Focus on an art movement: Pop Art
In the 1950s, a group of intellectuals in Great Britain, the Independent Group, attracted a lot of attention. The group was made up of artists such as Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, as well as art critics such as John McHale and Lawrence Alloway.
In 1956, their exhibition This is tomorrow at Whitechapel Gallery heralded the beginning of a new artistic movement: Pop Art. The works displayed clearly went against previous artistic movements, especially the work Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, a collage by Richard Hamilton made up of images taken from American magazines. Much like a puzzle, the collage recreated a living room that was typical of modern life: a radio, a hoover, a television…
Pop Art migrated to the United States at the end of the 1950s and New York, the flagship city of advertising, became its hub. American Pop Art was the based on experiences lived by the artists. Some of the artworks had an aggressive and direct message as well as a very distinct style. British Pop Art, however, watched the developments in American society from a distance and tended to interpret them with a tinge of humour.
Nevertheless, these two strands shared many features. If you saw a work of art as a unique piece that addressed ‘important' or ‘worth' topics, then you could forget everything you knew about art, because Pop Art radically called questioned these principles of art. Gone were the days of unique artworks and subtlety! Make way for screen printing, bright colours, and subjects draw from popular culture.
How should Pop Art be defined, then? Pop Art was above all an attitude, and an attitude always depends on an environment. And it was precisely societal circumstances that pushed the artists we all know today, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtensteinl, to break with artistic codes.
In Europe society was rapidly becoming modernised and witnessed the emergence of household appliances, advertising, but also new forms of entertainment such as pop music, all of which inspired artists… As for the United States, it was in the middle of the Cold War and given the war was mostly an ideological one, America's most powerful weapon was none other than consumption. Advertisements almost became the equivalent of propaganda!
Pop Art made modern society its muse and copied its codes: mass production had replaced craftsmanship, so artists used screen printing to mass produce as well. New forms of entertainment appeared, and artists used references to popular culture. As a result, Pop Art works depicted society's most renowned icons (Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, etc.), as well as advertising billboards and objects that were emblematic of this new generation (Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans, etc.).
On Artsper, discover the works of artists who created Pop Art: Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtensteinl, and others.
In 1956, their exhibition This is tomorrow at Whitechapel Gallery heralded the beginning of a new artistic movement: Pop Art. The works displayed clearly went against previous artistic movements, especially the work Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, a collage by Richard Hamilton made up of images taken from American magazines. Much like a puzzle, the collage recreated a living room that was typical of modern life: a radio, a hoover, a television…
Pop Art migrated to the United States at the end of the 1950s and New York, the flagship city of advertising, became its hub. American Pop Art was the based on experiences lived by the artists. Some of the artworks had an aggressive and direct message as well as a very distinct style. British Pop Art, however, watched the developments in American society from a distance and tended to interpret them with a tinge of humour.
Nevertheless, these two strands shared many features. If you saw a work of art as a unique piece that addressed ‘important' or ‘worth' topics, then you could forget everything you knew about art, because Pop Art radically called questioned these principles of art. Gone were the days of unique artworks and subtlety! Make way for screen printing, bright colours, and subjects draw from popular culture.
How should Pop Art be defined, then? Pop Art was above all an attitude, and an attitude always depends on an environment. And it was precisely societal circumstances that pushed the artists we all know today, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtensteinl, to break with artistic codes.
In Europe society was rapidly becoming modernised and witnessed the emergence of household appliances, advertising, but also new forms of entertainment such as pop music, all of which inspired artists… As for the United States, it was in the middle of the Cold War and given the war was mostly an ideological one, America's most powerful weapon was none other than consumption. Advertisements almost became the equivalent of propaganda!
Pop Art made modern society its muse and copied its codes: mass production had replaced craftsmanship, so artists used screen printing to mass produce as well. New forms of entertainment appeared, and artists used references to popular culture. As a result, Pop Art works depicted society's most renowned icons (Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, etc.), as well as advertising billboards and objects that were emblematic of this new generation (Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans, etc.).
On Artsper, discover the works of artists who created Pop Art: Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtensteinl, and others.