Pop Art American Art in the 1950 s

Pop Art American Art in the 1950 s and 1960 s

Pop Art n n A visual art movement that emerged in the mid 1950 s in Britain and the late 1950 s in the United States. It challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art. It removes the material from its context and isolates the object, or combines it with other objects, for contemplation. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.

Pop Art It is widely interpreted as a reaction and expansion to then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism n It aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art n emphasizes the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony. n It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques. n

Characterized by: n Themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture n Advertisements n Comic books n Celebrity images n Mundane Cultural objects

So…. what does all of that mean?

Taking an everyday object and turning it into art is what the Pop Art movement was all about.

Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the Pop Art movement

n n n Born in Pittsburgh Pennsyvania Warhol showed early artistic talent and studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh He had a very successful art career in NY doing commercial illustrations for magazines, cards, and even designed window displays. His first one man gallery exhibition was in 1962 in California and marked the West Coast debut of Pop Art Had a fascination with Celebrities

Some of his work…

Roy Lichenstien was another leading figure Pop Artist He described Pop art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting

Roy Lichtenstein Born in 1923 in New York City n His school did not have an art program so his interest in art and design started as a hobby n Work is heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the comic book style n In 1961, he began his first Pop Art paintings using cartoon images and techniques derived from the appearance of commercial printing. n His work Features thick outlines, bold colors and Benday Dots to represent certain colors n

Some of his work…

Lichtenstein’s first pop art painting

Forcing the viewer to examine something that they wouldn’t have given a second thought if they had seen it in a different context also intrigues him. For instance, when we read a comic book we are looking at pictures that were drawn strictly for the purpose of telling a story. We accept these images as real, but when this artist enlarges them, we see how artificial and abstract they really are.

Some of his work…

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg Born in Texas in 1925 Imagined himself first as a minister and later as a pharmacist. n It wasn’t until 1947, while in the U. S. Marines that he discovered his aptitude for drawing and his interest in the artistic representation of everyday objects and people. n He’s most famous for his "Combines" of the 1950 s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations n n

Some of his work…

Steve Kaufman

n Born in n Was Andy Warhol’s assistant at The Factory n Created graphics for Saturday Night Live n Did a lot of celebrity portraits like Warhol’s n Still creating work

Other Notable Pop Artists n n n n Billy Apple Sir Peter Blake Derek Boshier Patrick Caulfield Alan D’Arcangelo Jim Dine William Eggleston Erró Marisol Escobar Red Grooms Richard Hamilton Keith Haring David Hockney Robert Indiana n n n n Peter Max Takashi Murakami Yoshitomo Nara Claes Oldenburg Julian Opie Eduardo Paolozzi Peter Phillips Jasper Johns Allen Jones Alex Katz Corita Kent Nicholas Krushenick Yayoi Kusama Richard Lindner John Mc. Hale n n n n Sigmar Polke Hariton Pushwagner Mel Ramos Larry Rivers James Rosenquist Ed Ruscha George Segal Colin Self Aya Takano Wayne Thiebaud Andy Warhol John Wesley Tom Wesselmann