The Charge 1948 - 1949

Roy Lichtenstein made this artwork, The Charge, using a combination of crayon and pastel, and what's interesting is how he approaches the making process. It’s a real departure for someone known for clean lines and bold colors. The layering of color in this drawing is so evident and gives the work a textured surface, and it's amazing how he manages to construct this bizarre figure with these simple materials. Look at how the pink pastel bleeds into the blue, a real sense of the hand. I'm drawn to the figure at the top of the image. What does it all mean? Who knows?! And that's OK. This feels almost like a Cy Twombly, someone else not afraid to make marks and leave them visible! It shows the magic of art – embracing ambiguity and sparking our imaginations rather than giving us all the answers.