Pop Art

Looking At Pop Art

Movements in art have come and gone over the past several centuries Impressionism , surrealism , abstraction have all , at one point or another , saw immense popularity among the public . However , no art movement was more far reaching than the legendary pop art movement of the late 1960 's /early 1970 's . Part of the reason for this is that pop art was a radical departure from the art movement , as it did not build upon previous movements and , instead , moved away from the traditions of the art history establishment

and created a window into the actual culture of America

That is , impressionism begat surrealism which begat abstraction . Pop art simply appeared out of nowhere ' as some erroneously believed . In reality , pop art was everywhere except the art world itself . In the US , it was linked to the wealth and prosperity of the post World War II era , and artists of the movement responded to the nation 's consumer society . Pop Art in Britain was less brash , and had a more nostalgic flavor (Biddington ) While art critics would rave about unoriginal derivations of Jackson Pollock 's work , true artistic genius was everywhere in comic books , on movie posters , on billboards , etc However , such artwork was dismissed by snobby elitists who considered such work beneath them . This would all change when the pop art movement began , a movement that is far more fondly remembered today than , say abstract art that is commonly (unjustly ) scorned by the public at large So what exactly is pop art by definition

Pop Art is a 20th century art movement that utilized the imagery and techniques of consumerism and popular culture . Pop art developed in the late1950 's as a reaction to Abstract Expressionism and flourished in the sixties and early seventies . Pop Art favored figural imagery and the reproduction of everyday objects , such as Campbell Soup cans , comic strips and advertisements . The movement eliminated distinctions between "good " and "bad " taste and between fine art and commercial art techniques (Biddington

While many people have claimed the mantle of pop artist , it is an undeniable fact that the movement would never have existed if not for the vision of Andy Warhol . This is not to say that Warhol invented the movement , as its origins began in the 1950 's in England as Richard Hamilton 's incredible reproductions of mod living rooms such as Interior II (an obvious parody of generic landscape portraits ) brought him notable fame in London , but it was Warhol who took the movement to its greatest heights . As the legend goes , Warhol once asked what would be the best type of art to create and he was told to create art that mattered most to him . Since Warhol ate Campbell 's Soup everyday , he decided to start painting reproductions of Campbell 's Soup cans . Now , no one knows if Warhol 's version of how he came up with the idea for abstract art was true or not and , knowing Warhol , it probably...