Super Pre-Pop

Artist Philip Pearlstein has died. Ten years before Pop Art began to take hold, Andy Warhol’s friend and onetime roommate painted Superman.

Superman
Superman painting by Philip Pearlstein, 1952

It’s like a “Picture of Dorian Gray” version of H.J. Ward’s 1940 Superman painting.

For more — much more — background on the Ward painting:

https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/the-mystery-of-the-missing-man-of-steel/

https://kleinletters.com/Blog/a-stanley-kaye-superman-painting-mystery-part-1/

https://kleinletters.com/Blog/a-stanley-kaye-superman-painting-mystery-part-2/