POP ART

By: Lorena C.S.M

WHERE DID POP ART COME FROM?

• Pop-Art was invented by British curator Lawrence Alloway in 1955, to describe a new form of "Popular" art - a movement characterized by the imagery of consumerism and popular culture.

INTRODUCTION

• Pop Art was a visual art movement that emerged in both New York and London during the mid 1950s

• The style focused on mass production, celebrity and the expanding industries of advertisement, TV, radio and print media, shaping a new cultural identity in the field of art and design.

• Distinguished by brash, bold, colourful and humorous artwork, Pop Art incorporated many design elements, including different styles of painting, sculpture, collage and street art.

WHAT CAME BEFORE?

• Abstract expressionism was a little earlier than Pop art.

• Abstract expressionism was defined by two things: there is no representation of any object, person or place.

• Paint is paint, paint is not a person. For this reason, Abstract expressionists also believed that the final image was up to the viewer to interpret, not the artist.

WHY DID THEY MAKE THEIR ART THE WAY THEY DID?

• The features of Pop Art artworks were: clear lines, sharp paintwork and clear representations of symbols, people and objects found in popular culture.

• Pop artists began to look for inspiration in the world around them, representing and at times, making art directly from everyday items, consumer goods, and mass media.

• They did this in a straightforward manner, often straight from the can or tube of paint.

MAIN ARTISTS

• The majority of Pop artists began their careers in commercial art, Andy Warhol was an highly successful magazine illustrator and graphic designer

• James Rosenquist started his career as a billboard painter. Their background in the commercial art world trained them in the visual vocabulary of mass culture

Other famous artists are:• Tom Wesselmann• Roy Lichtenstein• Eduardo Paolozzi• Robert Indiana

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ART?

• Pop art has become one of the most recognizable styles of modern art.

• Pop Art was brash, young and fun and hostile to the artistic establishment.

Marilyn Diptych (1962) – Andy Warhol

• Marilyn Monroe died in August 1962.

• In the following four months, Warhol made more than twenty silkscreen paintings of her, all based on the same publicity  photograph from the 1953 film Niagara.

• Warhol found in Monroe a fusion of two of his consistent themes: death and the cult of celebrity.

• The contrast of vivid colour with black and white, and the effect of fading in the right panel are suggestive of the star’s mortality. 

Drowning Girl (1963) - Roy Lichtenstein

• A young beautiful woman is sinking under the water during what appears to be a turbulent storm, thinks to herself that she would rather drown than call for Brad to come help her.  • The image is humorous because of the statement that it makes about drama in our culture.

EDUARDO PAOLOZZI 'I was a Rich Man's Plaything' , 1947

(collage)

• It shows his fascination with popular culture and technology, as well as with the glamour of American consumerism.

• The title refers to Henry Ford's famous statement ''History is more or less bunk.... We want to live in the present''. It reflects Paolozzi's belief that his work should respond to contemporary culture.

POP ART SCULPTURE

Robert Indiana – Love (1967) • Robert Indiana created poems,

sculptures, paintings, silk screens and posters.

• His most famous sculpture is called Love and it was conceived in a time when the United States was consumed by the Vietnam War and it was more a symbol of Peace as well as one of the most celebrated works within the pop art movement around the world.

Just What is it that makes today’s home so different, so appealing? (1956) - Richard Hamilton

• The collage is made up of all the aspects of 1950s life that supposedly made life so different and so appealing.

• Every object within the scene holds some significance and makes a statement about American identity.

POP ART NOW

• Pop Art is so popular today that it’s used for creating birthday cards, t-shirts, badges, calendars, posters, canvases, so it’s really hard to ignore.

• The features of this art, like the bright colors and the prints haven’t yet faded and I seriously doubt that they’ll ever will, as the popular movement still continues to fascinate people today.

Bibliography

• http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm • https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop

-art• http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/lichtenstein-

drowning-girl-1963• http://www.pixel77.com/the-influence-of-art-history-on-

modern-design-pop-art/• http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm#• http://sisii2011.blogspot.ca/2011/06/richard-hamilton-just

-what-is-it-that.html