# 5795 - 2023 First-Class Forever Stamp - Paintings by Roy Liechtenstein: Still Life With Goldfish, 1972

U.S. #5795
2023 Still Life with Goldfish – Roy Lichtenstein

• Part of a set of 5 stamps honoring American artist Roy Lichtenstein
• Pictures Lichtenstein’s painting “Still Life with Goldfish” 

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Value:  63¢ First Class Mail (Forever)
First Day of Issue:  April 24, 2023
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued:  18,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset, Flexographic
Format:  Pane of 20
Tagging:  Phosphor tagged paper, block

Why the stamp was issued:  To commemorate Roy Lichtenstein with one of his more famous works of art.

About the stamp design:  Pictures Lichtenstein’s oil and magna on canvas painting “Still Life with Goldfish” (1972).

First Day City:  The stamps were issued April 24, 2023, in New York City, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

About the Roy Lichtenstein set:  Set of five stamps celebrating the works of one of the most well-known American artists of the pop movement – Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).  Each stamp pictures a different work by Lichtenstein:

“Standing Explosion (Red)” (porcelain enamel on steel sculpture, 1965)
“Modern Painting I” (oil on magna on canvas, 1966)
“Still Life with Crystal Bowl” (oil and magna on canvas, 1972)
“Still Life with Goldfish” (oil and magna on canvas, 1972)
“Portrait of a Woman” (oil and magna on linen, 1979)

The selvage of the pane of 20 pictures a photograph of Lichtenstein taken by Bob Adelman along with an image of Lichtenstein’s 1983 sculpture “Brushtrokes in Flight.”

History the stamp represents:  Throughout his career, Roy Lichtenstein took inspiration from a variety of sources.  These include art styles, artists, and even his own artwork.

In finding his artistic voice, Lichtenstein did what artists have done for centuries – he painted the works of those that came before.  While it had long been the practice to paint direct copies ( to learn techniques), Lichtensteain created pop art versions of classic images.  At times, he re-created paintings, such as Emmanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s famed Washington Crossing the Delaware.  He frequently adapted the works of Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, and Willem de Kooning.  He also produced pop art explorations of Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism.

Additionally, Lichtenstein experimented with new takes on classic subject matter, such as still lifes.  In the 1970s, he created a series of life-sized paintings depicting his studio, inspired by Henri Matisse’s 1911 Studio paintings.  These massive works picture some of his famed and lesser-known pieces, some at actual size.  And one even showed an unfinished painting he wouldn’t release for another 20 years.

It's been said that Lichtenstein “systematically dismantle[d] the history of modern art.”  But it wasn’t out of disrespect.  In fact, he said, “The things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire.”