His jokes were seldom caustic or off-color, like Claes Oldenburg's or Tom Wesselman's, and never Swiftian in their misanthropy, as James Rosenquist's political murals could be.

WSJ: Roy Lichtenstein | Cartoon Hero | By Richard B. Woodward

Growing up in the town of Busto Arsizio, about 40 minutes' drive northwest of Milan, he first discovered modern art at 13, when he happened on a book, Pop Art, by critic Lucy Lippard and discovered the work of artists like Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist.

WSJ: The Crown Prince of the Art World