Roy Lichtenstein: Morton A. Mort (Black State)

Morton A. Mort (Black State) (1981) is one of seven prints from Roy Lichtenstein’s German Expressionist portfolio, the artist’s first major series of woodcuts. Made in collaboration with Gemini G.E.L., the series translates the style of early twentieth-century German Expressionism—exemplified by artists of the Die Brücke group such as Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Max Pechstein—into Lichtenstein’s distinctive Pop idiom. Lichtenstein was inspired by the extensive collection of German Expressionist graphic arts assembled by Robert Rifkind, which is now housed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The sole landscape in the series, Morton A. Mort interprets the alpine scenes, angular lines, and woodgrain motifs favored by the Die Brücke artists.