Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Brushstrokes" in English language version.
Although there is a real connection between the Brushstrokes painting and Abstract Expressionism, the initial source for the series was a panel from the comic strip "The Painting" (fig. 127), in Charlton Comics' Strange Suspense Stories, no. 72 (October 1964). Brushstrokes (fig. 126), 1965, is a direct reprise of that panel. In this painting, a hand holding a brush is situated at the lower-left corner of the canvas while above it to the right are a few bold horizontal and vertical strokes of paint and scattered drips. Lichtenstein liked the summary rendering of the hand holding the brush and the way in which the cartoonist indicated paint. From this image he developed a series of works that explored various aspects of painting,...
Begun in the autumn of 1965, Lichtenstein's series of Brushstroke paintings was initiated after he saw a cartoon in Charlton Comics' Strange Suspense Stories. 72 (October 1964). One scene shows an exhausted yet relieved artist who has just completed a painting. This depicts two massive brushstrokes that take up the entire surface area. The absurdity of using a small paintbrush to create an image of two monumental brushstrokes was explored in many different variations. Transforming an expressive act that was mythologized for its immediacy and primal origins into a cartoon-like, mechanically produced-looking image, Lichtenstein created a reflexive commentary on gestural painting.
