MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.- The Montclair Art Museum will present Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters, October 16, 2005-January 8, 2006. Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters will feature a virtually unknown group of early and later paintings and works on paper by leading Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein that were inspired by his appreciation of Native American art. They are primarily loans from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. They include works on paper created during the 1950’s when he was living in Cleveland. These early works reflect Lichtenstein’s interests in European modernism (Picasso, Miro, Klee) as well as Native American art. The later works include a sketchbook dated 1979, which is full of Native American images based on motifs from textiles, ceramics, beadwork, quillwork, and baskets, often culled from books on American Indian design in his own library. Also featured will be a major series of Surrealist-Pop paintings from 1979 based on Native American themes, perhaps stimulated by his experiences in Southampton residing near a Shinnecock Indian reservation. For Lichtenstein, Native American art provided a historical base for American art, reminiscent of African art’s relationship to European modernism. Curated by Twig Johnson and Gail Stavitsky. A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany this show with essays by Johnson and Stavitsky. It will be distributed by Rutgers University Press.