2 = Sedgwick| first2 = Peter| title = Key Concepts in Cultural Theory| url = http://books.google.com/?id=xN6xg9KzXZ0C&pg=PA190| year = 1999| publisher = ]| isbn = 978-0-203-98184-9| page = 190| editor = Sedgwick, Peter and Andrew Edgar }}</ref> ] once linked the two iconic pop art images via his ] designs.<ref>{{cite book| last = Ball| first = Deborah| title = House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival| year = 2011| publisher = ]| isbn = 978-0-307-40652-1| quote = He translated one of Roy Lichtenstein's most famous paintings by putting giant letters spelling "WHAAM!" on a yellow clevore evening gown. He adorned a silk halter-neck gown with Andy Warhol's celebrated images of Marilyn Monroe&nbsp;...}}</ref> The work is also regarded as one of his most influential works along with ''Drowning Girl'' and ''Look Mickey''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-21/entertainment/sns-rt-us-art-britain-lichtensteinbre88k0oy-20120921_1_roy-lichtenstein-tate-modern-retrospective|title=Pop art pioneer Lichtenstein in Tate Modern retrospective|accessdate=2013-06-08|date=2012-09-21|work=]|author=Hoang, Li-mei}}</ref>


In 1968, ''Whaam!'' was included in the Tate's first solo exhibition of Lichtenstein's work.<ref name="Holden" /> The showing attracted 52,000 visitors, and was organized with the ] in Amsterdam,<ref name="Bailey">{{cite web|url=http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Who+opposed+a+%C2%A34%2c665+Lichtenstein%3f/28512|title=Who opposed a £4,665 Lichtenstein?|author=Bailey, Martin|issue=243|access-date=2013-02-19|date=13 February 2013|work=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224221517/http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Who+opposed+a+%C2%A34%2C665+Lichtenstein%3F/28512|archive-date=24 February 2015}}</ref> which later hosted the exhibition from 4 November to 17 December 1967, before it traveled to three other museums.<ref name="Chron" />
===Positive===
José Pierre says ''Whaam!'' represented Lichtenstein's 1963 expansion "into the 'epic' vein".<ref>{{cite book| last = Pierre| first = José| title = An Illustrated History of Pop Art| year = 1977| publisher = Eyre Methuen| isbn = 0-413-38370-9| page = 91 }}</ref> A November 1963 ''Art Magazine'' review called it one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery.<ref name=RLOF4/> ''The Times'' in 1967 described the recent acquisition by the Tate of the "very large and spectacular painting"<ref>"Spectacular piece of Pop art", ''The Times'', Tuesday, Jan 03, 1967; pg. 6; Issue 56829; col E</ref> and '']'' in 1968 described the explosion as combining "'']'' elegance with a nervous energy reminiscent of ]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/875536|author=Roberts, Keith|work=The Burlington Magazine|volume=110|issue=779|accessdate=2013-07-19|date=February 1968|pages=107–108|title=Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: London}}</ref> One view is that by magnifying the comic book panels to an enormous size, "Lichtenstein slapped the viewer in the face with their triviality."<ref name=TAML/> ''Whaam!'' presented "...&nbsp;limited, flat colors and hard, precise drawing," which produced "...&nbsp;a hard-edge subject painting that documents while it gently parodies the familiar hero images of modern America."<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Modern Art|edition=third|page=458|chapter=Pop Art, Assemblage, and Europe's New Realism|publisher=]/]|author=Arnason, H. H.|year=1986|isbn=0-13-390360-5}}</ref> The flat and highly finished style of planned brushstrokes are pop art's retort to ].<ref name="HoMA">{{cite book| author = Arnason, H. H., Daniel Wheeler (revising author third edition), and Marla F. Prather (revising author, fourth edition)| coauthors = Marla F. Prather| title = History of Modern Art: Painting • Sculpture • Architecture • Photography| edition = fourth| year = 1998| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-8109-3439-6| pages = 538–540| chapter = Pop Art and Europe's New Realism }}</ref>


==Analysis and interpretation==
''Whaam!'' stands out from Lichtenstein's other comic-based works as the most successful and harmonious composition: the narrative and graphic elements are complementary; the senses of time and space are logical, the action from left to right; and the components are spatially aligned to emphasize the action. The ellipses of the text balloon present a progression which culminates with a "WHAAM!". The "coincidence of pictorial and verbal order" are clear for the Western viewer with the explanatory text beginning in the upper left and action vector moving from the left foreground to the right background, culminating in a graphical explosion in tandem with a narrative exclamation.<ref name="PoR">{{cite book| last = Steiner| first = Wendy| title = Pictures of Romance: Form against Context in Painting and Literature| url = http://books.google.com/?id=lFxCRvrm9zAC| year = 1987| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-226-77229-2| pages = 161–64 }}</ref> Wendy Steiner says the striking incongruity of the two panels—the left panel appearing to be "truncated", while the right depicts a centralized explosion—enhances the work's narrative power.<ref name=PoR/>
For José Pierre, ''Whaam!'' represents Lichtenstein's 1963 expansion "into the 'epic' vein".<ref>{{cite book| last = Pierre| first = José| title = An Illustrated History of Pop Art| year = 1977| publisher = Eyre Methuen| isbn = 978-0-413-38370-9| page = | url = https://archive.org/details/popartillustrate00pier/page/91}}</ref> Keith Roberts, in a 1968 '']'' article, described the explosion as combining "''art nouveau'' elegance with a nervous energy reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Roberts, Keith|journal=]|volume=110|issue=779|date=February 1968|pages=107–108|title=Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: London|jstor=875536}}</ref> Wendy Steiner believes the work is Lichtenstein's most successful and harmonious comic-based composition. She sees the narrative and graphic elements as complementary: the action and spatial alignment lead the viewer's eye from left to right so as to emphasize the relationship between the action and its explosive consequence. The ellipses of the text balloon present a progression which culminates with a "WHAAM!". The "coincidence of pictorial and verbal order" are clear for the Western viewer with the explanatory text beginning in the upper left and action vector moving from the left foreground to the right background, culminating in a graphical explosion in tandem with a narrative exclamation.<ref name="PoR">{{cite book| last = Steiner| first = Wendy| title = Pictures of Romance: Form against Context in Painting and Literature| url = https://archive.org/details/picturesofromanc0000stei| url-access = registration| year = 1987| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-77229-5| pages = –164 }}</ref> Steiner says the striking incongruity of the two panels—the left panel appearing to be "truncated", while the right depicts a centralized explosion—enhances the work's narrative power.<ref name=PoR/>


]
Despite his general distaste for the 2013 Lichtenstein Retrospective at the Tate Modern, ] of '']'' credited the work's title with accurately describing its graphic content: "Whaam! goes the painting, as the rocket hits, and the enemy fighter explodes in a livid, comic-book roar."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-tate-modern-retrospective|title=Roy Lichtenstein: too cool for school?|accessdate=2013-06-15|date=2013-02-18|work=]|author=Searle, Adrian}}</ref> David McCarthy regarded the work as a "spectacular display of firepower".<ref name=HWaW/>


The most important element of Lichtenstein's procedure was "the enlargement and unification of his source material". His method entailed "strengthening of the formal aspects of the composition, a stylization of motif, and a 'freezing' of both emotion and actions". Extreme examples of his formalization become "virtual abstraction" when the viewer recalls that the motif is an element of a larger work. Thus, Lichtenstein reinforced the non-realist view of comic strips and advertisements, presenting them as artificial images with minimalistic graphic techniques. Lichtenstein's magnification of his source material stressed the plainness of his motifs as an equivalent to mechanical commercial drawing, leading to implications about his statements on modern industrial America. Nonetheless, Lichtenstein appears to have accepted the American capitalist industrial culture based on his frequent commercial art source material, according to ''The Grove Encyclopedia of Art''.<ref name=TGEoAA/> Lichtenstein's technique has been characterized by Ernst A. Busche as "the enlargement and unification of his source material&nbsp;... on the basis of strict artistic principles".<ref name=TGEoAA/> Extracted from a larger narrative, the resulting stylized image became in some cases a "virtual abstraction". By recreating their minimalistic graphic techniques, Lichtenstein reinforced the artificial nature of comic strips and advertisements. Lichtenstein's magnification of his source material made his impersonally drawn motifs seem all the more empty. Busche also says that although a critique of modern industrial America may be read into these images, Lichtenstein "would appear to accept the environment as revealed by his reference material as part of American capitalist industrial culture".<ref name=TGEoAA/>


David McCarthy contrasted Lichtenstein's "dispassionate, detached and oddly disembodied" presentation of aerial combat with the work of ], for whom the experience of military service in World War II instilled a need to horrify and shock. In contrast, Lichtenstein registers his "comment on American civilization" by scaling up inches-high comic book images to the oversized dimensions of ].<ref name=HWaW/> Laura Brandon saw an attempt to convey "the trivialization of culture endemic in contemporary American life" by depicting a shocking scene of combat as a banal Cold War act.<ref>{{cite book| author = Brandon, Laura| title = Art and War| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3W-KbPNZD14C&pg=PA84| year = 2007| publisher = I. B. Tauris| isbn = 978-1-84511-236-3| page = 84| access-date = 15 July 2016| archive-date = 14 December 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161214053519/https://books.google.com/books?id=3W-KbPNZD14C&pg=PA84| url-status = live}}</ref>
The comic book medium that inspired paintings such as ''Whaam!'' was, in turn, affected by the cultural impact of pop art. By the mid-1960s, some comic books were displaying a new emphasis on garish colors, emphatic sound effects, and stilted dialogue—the elements of comic book style that had come to be regarded as ]—in an attempt to appeal to older, college-age readers who appreciated pop art.<ref>{{cite book| last = Brooker| first = Will| title = Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon| url = http://books.google.com/?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA182| year = 2001| publisher = ]| isbn = 0-8264-1343-9| page = 182 }}</ref> It has been observed that the "simplicity and outdatedness were ripe for being mocked".<ref name="TPoL">{{cite web|url=http://paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/the_principality_of_lichtenstein|title=The Principality of Lichtenstein: From 'WHAAM!' to 'WHAAT?'|accessdate=2013-06-30|date=2013-03-17|author=Gravett, Paul|publisher=PaulGravett.com}}</ref>


Carol Strickland and John Boswell say that by magnifying the comic book panels to an enormous size with dots, "Lichtenstein slapped the viewer in the face with their triviality."<ref name=TAML/> H. H. Arnason noted that ''Whaam!'' presents "limited, flat colors and hard, precise drawing," which produce "a hard-edge subject painting that documents while it gently parodies the familiar hero images of modern America."<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Modern Art|edition=third|page=458|chapter=Pop Art, Assemblage, and Europe's New Realism|publisher=Prentice Hall, Inc./Harry N. Abrams, Inc.|author=Arnason, H. H.|year=1986|isbn=978-0-13-390360-7}}</ref> The flat and highly finished style of planned brushstrokes can be seen as pop art's reaction against the looseness of abstract expressionism.<ref name="HoMA">{{cite book| author = Arnason, H. H. | author2 = Daniel Wheeler | author3 = Marla F. Prather| title = History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography| edition = fourth| year = 1998| publisher = Harry N. Abrams, Inc.| isbn = 978-0-8109-3439-9| pages = | chapter = Pop Art and Europe's New Realism| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderna00arna_0/page/538}}</ref> Alastair Sooke says that the work can be interpreted as a symbolic self-portrait in which the pilot in the left panel represents Lichtenstein "vanquishing his competitors in a dramatic art-world dogfight" by firing a missile at the colorful "parody of abstract painting" in the right panel.<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat"/>
===Negative===
The ] controversially bought the work in 1966, paying art dealer ] £4,665 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|4665|1966}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} currency)—in spite of a reported 1966 market price of £5,382 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|5382|1966}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} currency). Some of the museum's trustees opposed the acquisition, among them the sculptor ], the painter ], and the critic ]. The Tate's director, ], said that the work aroused more public interest than any acquisition since World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/work-week-whaam-roy-lichtenstein|title=Work of the Week: Whaam! by Roy Lichtenstein|author=Holden, Duncan |publisher=]|accessdate=2013-07-19|date=2013-02-18}}</ref> The first Lichtenstein retrospective held at the gallery in 1967 attracted 52,000 visitors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Who+opposed+a+%C2%A34%2c665+Lichtenstein%3f/28512|title=Who opposed a £4,665 Lichtenstein?|author=Bailey, Martin|issue=243|accessdate=2013-02-19|date=2013-02-13|work=]}}</ref>


According to Ernesto Priego, while the work adapts a comic-book source, the painting is neither a comic nor a comics panel, and "its meaning is solely referential and ]." It directs the attention of its audience to features such as genre and printing methods. Visually and narratively, the original panel was the climactic element of a dynamic page composition. Lichtenstein emphasizes the onomatopoeia while playing down articulated speech by removing the speech balloon. According to Priego, "by stripping the comics panel from its narrative context, ''Whaam!'' is representative in the realm of fine art of the preference of the image-icon over image-narrative".<ref name=WBaFS/>
Lichtenstein's presentation of aerial combat is regarded as "dispassionate, detached and oddly disembodied" by McCarthy, who notes that Lichtenstein seemed intent upon scaling up a comic book image to history painting dimensions. This was in contrast to artists in whom the experience of the military conflict brought out a need to horrify or shock the audience, or both.<ref name=HWaW/>


''Whaam!'' is sometimes said to belong to the same anti-war genre as Picasso's '']'', a suggestion dismissed by Bradford R. Collins. Instead, Collins views the painting as a revenge fantasy against Lichtenstein's first wife Isabel, conceived as it was during their bitter divorce battle (the couple separated in 1961 and divorced in 1965).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Modern Romance: Lichtenstein's Comic Book Paintings|author=Collins, Bradford R.|journal=]|volume=17|issue=2|date=Summer 2003|pages=60–85|doi=10.1086/444691|jstor=3109436|s2cid=191600665}}</ref>
In ]'s documentary, when he attempted to get ] to talk about Lichtenstein's improvements to the work, Gibbons disagreed: "This to me looks flat and abstracted, to the point of view that to my eyes it's confusing. Whereas the original has got a three-dimensional quality to it, it's got a spontaneity to it, it's got an excitement to it, and a way of involving the viewer that this one lacks."<ref name=TPoL/>


==Legacy==
At the time of the 2013 Lichtenstein Retrospective at the ], '']'' critic Alastair Smart wrote a disparaging review in which he characterized ''Whaam!'' as an attempt to mimic abstract expressionism. Smart said the work was neither a positive commentary on the fighting American spirit nor a critique, but was notable for marking "Lichtenstein's incendiary impact on the US art scene".<ref name=smart/>
Marla F. Prather observed that ''Whaam!''{{'s}} grand scale and dramatic depiction contributed to its position as a historic work of pop art.<ref name=HoMA/> With '']'', Lichtenstein's other monumental war painting, ''Whaam!'' is regarded as the culmination of Lichtenstein's dramatic war-comics works, according to Diane Waldman.{{sfn|Waldman|1993|p=95}} It is widely described as either Lichtenstein's most famous work,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0319/p13s01-alar.html|title=Pop Art's one-hit wonder gets another look|access-date=2013-08-09|date=19 March 2004|work=]|author=Rice-Oxley, Mark|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021520/http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0319/p13s01-alar.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/may/09/whaam-roy-lichtensteins-comic-book-hour|title=Whaam! Prepare to be hit by Roy Lichtenstein's finest comic book hour|access-date=2013-08-09|date=9 May 2012|work=]|author=Jones, Jonathan|archive-date=21 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221012135/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/may/09/whaam-roy-lichtensteins-comic-book-hour|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Mb08WQEKWIC&q=Whaam!+iconic|title=Defining Moments in Art|isbn=978-1-84403-640-0|year=2008|page=515|publisher=]'', as one of his two most famous works.<ref>{{cite book| last = Cronin| first = Brian| title = Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent?: And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia!| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MBzPzzJwxwEC&pg=PA153| year = 2012| publisher = Penguin Books| isbn = 978-1-101-58544-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/02/18/lichtenstein-show-in-uk-goes-beyond-cartoon-classics/|title=Lichtenstein show in UK goes beyond cartoon classics|access-date=2013-06-08|date=18 February 2013|work=]|author=Collett-White, Mike|archive-date=30 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730221514/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-18/news/sns-rt-art-lichtensteinlondon-pix-tvl6n0bi7ai-20130218_1_roy-lichtenstein-lichtenstein-show-comic-books|url-status=live}}</ref> Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick describe it, along with Warhol's ] prints, as one of the most famous works of pop art.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Edgar, Andrew |author2=Peter Sedgwick |name-list-style=amp | title = Key Concepts in Cultural Theory| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xN6xg9KzXZ0C&pg=PA190| year = 1999| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-203-98184-9| page = 190| editor = Sedgwick, Peter and Andrew Edgar }}</ref> ] once linked the two iconic pop art images via his ] designs.<ref>{{cite book| last = Ball| first = Deborah| title = House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival| year = 2011| publisher = Crown Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-307-40652-1| quote = He translated one of Roy Lichtenstein's most famous paintings by putting giant letters spelling "WHAAM!" on a yellow clevore evening gown. He adorned a silk halter-neck gown with Andy Warhol's celebrated images of Marilyn Monroe&nbsp;...}}</ref> According to ], the '']'' used pictures of Warhol's Monroes and ''Whaam!'' to illustrate its Pop art entry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106012548346674800|title=Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes And Counting|access-date=2013-08-09|date=6 August 2003|work=]|author=Teachout, Terry|archive-date=13 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313143438/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106012548346674800|url-status=live}}</ref>


] created an alternate version of the Novick original with text that parodies Lichtenstein's work.]]
Some have alleged impropriety of image sourcing for ''Whaam!''<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat"/> but there has not been a copyright infringement lawsuit. <ref></ref>
Comic books were in turn affected by the cultural impact of pop art. By the mid-1960s, some comic books were displaying a new emphasis on garish colors, emphatic sound effects and stilted dialogue—the elements of comic book style that had come to be regarded as ]—in an attempt to appeal to older, college-age readers who appreciated pop art.<ref>{{cite book| last = Brooker| first = Will| title = Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA182| year = 2001| publisher = Bloomsbury Academic| isbn = 978-0-8264-1343-7| page = 182 }}</ref> Gravett observed that the "simplicity and outdatedness were ripe for being mocked".<ref name="TPoL">{{cite web|url=http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/article/the_principality_of_lichtenstein|title=The Principality of Lichtenstein: From 'WHAAM!' to 'WHAAT?'|access-date=2013-06-30|date=17 March 2013|author=Gravett, Paul|publisher=PaulGravett.com|archive-date=27 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827142354/http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/article/the_principality_of_lichtenstein|url-status=live}}</ref>


''Whaam!'' was one of the key works exhibited in a major Lichtenstein retrospective in 2012–2013 that was designed, according to Li-mei Hoang, to demonstrate "the importance of Lichtenstein's influence, his engagement with art history and his enduring legacy as an artist".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/09/21/pop-art-pioneer-lichtenstein-in-tate-modern-retrospective/|title=Pop art pioneer Lichtenstein in Tate Modern retrospective|access-date=2013-06-08|date=21 September 2012|work=]|author=Hoang, Li-mei|archive-date=3 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103111210/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-21/entertainment/sns-rt-us-art-britain-lichtensteinbre88k0oy-20120921_1_roy-lichtenstein-tate-modern-retrospective|url-status=live}}</ref> In his review of the Lichtenstein Retrospective at the ], ] of '']''—who was generally unenthusiastic about Lichtenstein's work—credited the work's title with accurately describing its graphic content: "Whaam! goes the painting, as the rocket hits, and the enemy fighter explodes in a livid, comic-book roar."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-tate-modern-retrospective|title=Roy Lichtenstein: too cool for school?|access-date=2013-06-15|date=18 February 2013|work=]|author=Searle, Adrian|archive-date=23 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423111857/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/18/roy-lichtenstein-tate-modern-retrospective|url-status=live}}</ref> '']'' critic Alastair Smart wrote a disparaging review in which he acknowledged Lichtenstein's reputation as a leading figure in "Pop Art's cheeky assault on the swaggering, self-important Abstract Expressionists", whose works Smart said ''Whaam!'' mimicked by its huge scale. Smart said the work was neither a positive commentary on the fighting American spirit nor a critique, but was notable for marking "Lichtenstein's incendiary impact on the US art scene".<ref name=smart/>
==Notes==

{{Reflist|30em}}
Detractors have raised concerns over Lichtenstein's ], in that he directly references imagery from other sources<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art/appropriation|title=Pop Art|access-date=2013-08-09|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411112534/https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art/appropriation/|url-status=live}}</ref> in ''Whaam!'' and other works of the period.<ref name="TPoL" /> Some have denigrated it as mere copying, to which others have countered that Lichtenstein altered his sources in significant, creative ways.<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat"/> In response to claims of plagiarism, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation has noted that publishers have never sued for ], and that they never raised the issue when Lichtenstein's comics-derived work first gained attention in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/05/11/connecting-the-dots-on-roy-lichtenstein-retrospective-at-art-institute/|work=]|access-date=2013-08-01|date=11 May 2012|title=Connecting the dots on Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at Art Institute: Is appropriation the sincerest form of flattery?|author=Borrelli, Christopher|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002143733/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-11/entertainment/ct-ae-0513-roy-lichtenstein-20120511_1_roy-lichtenstein-comic-art-lichtenstein-show/2|url-status=live}}</ref> Other criticism centers on Lichtenstein's failure to credit the original artists of his sources;<ref name="www.bbc.com 20130717-pop-artist-or-copy-cat"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/may/image-duplicator-pop-arts-comic-theft |title=Image Duplicator: pop art's comic debt |access-date=2013-06-18 |date=13 May 2013 |author=Steven, Rachael |work=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002013823/http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/may/image-duplicator-pop-arts-comic-theft |archive-date=2 October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/02/deconstructing-lichtenstein-source-comics-revealed-and-credited/ |title=Deconstructing Lichtenstein: Source Comics Revealed and Credited |access-date=2013-06-23 |date=2 February 2011 |author=Childs, Brian |publisher=Comics Alliance |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112223049/http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/02/deconstructing-lichtenstein-source-comics-revealed-and-credited/ |archive-date=12 January 2013 }}</ref> Ernesto Priego implicates National Periodicals in the case of ''Whaam!'', as the artists were never credited in the original comic books.<ref name=WBaFS/>

In ]'s 2013 ] documentary that took place in front of ''Whaam!'' at the Tate Modern, British comic book artist ] disputed Sooke's assertion that Lichtenstein's painting improved upon Novick's panel, saying: "This to me looks flat and abstracted, to the point of view that to my eyes it's confusing. Whereas the original has got a three-dimensional quality to it, it's got a spontaneity to it, it's got an excitement to it, and a way of involving the viewer that this one lacks."<ref name="TPoL"/> Gibbons has parodied Lichtenstein's derivation of the Novick work.<ref name="TPoL"/><ref name="bleedingcool.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/12/dave-gibbons-takes-on-roy-lichtenstein-for-the-hero-initiative-and-comica/ | title=Dave Gibbons Takes on Roy Lichtenstein for the HERO Initiative And Comica | work=] | date=12 April 2013 | access-date=27 September 2013 | author=Johnston, Rich | archive-date=2 October 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002215528/http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/12/dave-gibbons-takes-on-roy-lichtenstein-for-the-hero-initiative-and-comica/ | url-status=live }}</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
* ] * ]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}


==References== ==References==
Line 105: Line 142:
| first = Lawrence | first = Lawrence
| title = Roy Lichtenstein | title = Roy Lichtenstein
| url = https://archive.org/details/roylichtenstein0000allo
| url-access = registration
| year = 1983 | year = 1983
| publisher = ] | publisher = Abbeville Press
| isbn = 0-89659-331-2 | isbn = 978-0-89659-331-2
| ref = harv
}} }}
* {{cite book * {{cite book
Line 115: Line 153:
| title = Roy Lichtenstein: October Files | title = Roy Lichtenstein: October Files
| year = 2009 | year = 2009
| publisher = ] | publisher = MIT Press
| isbn = 978-0-262-01258-4 | isbn = 978-0-262-01258-4
| ref = harv
}} }}
**{{harvc |last=Judd |first=Donald |c=Reviews 1962–64 |in=Bader |year=2009}}
**{{harvc |last=Lobel |first=Michael |c=Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity |in=Bader |year=2009}}
* {{cite book * {{cite book
| editor-last = Coplans | editor-last = Coplans
| editor-first = John | editor-first = John
| title=Roy Lichtenstein | title=Roy Lichtenstein
| publisher=] | publisher=Praeger Publishers
| year=1972 | year=1972
| ref = harv | isbn = 978-0-7139-0761-2
}} }}
* {{cite book * {{cite book
Line 132: Line 171:
| others = Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts | others = Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
| title = Roy Lichtenstein | title = Roy Lichtenstein
| url = https://archive.org/details/roylich00wald
| chapter=War Comics, 1962–64
| year = 1993 | year = 1993
| publisher = ] | publisher = Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
| isbn = 0-89207-108-7 | isbn = 978-0-89207-108-1
| ref = harv
}} }}


==External links== ==External links==
* * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224163736/http://www.image-duplicator.com/main.php?work_id=0137&year=1963&decade=60 |date=24 December 2015 }}
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{{Roy Lichtenstein}} {{Roy Lichtenstein}}
{{Portal bar|Aviation|Comics|Visual arts}}


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Latest revision as of 07:35, 26 October 2024

Painting by Roy Lichtenstein "Whaam" redirects here. For the British pop duo, see Wham! For other uses, see Wham (disambiguation).

Whaam!
ArtistRoy Lichtenstein
Year1963
MediumMagna acrylic and oil on canvas
MovementPop art
Dimensions172.7 cm × 406.4 cm (68.0 in × 160.0 in)
LocationTate Modern, London

Whaam! is a 1963 diptych painting by the American artist Roy Lichtenstein. It is one of the best-known works of pop art, and among Lichtenstein's most important paintings. Whaam! was first exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1963, and purchased by the Tate Gallery, London, in 1966. It has been on permanent display at Tate Modern since 2006.

The left-hand panel shows a fighter plane firing a rocket that, in the right-hand panel, hits a second plane which explodes in flames. Lichtenstein adapted the image from several comic-book panels, with the primary source being a panel illustrated by Irv Novick from a 1962 war comic book. Lichtenstein transformed the source by presenting it as a diptych while altering the relationship of the graphical and narrative elements. Whaam! is regarded for the temporal, spatial and psychological integration of its two panels. The painting's title is integral to the action and impact of the painting, and displayed in large onomatopoeia in the right panel.

Lichtenstein studied as an artist before and after serving in the United States Army during World War II. He practiced anti-aircraft drills during basic training, and he was sent for pilot training but the program was canceled before it started. Among the topics he tackled after the war were romance and war. He depicted aerial combat in several works. Whaam! is part of a series on war that he worked on between 1962 and 1964, and along with As I Opened Fire (1964) is one of his two large war-themed paintings.

Background

In 1943 Lichtenstein left his study of painting and drawing at Ohio State University to serve in the U.S. Army, where he remained until January 1946. After entering training programs for languages, engineering, and piloting, all of which were canceled, he served as an orderly, draftsman and artist in noncombat roles. One of his duties at Camp Shelby was enlarging Bill Mauldin's Stars and Stripes cartoons. He was sent to Europe with an engineer battalion, but did not see active combat. As a painter, he eventually settled on an abstract-expressionist style with parodist elements. Around 1958 he began to incorporate hidden images of cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny into his abstract works.

A new generation of artists emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s with a more objective, "cool" approach characterized by the art movements known today as minimalism, hard-edge painting, color field painting, the neo-Dada movement, Fluxus, and pop art, all of which re-defined the avant-garde contemporary art of the time. Pop art and neo-Dada re-introduced and changed the use of imagery by appropriating subject matter from commercial art, consumer goods, art history and mainstream culture. Lichtenstein achieved international recognition during the 1960s as one of the initiators of the pop art movement in America. Regarding his use of imagery MoMA curator Bernice Rose observed that Lichtenstein was interested in "challenging the notion of originality as it prevailed at that time."

Lichtenstein in 1967

Lichtenstein's early comics-based works such as Look Mickey focused on popular animated characters. By 1963 he had progressed to more serious, dramatic subject matter, typically focusing on romantic situations or war scenes. Comic books as a genre were held in low esteem at the time. Public antipathy led in 1954 to examination of alleged connections between comic books and youth crime during Senate investigations into juvenile delinquency; by the end of that decade, comic books were regarded as material of "the lowest commercial and intellectual kind", according to Mark Thistlethwaite of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Lichtenstein was not a comic-book enthusiast as a youth, but was enticed as an artist by the challenge of creating art based on a subject remote from the typical "artistic image". Lichtenstein admitted he was "very excited about, and very interested in, the highly emotional content yet detached impersonal handling of love, hate, war, etc., in these cartoon images."

Lichtenstein's romance and war comic-based works took heroic subjects from small source panels and monumentalized them. Whaam! is comparable in size to the generally large canvases painted at that time by the abstract expressionists. It is one of Lichtenstein's many works with an aeronautical theme. He said that "the heroes depicted in comic books are fascist types, but I don't take them seriously in these paintings—maybe there is a point in not taking them seriously, a political point. I use them for purely formal reasons."

History

Whaam! adapts a panel by Irv Novick from the "Star Jockey" story from issue No. 89 of DC Comics' All-American Men of War (Feb. 1962). The original forms part of a dream sequence in which fictional World War II P-51 Mustang pilot Johnny Flying Cloud, "the Navajo ace", foresees himself flying a jet fighter while shooting down other jet planes. In Lichtenstein's painting, both the attacking and target planes are replaced by different types of aircraft. Paul Gravett suggests that Lichtenstein substituted the attacking plane with an aircraft from "Wingmate of Doom" illustrated by Jerry Grandenetti in the subsequent issue (#90, April 1962), and that the target plane was borrowed from a Russ Heath drawing in the third panel of page 3 of the "Aces Wild" story in the same issue No. 89. The painting also omits the speech bubble from the source in which the pilot exclaims "The enemy has become a flaming star!"

Original comic book panel from DC Comics' All-American Men of War No. 89 (Feb. 1962)

A smaller, single-panel oil painting by Lichtenstein around the same time, Tex!, has a similar composition, with a plane at the lower left shooting an air-to-air missile at a second plane that is exploding in the upper right, with a word bubble. The same issue of All-American Men of War was the inspiration for at least three other Lichtenstein paintings, Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!, Brattata and Blam, in addition to Whaam! and Tex! The graphite pencil sketch, Jet Pilot was also from that issue. Several of Lichtenstein's other comics-based works are inspired by stories about Johnny Flying Cloud written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Novick, including Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!, Jet Pilot and Von Karp.

Lichtenstein repeatedly depicted aerial combat between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the early and mid-1960s, he produced "explosion" sculptures, taking subjects such as the "catastrophic release of energy" from paintings such as Whaam! and depicting them in freestanding and relief forms. In 1963, he was parodying a variety of artworks, from advertising and comics and to "high art" modern masterpieces by Cézanne, Mondrian, Picasso and others. At the time, Lichtenstein noted that "the things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire."

Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition was held at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City, from 10 February to 3 March 1962. It sold out before its opening. The exhibition included Look Mickey, Engagement Ring, Blam and The Refrigerator. According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, Whaam! was part of Lichtenstein's second solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery from 28 September to 24 October 1963, that also included Drowning Girl, Baseball Manager, In the Car, Conversation, and Torpedo...Los! Marketing materials for the show included the lithograph artwork, Crak!

The Lichtenstein Foundation website says that Lichtenstein began using his opaque projector technique in 1962. in 1967 he described his process for producing comics-based art as follows:

I do them as directly as possible. If I am working from a cartoon, photograph or whatever, I draw a small picture—the size that will fit into my opaque projector ... I don't draw a picture in order to reproduce it—I do it in order to recompose it ... I go all the way from having my drawing almost like the original to making it up altogether.

Lichtenstein may have substituted this image for the attacking plane from the subsequent issue of DC Comics' All-American Men of War No. 90 (April 1962).

Whaam! was purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1966. In 1969, Lichtenstein donated his initial graphite-on-paper drawing Drawing for 'Whaam!', describing it as a "pencil scribble". According to the Tate, Lichtenstein claimed that this drawing represented his "first visualization of Whaam! and that it was executed just before he started the painting." Although he had conceived of a unified work of art on a single canvas, he made the sketch on two sheets of paper of equal size—measuring 14.9 cm × 30.5 cm (5.9 in × 12.0 in). The painting has been displayed at Tate Modern since 2006. In 2012–13, both works were included in the largest Lichtenstein retrospective yet exhibited, visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Modern in London and the Centre Pompidou.

Description

Whaam! depicts a fighter aircraft in the left panel firing a rocket into an enemy plane in the right panel, which disintegrates in a vivid red-and-yellow explosion. The cartoon style is emphasized by the use of the onomatopoeic lettering "WHAAM!" in the right panel, and a yellow-boxed caption with black lettering at the top of the left panel. The textual exclamation "WHAAM!" can be considered the graphic equivalent of a sound effect. This was to become a characteristic of his work—like others of his onomatopoeic paintings that contain exclamations such as Bratatat! and Varoom!

Whaam! is one of Lichtenstein's series of war images, typically combining vibrant colors with an expressive narrative. Whaam! is very large, measuring 1.7 m × 4.0 m (5 ft 7 in × 13 ft 4 in). It is less abstract than As I Opened Fire, another of his war scenes. Lichtenstein employs his usual comic-book style: stereotyped imagery in bright primary colors with black outlines, coupled with imitations of mechanical printer's Ben-Day dots. The use of these dots, which were invented by Benjamin Day to simulate color variations and shading, are considered Lichtenstein's "signature method". Whaam! departs from Lichtenstein's earlier diptychs such as Step-on-Can with Leg and Like New, in that the panels are not two variations of the same image.

Cropped and edited portion of Drawing for 'Whaam!' (1963). Lichtenstein marked sections of "Drawing" with color notations for the final work, such as the "w" for white in the above titular letters.Same portion of finished work, Whaam!, but the planned white letters were yellow, as rendered above.

Although Lichtenstein strove to remain faithful to the source images, he constructed his paintings in a traditional manner, starting with a sketch which he adjusted to improve the composition and then projected on to a canvas to make the finished painting. In the case of Whaam!, the sketch is on two pieces of paper, and the finished work is painted with Magna acrylic and oil paint on canvas. Although the transformation from a single-panel conception into a diptych painting occurred during the initial sketch, the final work varies from the sketch in several ways. The sketch suggests that the "WHAAM!" motif would be colored white, although it is yellow in the finished work. Lichtenstein enlarged the main graphical subject of each panel (the plane on the left and the flames on the right), bringing them closer together as a result.

Lichtenstein built up the image with multiple layers of paint. The paint was applied using a scrub brush and handmade metal screen to produce Ben-Day dots via a process that left physical evidence behind. The Ben-Day dots technique enabled Lichtenstein to give his works a mechanically reproduced feel. Lichtenstein said that the work is "supposed to look like a fake, and it achieves that, I think".

Lichtenstein split the composition into two panels to separate the action from its consequence. The left panel features the attacking plane—placed at a diagonal to create a sense of depth—below the text balloon, which Lichtenstein has relegated to the margin above the plane. In the right panel, the exploding plane—depicted head-on—is outlined by the flames, accompanied by the bold exclamation "WHAAM!". Although separate, with one panel containing the missile launch and the other its explosion, representing two distinct events, the two panels are clearly linked spatially and temporally, not least by the horizontal smoke trail of the missile. Lichtenstein commented on this piece in a 10 July 1967, letter: "I remember being concerned with the idea of doing two almost separate paintings having little hint of compositional connection, and each having slightly separate stylistic character. Of course there is the humorous connection of one panel shooting the other."

Lichtenstein altered the composition to make the image more compelling, by making the exploding plane more prominent compared to the attacking plane than in the original. The smoke trail of the missile becomes a horizontal line. The flames of the explosion dominate the right panel, but the pilot and the airplane in the left panel are the narrative focus. They exemplify Lichtenstein's painstaking detailing of physical features such as the aircraft's cockpit. The other element of the narrative content is a text balloon that contains the following text: "I pressed the fire control ... and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky ..." This is among the text believed to have been written by All-American Men of War editor Robert Kanigher. The yellow word "WHAAM!", altered from the red in the original comic-book panel and white in the pencil sketch, links the yellow of the explosion below it with the textbox to the left and the flames of the missile below the attacking plane.

Lichtenstein's borrowings from comics mimicked their style while adapting their subject matter. He explained that "Signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter. There are certain things that are usable, forceful and vital about commercial art." Rebecca Bengal at PBS wrote that Whaam!'s graphic clarity exemplifies the ligne claire style associated with Hergé, a cartoonist whose influence Lichtenstein acknowledged. Lichtenstein was attracted to using a cool, formal style to depict emotive subjects, leaving the viewer to interpret the artist's intention. He adopted a simplified color scheme and commercial printing-like techniques. The borrowed technique was "representing tonal variations with patterns of colored circles that imitated the half-tone screens of Ben Day dots used in newspaper printing, and surrounding these with black outlines similar to those used to conceal imperfections in cheap newsprint." Lichtenstein once said of his technique: "I take a cliche and try to organize its forms to make it monumental."

Reception

The painting was, for the most part, well received by art critics when first exhibited. A November 1963 Art Magazine review by Donald Judd described Whaam! as one of the "broad and powerful paintings" of the 1963 exhibition at Castelli's Gallery. In his review of the exhibition, The New York Times art critic Brian O'Doherty described Lichtenstein's technique as "typewriter pointillism ... that laboriously hammers out such moments as a jet shooting down another jet with a big BLAM". According to O'Doherty, the result was "certainly not art, time may make it so", depending on whether it could be "rationalized ... and placed in line for the future to assimilate as history, which it shows every sign of doing." The Tate Gallery in London acquired the work in 1966, leading to heated argument amongst their trustees and some vocal members of the public. The purchase was made from art dealer Ileana Sonnabend, whose asking price of £4,665 (£109,763 in 2024 currency) was reduced by negotiation to £3,940 (£92,704 in 2024 currency). Some Tate trustees opposed the acquisition, among them sculptor Barbara Hepworth, painter Andrew Forge and the poet and critic Herbert Read. Defending the acquisition, art historian Richard Morphet, then an assistant keeper at the Tate, suggested that the painting addresses several issues and painterly styles at the same time: "history painting, Baroque extravagance, and the quotidian phenomenon of mass-circulation comic strips." The Times in 1967 described the acquisition as a "very large and spectacular painting". The Tate's director, Norman Reid, later said that the work aroused more public interest than any of its acquisitions since World War II.

In 1968, Whaam! was included in the Tate's first solo exhibition of Lichtenstein's work. The showing attracted 52,000 visitors, and was organized with the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which later hosted the exhibition from 4 November to 17 December 1967, before it traveled to three other museums.

Analysis and interpretation

For José Pierre, Whaam! represents Lichtenstein's 1963 expansion "into the 'epic' vein". Keith Roberts, in a 1968 Burlington Magazine article, described the explosion as combining "art nouveau elegance with a nervous energy reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism". Wendy Steiner believes the work is Lichtenstein's most successful and harmonious comic-based composition. She sees the narrative and graphic elements as complementary: the action and spatial alignment lead the viewer's eye from left to right so as to emphasize the relationship between the action and its explosive consequence. The ellipses of the text balloon present a progression which culminates with a "WHAAM!". The "coincidence of pictorial and verbal order" are clear for the Western viewer with the explanatory text beginning in the upper left and action vector moving from the left foreground to the right background, culminating in a graphical explosion in tandem with a narrative exclamation. Steiner says the striking incongruity of the two panels—the left panel appearing to be "truncated", while the right depicts a centralized explosion—enhances the work's narrative power.

Graphite-pencil-on-paper drawing entitled Drawing for 'Whaam!' (1963), 14.9 cm × 30.5 cm (5.9 in × 12.0 in), was donated to the Tate in 1969. It shows the original plan was a single unified work.

Lichtenstein's technique has been characterized by Ernst A. Busche as "the enlargement and unification of his source material ... on the basis of strict artistic principles". Extracted from a larger narrative, the resulting stylized image became in some cases a "virtual abstraction". By recreating their minimalistic graphic techniques, Lichtenstein reinforced the artificial nature of comic strips and advertisements. Lichtenstein's magnification of his source material made his impersonally drawn motifs seem all the more empty. Busche also says that although a critique of modern industrial America may be read into these images, Lichtenstein "would appear to accept the environment as revealed by his reference material as part of American capitalist industrial culture".

David McCarthy contrasted Lichtenstein's "dispassionate, detached and oddly disembodied" presentation of aerial combat with the work of H.C. Westermann, for whom the experience of military service in World War II instilled a need to horrify and shock. In contrast, Lichtenstein registers his "comment on American civilization" by scaling up inches-high comic book images to the oversized dimensions of history painting. Laura Brandon saw an attempt to convey "the trivialization of culture endemic in contemporary American life" by depicting a shocking scene of combat as a banal Cold War act.

Carol Strickland and John Boswell say that by magnifying the comic book panels to an enormous size with dots, "Lichtenstein slapped the viewer in the face with their triviality." H. H. Arnason noted that Whaam! presents "limited, flat colors and hard, precise drawing," which produce "a hard-edge subject painting that documents while it gently parodies the familiar hero images of modern America." The flat and highly finished style of planned brushstrokes can be seen as pop art's reaction against the looseness of abstract expressionism. Alastair Sooke says that the work can be interpreted as a symbolic self-portrait in which the pilot in the left panel represents Lichtenstein "vanquishing his competitors in a dramatic art-world dogfight" by firing a missile at the colorful "parody of abstract painting" in the right panel.

According to Ernesto Priego, while the work adapts a comic-book source, the painting is neither a comic nor a comics panel, and "its meaning is solely referential and post hoc." It directs the attention of its audience to features such as genre and printing methods. Visually and narratively, the original panel was the climactic element of a dynamic page composition. Lichtenstein emphasizes the onomatopoeia while playing down articulated speech by removing the speech balloon. According to Priego, "by stripping the comics panel from its narrative context, Whaam! is representative in the realm of fine art of the preference of the image-icon over image-narrative".

Whaam! is sometimes said to belong to the same anti-war genre as Picasso's Guernica, a suggestion dismissed by Bradford R. Collins. Instead, Collins views the painting as a revenge fantasy against Lichtenstein's first wife Isabel, conceived as it was during their bitter divorce battle (the couple separated in 1961 and divorced in 1965).

Legacy

Marla F. Prather observed that Whaam!'s grand scale and dramatic depiction contributed to its position as a historic work of pop art. With As I Opened Fire, Lichtenstein's other monumental war painting, Whaam! is regarded as the culmination of Lichtenstein's dramatic war-comics works, according to Diane Waldman. It is widely described as either Lichtenstein's most famous work, or, along with Drowning Girl, as one of his two most famous works. Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick describe it, along with Warhol's Marilyn Monroe prints, as one of the most famous works of pop art. Gianni Versace once linked the two iconic pop art images via his gown designs. According to Douglas Coupland, the World Book Encyclopedia used pictures of Warhol's Monroes and Whaam! to illustrate its Pop art entry.

Dave Gibbons created an alternate version of the Novick original with text that parodies Lichtenstein's work.

Comic books were in turn affected by the cultural impact of pop art. By the mid-1960s, some comic books were displaying a new emphasis on garish colors, emphatic sound effects and stilted dialogue—the elements of comic book style that had come to be regarded as camp—in an attempt to appeal to older, college-age readers who appreciated pop art. Gravett observed that the "simplicity and outdatedness were ripe for being mocked".

Whaam! was one of the key works exhibited in a major Lichtenstein retrospective in 2012–2013 that was designed, according to Li-mei Hoang, to demonstrate "the importance of Lichtenstein's influence, his engagement with art history and his enduring legacy as an artist". In his review of the Lichtenstein Retrospective at the Tate Modern, Adrian Searle of The Guardian—who was generally unenthusiastic about Lichtenstein's work—credited the work's title with accurately describing its graphic content: "Whaam! goes the painting, as the rocket hits, and the enemy fighter explodes in a livid, comic-book roar." Daily Telegraph critic Alastair Smart wrote a disparaging review in which he acknowledged Lichtenstein's reputation as a leading figure in "Pop Art's cheeky assault on the swaggering, self-important Abstract Expressionists", whose works Smart said Whaam! mimicked by its huge scale. Smart said the work was neither a positive commentary on the fighting American spirit nor a critique, but was notable for marking "Lichtenstein's incendiary impact on the US art scene".

Detractors have raised concerns over Lichtenstein's appropriation, in that he directly references imagery from other sources in Whaam! and other works of the period. Some have denigrated it as mere copying, to which others have countered that Lichtenstein altered his sources in significant, creative ways. In response to claims of plagiarism, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation has noted that publishers have never sued for copyright infringement, and that they never raised the issue when Lichtenstein's comics-derived work first gained attention in the 1960s. Other criticism centers on Lichtenstein's failure to credit the original artists of his sources; Ernesto Priego implicates National Periodicals in the case of Whaam!, as the artists were never credited in the original comic books.

In Alastair Sooke's 2013 BBC Four documentary that took place in front of Whaam! at the Tate Modern, British comic book artist Dave Gibbons disputed Sooke's assertion that Lichtenstein's painting improved upon Novick's panel, saying: "This to me looks flat and abstracted, to the point of view that to my eyes it's confusing. Whereas the original has got a three-dimensional quality to it, it's got a spontaneity to it, it's got an excitement to it, and a way of involving the viewer that this one lacks." Gibbons has parodied Lichtenstein's derivation of the Novick work.

See also

Notes

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  78. Cronin, Brian (2012). Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent?: And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia!. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-58544-3.
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  81. Ball, Deborah (2011). House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-40652-1. He translated one of Roy Lichtenstein's most famous paintings by putting giant letters spelling "WHAAM!" on a yellow clevore evening gown. He adorned a silk halter-neck gown with Andy Warhol's celebrated images of Marilyn Monroe ...
  82. Teachout, Terry (6 August 2003). "Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes And Counting". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  83. Brooker, Will (2001). Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-8264-1343-7.
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  85. Searle, Adrian (18 February 2013). "Roy Lichtenstein: too cool for school?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  86. "Pop Art". Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  87. Borrelli, Christopher (11 May 2012). "Connecting the dots on Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at Art Institute: Is appropriation the sincerest form of flattery?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  88. Steven, Rachael (13 May 2013). "Image Duplicator: pop art's comic debt". Creative Review. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  89. Childs, Brian (2 February 2011). "Deconstructing Lichtenstein: Source Comics Revealed and Credited". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  90. Johnston, Rich (12 April 2013). "Dave Gibbons Takes on Roy Lichtenstein for the HERO Initiative And Comica". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.

References

External links

Roy Lichtenstein
Paintings
Sculptures
Murals
Other works
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