Roy Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s, his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the basic premise of pop art better than any other through parody.^[2] Favoring the old-fashioned comic strip as subject matter, Lichtenstein produced hard-edged, precise compositions that documented while it parodied often in a tongue-in-cheek humorous manner. His work was heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the comic book style. He described Pop Art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting".^[3]

Early years[link]

Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York into an upper-middle-class Jewish New York City^[1] family and attended public school until the age of 12. He then enrolled at New York's Franklin School for Boys, remaining there for his secondary education. Lichtenstein first became interested in art and design as a hobby, and through school.^[4] He was an avid jazz fan, often attending concerts at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.^[4] He frequently drew portraits of the musicians playing their instruments.^[4] After graduation from Franklin, Lichtenstein enrolled in summer classes at the Art Students League of New York, where he worked under the tutelage of Reginald Marsh.^[5]

Lichtenstein then left New York to study at the Ohio State University, which offered studio courses and a degree in fine arts.^[1] His studies were interrupted by a three-year stint in the army during and after World War II between 1943 and 1946.^[1] After being in training programs for languages, engineering, and pilot training; all of which were cancelled, he served as an orderly, draftsman, and artist.^[1] Lichtenstein returned home to visit his dying father and was discharged from the army with eligibility for the G.I. Bill.^[4] He returned to studies in Ohio under the supervision of one of his teachers, Hoyt L. Sherman, who is widely regarded to have had a significant impact on his future work (Lichtenstein would later name a new studio he funded at OSU as the Hoyt L. Sherman Studio Art Center).^[6] Lichtenstein entered the graduate program at Ohio State and was hired as an art instructor, a post he held on and off for the next ten years. In 1949 Lichtenstein received a M.F.A. degree from the Ohio State University and in the same year married Isabel Wilson (divorced in 1965) who was previously married to Ohio artist Michael Sarisky.^[7] In 1951 Lichtenstein had his first one-man exhibition at the Carlebach Gallery in New York.^[1][8] He moved to Cleveland in the same year, where he remained for six years, although he frequently traveled back to New York. During this time he undertook jobs as varied as a draftsman to a window decorator in between periods of painting.^[1] His work at this time fluctuated between Cubism and Expressionism.^[4] In 1954, his first son, David Hoyt Lichtenstein, now a songwriter, was born. He then had his second son, Mitchell Lichtenstein in 1956.^[9] In 1957, he moved back to upstate New York and began teaching again.^[3] It was at this time that he adopted the Abstract Expressionism style, a late convert to this style of painting.^[10] Lichtenstein began teaching in upstate New York at the State University of New York at Oswego in 1958. However, the brutal upstate winters were taking a toll on him and his wife.^[11] He married his second wife, Dorothy Herzka in 1968.^[12] From 1970 until his death, Lichtenstein split his time between New York city and a house near the beach in Southampton.^[13]

Rise to fame[link]

In 1960, he started teaching at Rutgers University where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow, who was also a teacher at the University. This environment helped reignite his interest in Proto-pop imagery.^[1] In 1961, Lichtenstein began his first pop paintings using cartoon images and techniques derived from the appearance of commercial printing. This phase would continue to 1965, and included the use of advertising imagery suggesting consumerism and homemaking.^[4] His first work to feature the large-scale use of hard-edged figures and Ben-Day dots was Look Mickey (1961, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.).^[14] This piece came from a challenge from one of his sons, who pointed to a Mickey Mouse comic book and said; "I bet you can't paint as good as that, eh, Dad?"^[15] In the same year he produced six other works with recognizable characters from gum wrappers and cartoons.^[16] In 1961, Leo Castelli started displaying Lichtenstein's work at his gallery in New York. Lichtenstein had his first one-man show at the Castelli gallery in 1962; the entire collection was bought by influential collectors before the show even opened.^[1] A group of paintings produced between 1961-1962 focussed on solitary household objects such as sneakers, hot dogs, and golf balls.^[17] In September 1963 he took a leave of absence from his teaching position at Douglass College at Rutgers.^[18]

Fame[link]

It was at this time, that Lichtenstein began to find fame not just in America but worldwide. He moved back to New York to be at the center of the art scene and resigned from Rutgers University in 1964 to concentrate on his painting.^[19] Lichtenstein used oil and Magna paint in his best known works, such as Drowning Girl (1963), which was appropriated from the lead story in DC Comics' Secret Hearts #83. (Drowning Girl now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.^[20]) Also featuring thick outlines, bold colors and Ben-Day dots to represent certain colors, as if created by photographic reproduction. Lichtenstein would say of his own work: Abstract Expressionists "put things down on the canvas and responded to what they had done, to the color positions and sizes. My style looks completely different, but the nature of putting down lines pretty much is the same; mine just don't come out looking calligraphic, like Pollock's or Kline's."^[21]

Rather than attempt to reproduce his subjects, his work tackled the way mass media portrays them. Lichtenstein would never take himself too seriously however: "I think my work is different from comic strips- but I wouldn't call it transformation; I don't think that whatever is meant by it is important to art".^[22] When his work was first released, many art critics of the time challenged its originality. His work was harshly criticized as vulgar and empty. The title of a Life magazine article in 1964 asked, “Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?”^[23] Lichtenstein responded to such claims by offering responses such as the following: "The closer my work is to the original, the more threatening and critical the content. However, my work is entirely transformed in that my purpose and perception are entirely different. I think my paintings are critically transformed, but it would be difficult to prove it by any rational line of argument".^[24] He discussed experiencing this heavy criticism in interview with April Bernard and Mimi Thompson in 1986. Suggesting that it was at times difficult to be criticized, Lichtenstein said, “I don’t doubt when I’m actually painting, it’s the criticism that makes you wonder, it does.”^[25]

In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein reproduced masterpieces by Cézanne, Mondrian and Picasso before embarking on the Brushstroke series in 1965.^[26] Lichtenstein continued to revisit this theme later in his career with works such as Bedroom at Arles that derived from Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles.

His most famous image is arguably Whaam! (1963, Tate Modern, London^[27]), one of the earliest known examples of pop art, adapted a comic-book panel from a 1962 issue of DC Comics' All-American Men of War.^[28] The painting depicts a fighter aircraft firing a rocket into an enemy plane, with a red-and-yellow explosion. The cartoon style is heightened by the use of the onomatopoeic lettering "Whaam!" and the boxed caption "I pressed the fire control... and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky..." This diptych is large in scale, measuring 1.7 x 4.0 m (5 ft 7 in x 13 ft 4 in).^[27]

Lichtenstein began experimenting with sculpture around 1964, demonstrating a knack for the form that was at odds with the insistent flatness of his paintings. For Head of Girl (1964), and Head with Red Shadow (1965), he collaborated with a ceramicist who sculpted the form of the head out of clay. Lichtenstein then applied a glaze to create the same sort of graphic motifs that he used in his paintings; the application of black lines and Ben-day dots to three-dimensional objects resulted in a flattening of the form^[29]

Most of his best-known artworks are relatively close, but not exact, copies of comic book panels, a subject he largely abandoned in 1965. (He would occasionally incorporate comics into his work in different ways in later decades.) These panels were originally drawn by such comics artists as Jack Kirby and DC Comics artists Russ Heath, Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick, and Jerry Grandenetti, who rarely received any credit. Jack Cowart, executive director of the Lichtenstein Foundation, contests the notion that Lichtenstein was a copyist, saying: "Roy's work was a wonderment of the graphic formulae and the codification of sentiment that had been worked out by others. The panels were changed in scale, color, treatment, and in their implications. There is no exact copy."^[30] However, some^[31] have been critical of Lichtenstein's use of comic-book imagery and art pieces, especially insofar as that use has been seen as endorsement of a patronizing view of comics by the art mainstream;^[31] noted comics author Art Spiegelman commented that "Lichtenstein did no more or less for comics than Andy Warhol did for soup."^[31]

In 1966, Lichtenstein moved on from his much-celebrated imagery of the early 1960s, and began his Modern Paintings series, including over 60 paintings and accompanying drawings. Using his characteristic Ben Day dots and geometric shapes and lines, he rendered incongruous, challenging images out of familiar architectural structures, patterns borrowed from Art Déco and other subtly evocative, often sequential, motifs.^[32] The Modern Sculpture series of 1967–8 made reference to motifs from Art Déco architecture.^[33]

Later work[link]

In 1970, Lichtenstein was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (within its Art and Technology program developed between 1967 and 1971) to make a film. With the help of Universal Film Studios, the artist conceived of, and produced, Three Landscapes, a film of marine landscapes, directly related to a series of collages with landscape themes he created between 1964 and 1966.^[34] Although Lichtenstein had planned on producing 15 short films, the three-screen installation — made with New York-based independent filmmaker Joel Freedman — turned out to be the artist's only venture into the medium.^[35]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Lichtenstein's style began to loosen and he expanded on what he had done before. Lichtenstein began a series of Mirrors paintings in 1969. By 1970, while continuing on the Mirrors series, he started work on the subject of entablatures. The Entablatures consisted of a first series of paintings from 1971-72, followed by a second series in 1974-76, and the publication of a series of relief prints in 1976.^[36] He produced a series of "Artists Studios" which incorporated elements of his previous work. A notable example being Artist's Studio, Look Mickey (1973, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) which incorporates five other previous works, fitted into the scene.^[1]

In the late 1970s, this style was replaced with more surreal works such as Pow Wow (1979, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen). A major series of Surrealist-Pop paintings from 1979–81 is based on Native American themes.^[37] These works range Amerind Figure (1981), a stylized life-size sculpture reminiscent of a streamlined totem pole in black-patinated bronze, to the monumental wool tapestry Amerind Landscape (1979). The "Indian" works took their themes, like the other parts of the Surrealist series, from contemporary art and other sources, including books on American Indian design from Lichtenstein's small library.^[38]

Lichtenstein's Still Life paintings, sculptures and drawings, which span from 1972 through the early 1980s, cover a variety of motifs and themes, including the most traditional such as fruit, flowers, and vases.^[39] In his Reflection series, produced between 1988 and 1990, Lichtenstein reused his own motifs from previous works.^[40] Interiors (1991-1992) is a series of works depicting banal domestic environments inspired by furniture ads the artist found in telephone books or on billboards.^[41] Having garnered inspiration from the monochromatic prints of Edgar Degas featured in a 1994 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the motifs of his Landscapes in the Chinese Style series are formed with simulated Benday dots and block contours, rendered in hard, vivid color, with all traces of the hand removed.^[42] The nude is a recurring element in Lichtenstein's work of the 1990s, such as in Collage for Nude with Red Shirt (1995).

In addition to paintings and sculptures, Lichtenstein also made over 300 prints, mostly in screenprinting.^[43]

He died of pneumonia in 1997^[15] at New York University Medical Center. He was survived by his second wife, Dorothy, and by his sons, David and Mitchell, from his first marriage.

Commissions[link]

In 1969, Lichtenstein was commissioned by Gunter Sachs to create Composition and Leda and the Swan, for the collector's famous Pop Art bedroom suite at the Palace Hotel in Sankt Moritz. In the late 1970s and during the 1980s, Lichtenstein received major commissions for works in public places: the sculptures Lamp (1978) in St. Mary’s, Georgia; Mermaid (1979) in Miami Beach; the 26 feet tall Brushstrokes in Flight (1984, moved in 1998) at Port Columbus International Airport; the five-storey high Mural with Blue Brushstrokes (1984–85) at the Equitable Center, New York; and El Cap de Barcelona (1992) in Barcelona.^[33] In 1994, Lichtenstein created the 53-foot-long, enamel-on-metal Times Square Mural that now hovers over pedestrians in the Times Square subway station.^[44] In 1977, he was commissioned by BMW to paint a Group 5 Racing Version of the BMW 320i for the third installment in the BMW Art Car Project. The DreamWorks Records logo was his last completed project.^[1] "I'm not in the business of doing anything like that (a corporate logo) and don't intend to do it again," allows Lichtenstein. "But I know Mo Ostin and David Geffen and it seemed interesting."^[45]

Relevance[link]

Pop art continues to influence the 21st century. Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol were used in U2's 1997, 1998 PopMart Tour and in an exhibition in 2007 at the British National Portrait Gallery.

Among many other works of art destroyed in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, a painting from Lichtenstein’s The Entablature Series was destroyed in the subsequent fire.^[46]

His work Crying Girl was one of the artworks brought to life in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Exhibitions[link]

In 1964, Lichtenstein became the first American to exhibit at the Tate Gallery, London, on the occasion of the show "'54–'64: Painting and Sculpture of a Decade". In 1967, his first museum retrospective exhibition was held at the Pasadena Art Museum in California. Also in this year, his first solo exhibition in Europe was held at museums in Amsterdam, London, Bern and Hannover.^[7] Lichtenstein later participated in documentas IV (1968) and VI in (1977). Lichtenstein had his first retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in 1969, organized by Diane Waldman. The Guggenheim presented a second Lichtenstein retrospective in 1994.^[36] Lichtenstein became the first living artist to have a solo drawing exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art from March – June 1987.^[47] Recent retrospective surveys include "All About Art," Louisiana Museum, Humelbaek (2003, traveled to the Hayward Gallery, London, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through 2005); and "Classic of the New", Kunsthaus Bregenz (2005), "Roy Lichtenstein: Meditations on Art" Museo Triennale, Milan (2010, traveled to the Museum Ludwig, Cologne). In late 2010 The Morgan Library & Museum showed Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961–1968.^[48] Another major retrospective will open at the Art Institute of Chicago in May 2012 before going to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2013.^[49]

Collections[link]

In 1996 the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. became the largest single repository of the artist's work when Lichtenstein donated 154 prints and 2 books. The Art Institute of Chicago has several important works by Lichtenstein in its permanent collection, including Brushstroke with Spatter (1966) and Mirror No. 3 (Six Panels) (1971). In Europe, the Museum Ludwig has one of the most comprehensive Lichtenstein holdings. In total there are some 4,500 works thought to be in circulation.^[1]

Recognition[link]

• 1995 National Medal of the Arts, Washington D.C.
• 1995 Kyoto Prize, Inamori Foundation, Kyoto, Japan.
• 1993 Amici de Barcelona, from Mayor Pasqual Maragall, L’Alcalde de Barcelona.
• 1991 Creative Arts Award in Painting, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.
• 1989 American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy. Artist in residence.
• 1979 American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.
• 1977 Skowhegan Medal for Painting, Skowhegan School, Skowhegan, Maine.

Lichtenstein received numerous Honorary Doctorate degrees from, among others, the George Washington University (1996), Ohio State University (1987), Southampton College (1980), and the California Institute of the Arts (1977).

Art market[link]

Since the 1950s Lichtenstein's work has been exhibited in New York and elsewhere with Leo Castelli at his gallery and at Castelli Graphics as well as with Ileana Sonnabend in her gallery in Paris, and at the Ferus Gallery, Pace Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Mary Boone, Brooke Alexander, Carlebach, Rosa Esman, Marilyn Pearl, James Goodman, John Heller, Blum Helman, Hirschl & Adler, Phyllis Kind, Getler Pall, Condon Riley, 65 Thompson Street, Holly Solomon, and Sperone Westwater Galleries among others.

Beginning in 1962, the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, held regular exhibitions of the artist’s work.^[60] Gagosian Gallery has been exhibiting work by Lichtenstein since 1996.^[61]

Big Painting No. 6 (1965) became the highest priced Lichtenstein work in 1970.^[50] Like the entire Brushstrokes series, the subject of the painting is the process of Abstract Expressionist painting via sweeping brushstrokes and drips, but the result of Lichtenstein's simplification that uses a Ben-Day dots background is a representation of the mechanical/industrial color printing reproduction.^[62]

Lichtenstein's painting Torpedo...Los! (1963) sold at Christie's for $5.5 million in 1989, a record sum at the time, making him one of only three living artists to have attracted such huge sums.^[7] In 2005, In the Car was sold for a then record $16.2m (£10m).

In 2010, his cartoon-style 1964 painting Ohhh...Alright..., previously owned by Steve Martin and later by Steve Wynn,^[63] was sold at a record US $42.6m (£26.7m) at a sale at Christies in New York.^[56][64]

Based on a 1961 William Overgard drawing for a Steve Roper cartoon story^[65], Lichtenstein’s I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in It! (1961) depicts a man looking through a hole in a door. It was sold by collector Courtney Sale Ross for $43 million, double its estimate, at Christie's in New York City in 2011; the seller's husband, Steve Ross had acquired it at auction in 1988 for $2.1 million.^[57] The painting measures four-foot by four-foot and is in graphite and oil.^[66]

In 2012, the comic painting Sleeping Girl (1964) from the collection of Beatrice and Phillip Gersh established a new Lichtenstein record $44.8 million at Sotheby's.^[58][59]

References[link]

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading[link]

• Roy Lichtenstein Interview with Chris Hunt Image Entertainment video, 1991
• Roy Lichtenstein Interview with Melvyn Bragg video
• Adelman, Bob (1999). Roy Lichtenstein's ABC's. Boston: Bulfinch Press. ISBN 978-0-8212-2591-2. 
• Waldman, Diane (1988) [1st Pub. 1970]. Roy Lichtenstein : Drawing and Prints. Secaucus, N.J.: Wellfleet Books. ISBN 9781555213015. 

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Roy Lichtenstein

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roy Lichtenstein

• Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
• Roy Lichtenstein at the Museum of Modern Art
• Roy Lichtenstein Image Duplicator
• Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein (sources for Lichtenstein's comic-book paintings)
• Inside Roy Lichtenstein's Studio 1990–92
• Roy Lichtenstein at Find a Grave
• Roy Lichtenstein – slideshow by The New York Times
• 1977 BMW 320i with special paintjob by Roy Lichtenstein
• Roy Lichtenstein's public artwork at Times Square-42nd Street, commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit.
• Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Art's Most Popular; His Whimsical Paintings Once Evoked the "Shock of the New"; Now They Evoke Record Prices on the Auction Block
• Roy Lichtenstein in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler collection

Principality of Liechtenstein Fürstentum Liechtenstein
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Für Gott, Fürst und Vaterland For God, Prince and Fatherland
Anthem:  Oben am jungen Rhein "Up on the Young Rhine"
Location of  Liechtenstein  (green) in Europe  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
Location of  Liechtenstein  (green)
Capital		Vaduz 47°08.5′N 9°31.4′E / 47.1417°N 9.5233°E / 47.1417; 9.5233
Largest city		Schaan
Official language(s)		German
Demonym		Liechtensteiner (male), Liechtensteinerin (female)
Government		Unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
-	Prince	Hans-Adam II
-	Regent	Alois
-	Prime Minister	Klaus Tschütscher
-	Landtag Speaker	Arthur Brunhart
Legislature		Landtag
Independence as principality
-	Treaty of Pressburg	1806
-	Independence from the German Confederation	1866
Area
-	Total	160 km2 (215th) 61 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible[1]
Population
-	2010 estimate	36,010[2] (209th)
-	2000 census	33,307[3]
-	Density	224/km2 (57th) 581/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2009 estimate
-	Total	$3.409 billion[4][5] (163rd)
-	Per capita	$95,249[4][5][6] (2nd)
GDP (nominal)		2009 estimate
-	Total	$4.797 billion[4][5] (147th)
-	Per capita	$134,045[4][5][6] (2nd)
HDI (2010)		0.905[7] (very high) (8th)
Currency		Swiss franc (CHF)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
ISO 3166 code		LI
Internet TLD		.li
Calling code		+423

Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (ⁱ/ˈlɪktənstaɪn/ LIK-tən-styn; German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein, German pronunciation: [ˈfʏʁstn̩tuːm ˈlɪçtn̩ʃtaɪn]^[8]) is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe,^[9] bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world when adjusted by purchasing power parity,^[10] and has the world's lowest external debt. Liechtenstein also has the second lowest unemployment rate in the world at 1.5% (Monaco is first).

Liechtenstein is the smallest yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita) German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is known as a principality as it is a constitutional monarchy headed by a prince. Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities. Much of its terrain is mountainous, making it a winter sports destination. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the south (Oberland, upper land) and in the north (Unterland, lower land). The country has a strong financial sector located in the capital, Vaduz, and has been identified as a tax haven. It is a member of the European Free Trade Association and part of the European Economic Area, the Schengen Area but not of the European Union.

History[link]

The castle of Gutenberg in Balzers

Vaduz Castle, overlooking the capital, is still home to the Prince of Liechtenstein

Johann I Josef, Prince of Liechtenstein

At one time, the territory was part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.

The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name, comes from Castle Liechtenstein in Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 until the 13th century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast tracts of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though these territories were all held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisers. Thus, without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet (parliament), the Reichstag.

The family yearned for the added power a seat in the Imperial government would bring and therefore sought to acquire lands that would be unmittelbar, or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and county of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz had exactly the political status required: no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.

On 23 January 1719, after the lands had been purchased, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that Vaduz and Schellenberg were united and elevated the newly formed territory to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honour of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It was on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases that the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, by 1806 much of the Holy Roman Empire was under the effective control of French emperor Napoleon I. When the empire was dissolved, this had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down. The state ceased to owe obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders.

Modern publications generally attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. Its prince ceased to owe obligations to any suzerain. From 25 July 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the Prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, the French Emperor Napoleon I, until the dissolution of the confederation on 19 October 1813.

Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (20 June 1815 – 24 August 1866) which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria.

Then, in 1818, Johann I granted the territory a limited constitution. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois; however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.

Developments during the 19th century included:

• In 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics.
• In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill.
• Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.

20th century[link]

Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein was closely tied first to the Austrian Empire and later to Austria-Hungary; the ruling princes continued to derive much of their wealth from estates in the Habsburg territories, and they spent much of their time at their two palaces in Vienna. The economic devastation caused by this war forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbour, Switzerland. Liechtenstein's army was disbanded in 1868 for financial reasons.

At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, was no longer bound to the emerging independent state of Austria, since the latter did not consider itself as the legal successor to the empire. This is partly contradicted by the coeval Liechtenstein perception that the dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor still maintained an abstract heritage of the Holy Roman Empire.

Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein.

In early 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, 84 year old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his 31-year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. His wife Elisabeth von Gutmann, whom he had married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already identified her as their Jewish "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.^[11]

During World War II, Liechtenstein remained officially neutral, looking to neighboring Switzerland for assistance and guidance, while family treasures within the war zone were taken to Liechtenstein for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia – the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the International Court of Justice) included over 1,600 km² (618 sq mi) of agricultural and forest land, and several family castles and palaces.

Citizens of Liechtenstein were forbidden to enter Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. More recently the diplomatic conflict revolving around the controversial post-war Beneš decrees resulted in Liechtenstein not sharing international relations with the Czech Republic or Slovakia. Diplomatic relations were established between Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic on 13 July 2009,^[12][13][14] and with Slovakia on 9 December 2009.^[15]

Liechtenstein gave asylum to about 500 soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II. About 200 of the group somewhat voluntarily agreed to return to the USSR. They departed in a train to Vienna and nothing was ever heard of them again. The remainder stayed in Liechtenstein for another year, resisting with support of Liechtenstein further pressure by the Soviet government to participate in the repatriation program. Eventually the government of Argentina offered asylum, and about a hundred people left. This is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg. In contrast, the British and Americans repatriated the Russians who had fought for Germany to the USSR, and many of them perished in the Gulag.

In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as it used its low corporate tax rates to draw many companies to the country.

The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest leader with an estimated wealth of USD $5 billion.^[16] The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.

Government[link]

The centre of government in Vaduz.

Liechtenstein has constitutional monarch as Head of State, an elected parliament which enacts law. It is also a direct democracy, where voters can propose and enact constitutional amendments and legislation independent of the legislature. The Constitution of Liechtenstein was adopted in March 2003, replacing the previous 1921 constitution which had established Liechtenstein as a constitutional monarchy headed by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. A parliamentary system had been established, although the reigning Prince retained substantial political authority.

The reigning Prince is the head of state and represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The Prince may veto laws adopted by parliament. The Prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subject to a referendum.^[17]

Executive authority is vested in a collegiate government comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the Prince upon the proposal and concurrence of parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions.^[18] The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to parliament; parliament may ask the Prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.

Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral Landtag made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region).^[19] Parties must receive at least 8% of the national vote to win seats in parliament. Parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the Prince. Parliament may also pass votes of no confidence in the entire government or individual members.

Parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. Parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. Parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the Prince and with the number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.^[20]

Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution and has five members elected by parliament.

On 1 July 1984, Liechtenstein became the last country in Europe to grant women the right to vote. The referendum on women's suffrage, in which only men were allowed to participate, passed with 51.3% in favor.^[21]

New constitution[link]

In a national referendum in March 2003, nearly two-thirds of the electorate voted in support of Hans-Adam II's proposed new constitution to replace the 1921 one. The proposed constitution was criticised by many, including the Council of Europe, as expanding the powers of the monarchy (continuing the power to veto any law, and allowing the Prince to dismiss the government or any minister). The Prince threatened that if the constitution failed, he would, among other things, convert some of the royal property for commercial use and move to Austria.^[22] The royal family and the Prince enjoy tremendous public support inside the nation, and the resolution passed with about 64% in favour.

Geography[link]

The Rhine: Border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland (view to the Swiss Alps)

Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps and is bordered to the east by Austria and to the south and west by Switzerland. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the Rhine. Measured south to north the country is about 24 km (15 mi) long. Its highest point, the Grauspitz, is 2,599 m (8,527 ft). Despite its Alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.

New surveys using more accurate measurements of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160 km² (61.776 sq mi), with borders of 77.9 km (48.4 mi).^[23] Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 mi) longer than previously thought.^[24]

Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world^[25]—being a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan). Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world by land area.

The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 communes called Gemeinden (singular Gemeinde). The Gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town or village. Five of them (Eschen, Gamprin, Mauren, Ruggell, and Schellenberg) fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder (Balzers, Planken, Schaan, Triesen, Triesenberg, and Vaduz) within Oberland (the upper county).

Economy[link]

Looking southward at Vaduz city-centre.

Despite (or perhaps because of) its limited natural resources, Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed a prosperous, highly industrialized free-enterprise economy and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably with those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours.

Very low business taxes (lowest in Europe)—the maximum tax rate is 20%^[26]—as well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish registered offices in Liechtenstein. This provides about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from Stiftungen ("foundations"), which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.

Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute international money-launderers and has worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate finance center. In February 2008, the country's LGT Bank was implicated in a tax-fraud scandal in Germany, which strained the ruling family's relationship with the German government. Crown Prince Alois has accused the German government of trafficking in stolen goods. This refers to its $7.3 million purchase of private banking information illegally offered by a former employee of LGT Group.^[27][28] However, the United States Senate's subcommittee on tax haven banks said that the LGT bank, which is owned by the royal family, and on whose board they serve, "is a willing partner, and an aider and abettor to clients trying to evade taxes, dodge creditors or defy court orders."^[29]

Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports about 85% of its energy. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995. The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled. In 2008, it stood at 1.5%. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The gross domestic product (GDP) on a purchasing power parity basis is $5.028 billion,^[25] or $141,100 per person which is the second highest in the world.

Liechtenstein is a large producer of ceramics and is the world's largest producer of sausage casings, potassium storage units and false teeth. Other industries include electronics, textiles, precision instruments, metal manufacturing, power tools, anchor bolts, calculators, pharmaceuticals, and food products. Its most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of direct fastening systems and other high-end power tools. Liechtenstein produces wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, dairy products, livestock, and wine. Tourism accounts for a large portion of the country's economy.

Taxation[link]

Since 1923 there has been no border control between Liechtenstein and Switzerland

The government of Liechtenstein taxes both personal and business income and principal (wealth). The basic rate of personal income tax is 1.2%. When combined with the additional income tax imposed by the communes, the combined income tax rate is 17.82%.^[30] An additional income tax of 4.3% is levied on all employees under the country's social security programme. This rate is higher for the self-employed, up to a maximum of 11%, making the maximum income tax rate about 29% in total. The basic tax rate on wealth is 0.06% per annum, and the combined total rate is 0.89%. The maximum business income tax rate is 18–20%.^[25]

Liechtenstein's gift and estate taxes vary depending on the relationship the recipient has to the giver and the amount of the inheritance. The tax ranges between 0.5% and 0.75% for spouses and children and 18% to 27% for non-related recipients. The estate tax is progressive.

The 2008 Liechtenstein tax affair is a series of tax investigations in numerous countries whose governments suspect that some of their citizens may have evaded tax obligations by using banks and trusts in Liechtenstein; the affair broke open with the biggest complex of investigations ever initiated for tax evasion in the Federal Republic of Germany.^[31] It was also seen as an attempt to put pressure on Liechtenstein, then one of the remaining uncooperative tax havens — along with Andorra and Monaco — as identified by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2007.^[32] On 27 May 2009 the OECD removed Liechtenstein from the blacklist of uncooperative countries.^[33]

In August 2009, the British Government Department, HM Revenue & Customs, agreed with the Alpine tax haven to start exchanging information. It is believed that up to 5,000 British investors have roughly £3 billion stashed in accounts and trusts in the country.^[34]

Demographics[link]

Administrative divisions of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily Alemannic-speaking, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce.^{[citation needed]}

The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions such as Vorarlberg, Austria. In Triesenberg, a dialect promoted by the municipality is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of whom 78.4% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 8% are Protestant. Compared to the 1990 census, the percentage of Christians fell, whereas Muslims and the undeclared more than doubled in size.^[35] According to a 2009 Pew Research Center report, Muslims constitute approximately 4.8% of the population.^[36]

Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 80.31 years, male: 76.86 years, female: 83.77 years (2011 est.). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. The literacy rate of Liechtenstein is 100%.^[25] The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world.^[37]

Transport[link]

There are about 250 km (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein, with 90 km (56 mi) of marked bicycle paths.

Heliport in Balzers

9.5 km (5.9 mi) of railway connects Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs, Switzerland. Liechtenstein is nominally within the Austrian Verkehrsverbund Vorarlberg^[38] tariff region. There are four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, served by an irregularly stopping train service that runs between Feldkirch and Buchs provided by the Austrian Federal Rail Service. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also travel along the route, they do not normally stop at the stations within the borders of Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs and at Sargans. Buses also run to the Austrian town of Feldkirch.

Liechtenstein has no airport. The nearest large airport is Zürich Airport near Zürich, Switzerland (130 km/80 mi by road). The nearest small airport is St. Gallen Airport (50 km/30 mi). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein^[39][40] available for chartered helicopter flights.

Culture[link]

City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)

Liechtenstein National Museum

As a result of its small size, Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Switzerland, and specifically Tirol and Vorarlberg. The "Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein" plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.

The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important international art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a "black box" of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.

The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There is also a stamp museum and a ski museum.

The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.

Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organizations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society, which play in two main theatres.

The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.

Amateur radio is a hobby of some nationals and visitors. However, unlike virtually every other sovereign nation, Liechtenstein does not have its own ITU Prefix. It uses Switzerland's callsign prefixes (typically "HB") followed by a zero.

Sports[link]

Marco Büchel, the first Alpine skier to compete at six Winter Olympics.

Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Football Cup allows access for one Liechtenstein team each year to the UEFA Europa League; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League, the second division in Swiss football, is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they drew with and defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1–1 and 4–2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0–4 and 0–3.

The Liechtenstein national football team is regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them; this was the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team managed a 2–2 draw with Portugal, who only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team traveled to Luxembourg, where they defeated the home team 4-0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, a result which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 on 17 October 2007, which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national football team. On 7 September 2010, they came within seconds of a 1–1 draw against Scotland in Glasgow, having led 1–0 earlier in the second half, but Liechtenstein lost 2–1 thanks to a goal by Stephen McManus in the 97th minute. On 3 June 2011, Liechtenstein defeated Lithuania 2-0.

As an alpine country, the main sporting opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: the country's single ski area is Malbun. Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals and one silver medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics (she won bronze in 1976), and her brother Andreas won one silver medal in 1980 and one bronze medal in 1984 in the giant slalom event. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation.^[41] It is the smallest nation to win a medal in any Olympics, Winter or Summer, and the only nation to win a medal in the Winter Games but not in the Summer Games. Other notable skiers from Liechtenstein are Marco Büchel, Tina Weirather, Willi Frommelt, Paul Frommelt and Ursula Konzett.

Security and defence[link]

The Liechtenstein National Police is responsible for keeping order within the country. It consists of 87 field officers and 38 civilian staff, totaling 125 employees. All officers are equipped with small arms. The country has one of the world's lowest crime rates. Liechtenstein's prison holds few, if any, inmates, and those with sentences over two years are transferred to Austrian jurisdiction. The Liechtenstein National Police maintains a trilateral treaty with Austria and Switzerland that enables close cross-border cooperation among the police forces of the three countries.^[42]

Liechtenstein follows a policy of neutrality and is one of the few countries in the world that maintains no military. The army was abolished soon after the Austro-Prussian War, in which Liechtenstein fielded an army of 80 men, although they were not involved in any fighting. The demise of the German Confederation in that war freed Liechtenstein from its international obligation to maintain an army, and parliament seized this opportunity and refused to provide funding for one. The Prince objected, as such a move would leave the country defenceless, but relented on 12 February 1868 and disbanded the force. The last soldier to serve under the colours of Liechtenstein died in 1939 at age 95.^[43]

In March 2007, a 170-person Swiss infantry unit became lost during a training exercise and inadvertently crossed 1.5 km into Liechtenstein. The accidental invasion ended when the unit realized their mistake, and turned back.^[44] The Swiss army later informed Liechtenstein of the incursion and offered official apologies.^[45]

See also[link]

Liechtenstein portal

• Liechtenstein wine

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Liechtenstein on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• The Principality of Liechtenstein
• The Princely House of Liechtenstein
• Statistics Liechtenstein (German)
• Parliament
• Tourism Liechtenstein
• National Art Museum of Liechtenstein
• Liechtenstein entry at The World Factbook
• Liechtenstein at the Open Directory Project
• Wikimedia Atlas of Liechtenstein
• Liechtenstein travel guide from Wikitravel
• Geographic data related to Liechtenstein at OpenStreetMap

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