Lichtenstein Sculptures Get a Facelift at the Parrish Art Museum

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill is home to thousands of works by acclaimed artists. One of them is Roy Lichtenstein, the beloved pop artist who lived in Southampton and used comic book-style coloring and details to create eye-catching imagery. That famous style was applied beyond the canvas as Lichtenstein also used it to design various sculptures throughout his career.

If you’ve ever wanted to see Lichtenstein’s trademark style in the third dimension, you can swing by the Parrish and see it in person. “Tokyo Brushstroke I & II” are the first works of art that greet guests pulling into the museum’s entrance. Created in 1994, the two Lichtenstein sculptures have been on view at the Parrish since 2014 as part of a long-term loan from The Fuhrman Family Foundation, but because these works are located outdoors, they have been exposed to the elements for a decade.

So recently, the pair of Lichtenstein sculptures received a facelift. Last month, the Parrish re-debuted “Tokyo Brushstroke I & II” after collaborating with Two Sticks Inc., a New York-based conservation studio specializing in modern and contemporary art, and American Stripping Co., a blast cleaning and specialty painting company, to restore the sculptures over the fall. The vibrant displays are now back to standing tall in the Bacon Family South Meadow west of the Parrish’s entrance.

In a recent interview, Corinne Erni, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman chief curator of art and education and deputy director of curatorial affairs at the Parrish Art Museum, explained that the project to refurbish the pieces was undertaken with the museum’s understanding that these kinds of sculptures require refreshing every 10 years. The restoration work took three to four months and had to be completed prior to the bitter cold of winter setting in.

Great care and precision were required for this job, but those are common tactics applied by American Stripping Co. out of Virginia. James Sejd, co-founder and president of ASCo, said the project began in late September and involved him and other ASCo staffers spending about six weeks at the Parrish before the work was completed in early November. While other restoration projects involve stripping a sculpture’s old paint completely, Sejd said his team determined that the original paint of the Lichtenstein sculptures still had good adhesion and only needed to be painted over with fresh colors that matched the original. He added that paint stripping was done only in local areas that required paint removal back to bare metal surfaces.

“All previously painted surfaces were aggressively, mechanically sanded to remove failed or otherwise aged paint,” he explained. “It was a very detailed process of matching the colors. We had to be very specific to the Lichtenstein art that was chosen many years ago. It’s important that the artist’s intent comes forward.”

Sejd said that seven colors were included in the process of painting and masking the sculptures. Since the project began so late in the painting season, the team had to factor both cold temperatures and dew conditions into the process of preserving the precise edges and smooth color transitions in the work. He credits his team, Erni and Two Sticks for ensuring Lichtenstein’s original vision was met in the restoration.

“Through a lot of hard work and experience, you get all those small details right,” Sejd said. “All those little lines blend together and work perfectly.”

Two Sticks is also well-versed in sculpture restoration, especially when it comes to Lichtenstein’s work. Roger Griffith, conservator and president of Two Sticks, said that the company has been working with the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation for over 20 years and was able to find the precise color swatches that were originally used on the sculptures. Griffith added that it took three weeks to acquire and approve the paints with said specific swatches for the sculptures.

“He did many, many of these, what he called, the Brushstroke series,” Griffith said of Lichtenstein. “What’s interesting is the ‘Tokyo Brushstroke’ ... it’s one of the beginnings of the very large-scale [pieces]. These are 33-foot high sculptures. He started working on these in the 1990s. Before that, he only worked on more human-scale and then started scaling them up.”

And now, both sculptures are totally refurbished and once again standing sentential in all their vibrant hues at the entrance of the Parrish Art Museum.

“‘Tokyo Brushstroke I & II’ are the perfect sculptures for a museum: They are a monument to the essence of art — something that is ephemeral, yet fundamentally important for a painter: the genius of the brushstroke,” Erni said. “The shapes and colors are awe-inspiring and joyful — they attract visitors to come closer and awaken curiosity about what’s here.”

Roy Lichtenstein has a long history on the East End. The artist and his wife, Dorothy, who died last July, were year-round residents of Southampton starting in 1970. The Parrish has organized multiple Lichtenstein exhibitions of over the years, including a 1982 exhibition of work spanning from the 1950s to the early 1980s, and a 2006 display of the artist’s paintings with Native American artifacts from the Montclair Art Museum. The Parrish’s most recent Lichtenstein exhibition was in 2021 and it showcased some of his overlooked early works dating all the way back to 1948.

“There’s something about [Roy’s] work that just makes you feel happy,” Glenn Fuhrman, co-founder of The Fuhrman Family Foundation, said in an interview. “There’s something about the bright colors, the playful nature of it, the way he takes a simple brushstroke that everybody from childhood to adulthood understands and makes it into a sculptural object. When you see them in that giant scale in those bright colors, it just brings a smile to your face. There is some degree of awe that comes when you look at something in that scale, especially right next to the highway in this beautiful field next to this architectural masterpiece that the museum is. The juxtaposition of all of those things enhances the appreciation of the work.”

“I am thrilled that these spectacular sculptures have been returned to their original vibrant glory thanks to the incredible generosity of The Fuhrman Family Foundation and an amazing team,” noted Erni in a release. “Roger Griffith, Conservator, Two Sticks Inc. ensured the right colors were used, and James Sejd’s crew from ASCo did a remarkable job restoring the sculptures.

“It was a challenging undertaking and required the utmost professionalism and attention to detail — all while working from three-story high scaffolding,” she added. “We are also grateful to the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation for their guidance.”

The Parrish Art Museum is at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. For more information, visit parrishart.org.