The following information about the piece and Lichtenstein is from the Hirshhorn Museum's Website:
The model for “Brushstroke” was completed in 1996. The artist attended to every detail of its future realization before his death, making it one of the last examples of Lichtenstein’s ongoing engagement with the brushstroke motif. As early as the mid-1960s, Lichtenstein (1923-1997) featured brushstrokes in both paintings and sculpture, isolating the spontaneous gesture of painters—like Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline from the preceding Abstract Expressionist generation—as a stylized Pop symbol. A full-size proof of the work was temporarily on view at Seagram’s Plaza in New York City in 2000.
Lichtenstein, who emerged with Robert Indiana, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol and others in the early 1960s, contributed to the development of American Pop art with his paintings of comic-book action and melodramatic scenes. Using his characteristic combination of primary colors and enlarged dots of color (used in commercial half-tone printing processes), Lichtenstein also took the history of art as his subject, referring to the works of Monet, Picasso and other renowned artists in his paintings.
The artist began creating large-scale sculptures of painted aluminum in the 1980s. Other monumental brushstroke sculptures can be found in Paris; Tokyo; Singapore; Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and several locations in New York.
Lichtenstein is further represented in the Hirshhorn collection by two paintings, two sculptures and 29 works on paper. The original model of the museum’s “Brushstroke” will be on view at the time of the installation and dedication.
The Hirshhorn, which currently serves an estimated 700,000 visitors annually, opened on Oct. 1, 1974, as a result of one individual’s collecting efforts and generous gift. Philanthropist Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981) donated his extensive personal collection of modern and contemporary art to the United States via the Smithsonian Institution in 1966. The museum’s rapidly growing permanent collection now includes 11,500 paintings, sculptures, mixed-media installations and works on paper.
The Hirshhorn Museum is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week (closed Christmas Day). The museum is located at Independence Avenue and Seventh Street S.W. By Metrorail, take the L’Enfant Plaza Metro stop and exit at Maryland Avenue and Seventh Street. Admission to the museum is free.