Roy Lichtenstein - Early Years

Early Years

Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City into an upper-middle-class Jewish family. His father, Milton, was a real estate broker, his mother, Beatrice Werner, a homemaker. He was raised on the Upper West Side and attended public school until the age of twelve. He then enrolled at New York's Franklin School for Boys, remaining there for his secondary education. Lichtenstein first became interested in art and design as a hobby, and through school. He was an avid jazz fan, often attending concerts at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He frequently drew portraits of the musicians playing their instruments. In his last year of high school, 1939, Lichtenstein enrolled in summer classes at the Art Students League of New York, where he worked under the tutelage of Reginald Marsh.