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| Marilyn Diptych (1962) |
The Pop Art Movement began in New York in the 1960s and became one of the most well-known movements of modern art. Drawing inspiration from mass media and consumer culture, artists reflected the era's values by using recognizable imagery of everyday objects and life as their subject matter. Pioneers of the movement were artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist. Many pop artists started out with careers in commercial art, such as magazine illustration, graphic design, or billboard painting, which became a gateway into their use of cartoons, advertising, and popular figures in their artwork.
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| Drowning Girl (1963) |
The manufacturing and media boom that occurred post World War II can be attributed to the rise of pop art. Since many Americans wanted to relax and enjoy life after decades of conflict, they began to buy goods they wanted instead of just goods they needed. Pop artists sought to bring these aspects of everyday American life to the fine art scene. Their goal was to blur the boundaries that confined art into categories of "high" or "low" culture. Traditional "high" art focused on aesthetics and important themes such as morality, mythology, and classic history, whereas "low" art was functional and easy to comprehend. Pop art critics, on the other hand, called the movement an "enthusiastic endorsement of the capitalist market and the goods it circulated."
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| Hey! Let's Go For A Ride (1961) |
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| Campbell's Soup Can (1968) |
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| In the Car (1963) |
One of the most well-known artists of the Pop Art Movement was Andy Warhol, who became popular for his painting of a Campbell's soup can. The original piece was hand painted, but Warhol turned to screen-printing for the mass production of his mass culture imagery. Roy Lichtenstein was another very influential pop artist known for his comic-inspired painting style. He would use dramatic scenes and even text to challenge the concept of traditional "high" art. James Rosenquist was best known for his collages that layered and juxtaposed images of popular culture. In one of his most famous pieces, President Elect, he comments on the political and cultural situation of the United States: "I was very interested at that time in people who advertised themselves. Why did they put up an advertisement of themselves?" In his oil painting he suggests that Kennedy, a piece of cake, and a car could all be marketed and sold to the American people. Each of these artists reflected what life was like in America in the 1960s and introduced innovative techniques and subject matter that would remain influential in the decades to come.
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| President Elect (1960-61) |
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/pop-art/artworks/#pnt_6
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/rosenquist-james/artworks/
https://www.invaluable.com/blog/roy-lichtenstein/
https://www.britannica.com/art/Pop-art
I thought that this was a cool post, it is concise and to the point, yet still giving the reader under the surface information. The images included do a nice job of complementing what text describes. I remember seeing some of Andy Warhol's work in the SFMOMA as well as the pieces of some other Pop Artists mentioned. Additionally, the US wasn't the only country that went through the Pop Art Movement. There the movement began in 1957 with a man named Richard Hamilton, who was a member of the International Group. This group got together to critique many forms of art, exploring mass culture in the process.
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https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/tate/global-modernisms/global-pop/a/pop-art-in-the-uk
This was a really fun and informative blog post! It's really interesting to see how modern art has evolved into what it is today. I noticed that you mentioned Andy Warhol, one of the most prominent artists of that movement, and I wanted to do some further research onto his soup can art and I found that the idea behind it is actually pretty interesting. Apparently, Warhol had eaten Campbell soup everyday for years. He decided that because he ate this one food over and over again, he would paint it over and over again as well. This put the idea of mass consumption during that time period in the most literal sense. He commented on the art by saying "I don't think that art should be for a select few people, it should be for everyone", tapping into the idea that art should reply that era's values.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.moma.org/collection/works/79809
I think this is a very interesting post as it was a turning point in art history. As you stated, pop artists wanted to blur the boundaries that classified art as "high" or "low culture by reshaping the definition of what art is. Today, pop art is still very popular. It is used in advertisements and billboards for companies such as CocaCola. These exhibitions encourage people all around the world to buy the products by portraying everyday necessities that people need. Additionally, pop art is a way to help companies stand out as the colors, dots, and bold lines are attractive to the eye.
ReplyDeletehttps://arto.gallery/does-pop-art-still-matter/