Pop Art

• Pop art (Popular Art): Pop art used common everyday objects to portray
elements of popular culture and images in advertising and television. The
term Pop art was first used by English critic, Lawrence Alloway in 1958 in an
edition of Architectural Digest. He was describing all post-war work centered
on consumerism and materialism, and that rejected the psychological
allusions of Abstract Expressionism. An attempt to bring art back into
American daily life, it rejected abstract painting because of its sophisticated
and elite nature. Pop Art shattered the divide between the commercial arts
and the fine arts.

The Pop Art movement originated in England in the 1950s and traveled overseas
to the United States during the 1960s. Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi,
both members of the Independent Group, pioneered the movement in London in
the 1950s. In the 1960s, the movement was carried by Peter Blake, Patrick
Caulfield, David Hockney, Allen Jones, and Peter Phillips. In the early sixties, Pop
art found its way to the United States, seen in the work of Jim Dine, Roy
Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. It developed in the United States as a
response to the wealth of the post World War II era and the growing materialism
and consumerism in society. The most recognized Pop Artist, Andy Warhol, used a
photo-realistic, mass production printmaking technique called serigraphy to
produce his commentaries on media, fame, and advertising.

Pop Art made commentary on contemporary society and culture, particularly

consumerism, by using popular images and icons and incorporating and re-defining
them in the art world. Often subjects were derived from advertising and product
packaging, celebrities, and comic strips. The images are presented with a
combination of humor, criticism and irony. In doing this, the movement put art into
terms of everyday, contemporary life. It also helped to decrease the gap between
"high art" and "low art" and eliminated the distinction between fine art and
commercial art methods.

The movement inspired a later related style named Capitalist Realism, led by German
artist Gerhard Richter.

Artists: (biography & artworks)

Kienholz, Edward - 1927 - 1994

Nationality: American
Movement: Pop Art
Media: Sculpture, Installation
Biography:
Edward Kienholz was an American sculptor who specialized in creating life-size
tableaux pieces. His work is sometimes described as Funk art and often deals with
the themes of death and decay. One of his best-known works is titled The State
Hospital, and is a terrifying representation of a mental patient and his reflection,
each of them having glass bowls for heads
 Lichtenstein, Roy - 1923 - 1997

Nationality: American
Movement: Pop Art
Media: Paintings
Biography:
Born in New York, Roy Lichtenstein studied at the Art Student’s League and then the
Ohio State University. From 1943 to 1946, he taught at the latter and then moved on
to teach at New York State and Rutgers Universities. In 1949, Lichtenstein began
exhibited his early work, which had strong influences of both Cubism and Abstract
Expressionism. After meeting Allan Kaprow at Rutgers, he became interested in
consumerism and American culture and spurred the development of the Pop Art
movement.

Warhol, Andy - 1928 - 1987

Nationality: American
Movement: Pop Art
Media: Printmaking, Painting, Film
Biography:
Born in Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol moved to New York at the age of twenty-one to
become a commercial artist. This occupation gave him experience in silkscreen
printing, which became his medium of choice. Warhol began making paintings of
familiar objects such as soup cans and brillo pads. After a brief period of hand-
painting these works, Warhol began to use mechanical techniques to mass-produce
his images. His interest in popular culture expanded as he began to depict celebrities
and newspaper clippings in his prints. Warhol also created films and worked with the
rock band, The Velvet Underground.