This is a reproduction of the painting by Roy Lichtenstein "As I Opened Fire" (1964).
This piece is from one of several editions of over 3,000 printed after 1966, published by the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
First printed in 1966 and again in 1974, 1983, 1988, 1990 and 1991.
This triptych drew from the comic book "All American Men of War". Depicting a short few
seconds during an aircraft battle, the painting is based on three panels of the original narrative
which Lichtenstein has altered to improve its formal coherence. We see successive tighter views
of the gun muzzles in action accompanied by an onomatopoeia, which provides cinematic flow
despite the varying skies.
As I Opened Fire is regarded as a "very uncompromising military triptych".
Lichtenstein commented on his war imagery: "A minor purpose of my war paintings is to put
military aggressiveness in an absurd light. My personal opinion is that much of our foreign policy
has been unbelievably terrifying, but this is not what my work is about and I don't want to
capitalise on this popular position. My work is more about our American definition of images and
visual communication".
