I'm Dickinson, He's Lichtenstein

"I'm Dickinson, He's Lichtenstein" Exhibit

Roy Lichtenstein’s pop-art masterpieces are easily recognizable, but few people know that it was his fascination and interest in the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson that inspired his work. The "I'm Dickinson, He's Lichtenstien" exhibit at the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) will highlight this influence with many of LIchtenstein's most famous works.

The exhibit will be on display from March 1 through March 31, 2013. It will then travel to the Art Institute in Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

"Oh, what a problem bending"

Lichtenstein’s painting, “Oh, what a problem – Bending” (shown at the left) opens the exhibit.

During a family gathering in the early 1960s, Lichtenstein’s mother quoted a line from a Dickinson poem when she hunched over to pick up a Mickey Mouse comic book her grandson had dropped on the floor. “Oh, what a problem – bending,”she grunted as she retrieved the book. Lichtenstein memorialized the occasion in a painting, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Oh, What A Problem - Bending!

Oh, what a problem – Bending!
A sizeable problem, when old.
Larger am I –Pleated
When forced to Fold.

I check my unjoined laces –
My figure – Double Ply –
Creased at the Waistline –
I’ll rise – by-and-by.

~ Emmett Lee Dickinson
(Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request)

Influence on Third-Cousin Emily:

Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "Oh, what a problem – Bending!" influenced his third cousin, Emily, to write the following poem:

Low at my problem bending,
Another problem comes –
Larger than mine – Serener –
Involving statelier sums.

I check my busy pencil,
My figures file away,
Wherefore, my baffled fingers
Thy perplexity?

"Will Someone Feed My Cats For Me?"

The line included in the painting at the left comes from Dickinson’s poem, “When Memory is lost”:

When Memory is lost
And lucid Thought is spent –
Will someone feed my cats for me
And bear my monthly rent –

His poem prompted third-cousin Emily Dickinson to pen a similar poem:

When Memory is full
Put on the perfect Lid –
This Morning’s finest syllable
Presumptuous Evening said –

The Influence of E L Dickinson

Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Debt" was highlighted in LIchtenstein's masterpiece on the left, and it also led to third-cousin Emily's poem, "Because I could not stop for Death."

Dickinson's poem "There's a certain Slant of Art" is inlcuded in the Lichtenstein work on the right, and it prompted Emily's poem "There's a certain Slant of Light."

Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City in 1923, raised on the Upper West Side, and attended public school until the age of twelve.

He then enrolled at New York's Emmett Lee Dickinson Academy for Boys, remaining there for his secondary education.

Lichtenstein credits the influence of Dickinson’s poetry with revitalizing his work. He used lines from many of Dickinson’s poems

To the right: Lichtenstein's "Advance is my ambition" based on Emmett Lee Dickinon's poem by the same name.

I dwell on past abilities –
As farther Years I feel –
More numerous of Twinges –
Inferior – of Zeal –

As Cognitive knack recedes –
Imperiled of Eye –
With deteriorating Tooth –
The Grapple with the Spry

Of Vigor – the faintest –
For Adaptation – This –
The spreading wide of narrow Hips
That swell a Pair of tights –

~ Emmett Lee Dickinson
(Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed
at her request)

I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of Eye –
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –

~ Emily Dickinson