Torpedo...Los!: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 15:36, 22 June 2016

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Measuring {{convert|68|x|80|in|cm|1}}, ''Torpedo...Los!'' is an oil on canvas painting.<ref name=TLLF/> By enlarging the face of the captain relative to the entire field, Lichtenstein makes him more prominent than in the source.<ref name=RLDW/> He retained the source's "clumsiness" in how the secondary figure is presented and replaced the dialogue with a much shorter "cryptic command".<ref name=RLDW/> The original source had dialog related to the repeated torpedoing of the same ship, but Lichtenstein cut the entire speech balloon down to two words. He moved the captain's scar from his nose to his cheek and he made the captain appear more aggressive by depicting him with his mouth wide open, also opting to leave the eye which was not looking through the periscope open. He also made the ship appear to be more technologically sophisticated with a variety of changes.<ref name=PAES>{{cite book|title=Pop Art|author=Shanes, Eric|isbn=978-1-84484-619-1|page=97|date=2009|publisher=Parkstone Press International|chapter=The Plates}}</ref> The scar was actually most readily apparent in panels other than the source from the same story.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=117|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref>

This work exemplifies Lichtenstein's theme relating to vision. Lichtenstein uses a "mechanical viewing device" to present his depiction of technically aided vision.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roy Lichtenstein: All About Art |publisher=Louisiana Museum of Modern Art|editor=Holm, Michael Juul, |editor2=Poul Erik Tøjner and |editor3=Martin Caiger-Smith|date=2003|isbn=87-90029-85-2|page=85|chapter= Pop according To Lichtenstein |author=Lobel, Michael}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=120|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}, "Like ''Torpedo...LOS!'' and ''CRAK!'', each of these works contains the image of a mechanical aid to vision."</ref> The depicted mechanical device, a periscope in this case, forces the vision into a monocular format.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=119|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> In some of his works such as this, monocularity is a strong theme that is directly embodied although only by allusion.<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=116|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> Michael Lobel notes that "...his work proposes a dialectical tension between monocular and binocular modes of vision, a tension that operates on the level of gender as well."<ref>{{harvnb|Lobel|2009|page=118|loc="Technology Envisioned: Lichtenstein's Monocularity"}}</ref> The work is regarded as one in which Lichtenstein exaggerated comic book sound effects in common pop art style.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA182&dq=takka+takka+lichtenstein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=txTHUbnDGYXE9gSlloGIAQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=takka%20takka%20lichtenstein&f=false|title=Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon|accessdate=2013-06-23|date=2001|isbn=0826413439|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|author=Brooker, Will|page=182}}</ref>

==Reception==