Pop Art was a movement that started in the mid 1950s and reached USA in the late 1950s. Pop Art is a collective term for artistic phenomena; the word pop art was fashioned in the early sixties to bring cheerful, ironic and critical response to the slogans of the mass media. The pop culture and lifestyle was quickly characterized in a new approach of art, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein where just a few of many to break the surface of the wind expand of the movement of this time. Pop Art was born due to the western cultural movement of capitalism and technology conditions within the industrial society, the epicentre beingAmerica. This can clearly been seen within the work of this time how the artists show a responsibility within the social environment surrounding them.
Abstract Expressionism had already been in the last part of the fifties but artists such as Jasper John and Bob Rauschenberg began to bring art back from abstraction and introspective things, If you look at the work of Jasper John you can see how abstract and free the work comes across from the famous American Flag to the Dart board. Jasper John went on to lead the artist world away from Abstract Expressionism you could say he set a concrete path towards Pop Art and minimalism. (The Warhol 60’s (Pop-ism) (2007) Warhol, A & Hackett, P) Art began to thrive in more populated places being cities as the movement was more noticed, New York and London became a knew focal point of the culture of the Western society. New York set the scene with what it had going for it, even all the hipe European types had to finally admit they had become apart of a world culture. The daily british life of that was drab and grey for some years after the War, the rationing of food only came to an end in 1n 1952 and the benefits of the capitalist system enjoyed all over America.The movement generated began to become less about the art and more of a political and economic change as it thrived upon and battled with post war effects. Pop Art was the visual art movement that characterised a sense of optimism during the post war consumer boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s. (Pop Art Uk (2004 ) British Pop Art 1956-1972. Guadagni, W) It was then influenced into popular music which elvis and the Beatles could be called a part of. Pop art is know to be bright and fun which attracted the younger generation all over the world, the movement was common in most interests such as mass media and mass produced over a wide culture.
The word (pop) in Britain was created by the art critic Lawrence Alloway who believed Pop Art was a new type of art which was inspired by the image of popular culture. In Britain Pop Art was moving along side America in the sense of mass production and mass media and expressing that within art, but the expression being language and social culture. (Wikipedia 2011) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol) The expression that dada expressed through paintings was similar of the workings of andy warhol and how the campbell soup can peace came along.
Warhol’s motives as an artist were questioned, I think people seen Warhol as a threat as to the power his work gave off, people seen his work and began to think in different ways, but still they continue to be part of a topic today. The large public commotion helped transform Warhol from being an accomplished 1950s commercial illustrator to a notable fine artist. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans transformed him into an overnight sensation when they were first exhibited in Los Angeles in 1962. (http://www.christies.com/features/2010-october-andy-warhol-campbells-soup-can-tomato-1022-1.aspx) [Jan 13 2012]. The star images such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Liz Taylor were a cover up of the life they lead, the image worked as a compensation for the feelings of frustation and suffering they had, and this linked in with the times of the world was going through. The images was a front to persuade the false happiness of the everyday life and express this motion upon everyone. The people took kindly to Warhol as they understood the thinking and knowledge he had towards his peaces and what pop art did for him and others. Hers a quote by Andy Warhol (The reason I’m painting this way is that I want to be a machine, and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do) this quote tells us a lot about warhol as he wanted his work to be mass produced and for the world to see. (If I’m going to sit and watch the same thing I saw the night before, I don’t want it to be essentially the same – I want it to be exactly the same, because the more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel)(1960s). (The farther west we drove to California, the fall of 1963, the more Pop everything looked on the highways, Suddenly we all felt like insiders because even though Pop was everywhere, that was the thing about it, most people still took it for granted, where as we were dazzled by it, to us it was the new Art). (Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign the same way again, And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again). (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/andy_warhol.html [Nov 2011].
Dada was a huge influence on the movement of Pop Art, techniques used within the dada movement started to be influenced (history of graphic design) (guilty novin) A history of graphic design Along side warhol at this time was Robert Rauschenberg who’s work involved real objects that he picked up on the street of new york where he lived. (Pop Art Uk (2004 ) British Pop Art 1956-1972. Guadagni, W) combined collage and paint to created his work, He said, “I actually had a house rule, If I walked completely round the block and didn’t have enough to work with, I could take one other block and walk around it in any direction”, he called these multi-media assemblages ‘combines’.
In the mid 1950’s in America independently of what was taking of in England certain aspects of Pop Art were being established by Jasper John, his anti art gestures brought up a knew name to Pop Art this being ‘neo Dada’. Neo Dada was created by Jasper John taking things that everybody’s mind already knows such as American flag, maps, targets and also alphabet and changing the colour, format and medium . (Wikipedia (Neo Dada) (1994) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Dada). The reason of him choosing images that were bland and boring was to link them with every day life and everyones knowing. Neo Dada can be heavily linked withs an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s
Pop Art was an reaction to Abstract Expressionist painting, Pop art was a rebellion against established traditions in art and life and can be seen as one of the first manifestations of Postmodernism the rebellion that would change the world completely. Pop Art used news papers and magazines to help influence the rebellion and movement of the movement, the expression wouldn’t be the same without the Western vibe it created, it wasn’t all up hill though they had competitors of europe trying to bring there opinion and understandings. Many different minorities joined post war to create something that would be remembered forever. Pop Art continued to evolve and to maintain its position at least to the early seventies, art took other directions by this time exploring into Conceptual, Minimal, Performance and video art. (Pop Art Uk (2004 ) British Pop Art) Technology really started to kick in by the eighties which seen the language and communication of Pop Art further expressed but had already been accepted to become part of the vocabulary to which any artist could make recourse. Even when you look into the 21st century you see the constant reinterpreted copies of the movement which win the right in there selves.
Pop Art in my eyes could be characterized a cultural movement which was aimed at a particular
generation and culture, I also think with out the struggle of Post Wars and Dullness that hit everyone, that in some way made Pop Art thrive and take off with such success. If Pop Art wasn’t born in America and England the effect it has today on today’s society would be know where near as powerful, meaning the power of the western world over shadowed the poorer parts of the world. (Pop Art Uk (2004 ) British Pop Art) I mean the power of England and America back when Pop Art was taking off was huge which helped the movement move so fast as to other countries . The movement of this art expression couldn’t of worked in the rising of today’s society as it did post war, art is still powerful and has a place in history but people today have a blind eye on the history and social environment that surround them. Pop Art does still exist in todays society, some could say more than ever, if you walk down the street the bright colours that were seen in the 60’s and 70’s still exist in Marilyn Monroe printed t-shirts and used in fashion all over the world. (Megg, P.B, 2006)
Bibliography
Dada art period, Dada paintings, Dadaism, Dada artists and Dada history (2011) (http://www.arthistoryguide.com/Dada.aspx)
Brainy Quote (Ono) http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/andy_warhol.html [Jan 2012]
Ono (21 OCTOBER 2010) http://www.christies.com/features/2010-october-andy-warhol-campbells-soup-can-tomato-1022-1.aspx [Jan 13 2012]
Wikipedia (2011) (Andy Warhol)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol [November 18 2011]
Wikipedia (1994) (Neo Dada) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Dada) Universe Books and American Federation of Arts
Pop Art Uk (2004 ) British Pop Art 1956-1972. Guadagni, W
The Warhol 60’s (Pop-ism) (2007) Warhol, A & Hackett, P
OSTERWOLD, T. (1999). Pop art. Köln: Taschen.
MEGGS, P. B., & PURVIS, A. W. (2006). Meggs’ history of graphic design. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.