White paint and an exemplary installation currently give the Hayward Gallery an of-our-own-time presence. But the paintings by Roy Lichtenstein which line the walls - the early ones anyway - are now so well established as an ironic commentary on pop culture that they read as decoration, as conventional and period-flavoured in their way as chintz.[*] The general effect of the show is cool and spacious. You could be in a fashion store which has decided to go retro and jazz up the decor. To see more than decorative wit you must try to think of the moment in 1962 when Lichtenstein's show of enlarged frames from war comics and romance comics at the Leo Castelli Gallery put out the news that another artist - he was not well known - had taken a sharp turn off the path most American high art was following.

LRB 18 March 2004 | PDF Download