Richard Pettibone

Richard Pettibone is an American artist known as a pioneer of appropriation art. Born in 1938, he became known in the 1960s for making tiny, exact hand-painted copies of famous modern artworks, especially works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and others. By shrinking and reproducing these images, he raised playful, pointed questions about originality, fame, and value in art.

His miniature versions of well-known pieces turn the idea of the unique masterpiece on its head. Working quietly and precisely, he made copying itself into a form of original art. Pettibone is recognized as an early and influential figure in the practice of borrowing and reworking existing images, an idea that became central to later contemporary art.