Bull Head II

Roy Lichtenstein

1973

Color lithograph, screenprint, and line-cut on Arjomari paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A stylized bull's head is depicted in bold lines and flat colors. The composition is abstract and geometric, with sharp angles and curves. An early proponent of Pop art, Roy Lichtenstein sourced subjects for his paintings, drawings, and prints from popular and commercial culture, such as comic books and advertisements. He also drew inspiration from the history of art. In several series of prints he produced in the early 1970s, including Bull Head I-III, Lichtenstein portrayed the incremental progression of an image from representation to abstraction, using cows and bulls as subjects. Both the idea and imagery were derived from Pablo Picasso’s lithographic series The Bull (Le taureau), 1946, and Theo van Doesburg’s pencil studies for The Cow, 1916–17. Part homage and pa