THE POP ART
MOVEMENT
THE POP ART MOVEMENT
WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY CARRIE WALTERS november 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE BEGINNING pages 3-4
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG pages 5-6
JASPER JOHNS pages 7-8
ROY LICHTENSTEIN pages 9-10
ANDY WARHOL pages 11-12
CONCLUSION pages13-14
BIBLIOGRAPHY page 15
THE BEGINNING The Pop Art movement emerged in Britain and the United States in the mid 1950’s. The movement is largely thought of as a response to the post World War II era which was filled with an unprecedented level of consumerism, economic growth, and technological advancement. The post war prosperity allowed even middle-class families to comfortably participate in the booming consumer society. Pop Art expressed the emergent materialism and fainting class distinctions by using images and techniques (think mass production) from popular culture. The familiar, commercial themes made art something everyone could enjoy rather than just the elitist crowd.
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The move to materialism and Pop Art also marked a transition from Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism was nonrepresentational and focused on the feeling and emotion in lines, colors, and shapes. Pop art brought back representational objects and was more ironic and mundane instead of symbolic and emotive. Pop Art originated in London through the Independent Group, a congregation of young artists that formed in 1952. The group challenged traditional art and gathered inspiration from popular culture. At their first meeting, member Eduardo Paolozzi presented BUNK! a series of collages made from American magazines, comics, and other cultural graphics. BUNK! is considered the first instance of Pop Art and it also marked the initial use of “found objects”, or objects that were not designated for artistic use. After Paolozzi’s collages the group continued to focus on American culture until it grew apart in the early sixties. British Pop Art was perhaps a little idealistic and removed since they could not experience first hand what was happening an ocean away. Pop Art in the United States was more aggressive and in your face due to the ubiquity of advertising in America. Notable artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol captured the consumer phenomena by taking popular objects and icons out of their context and turning them into a unique art form.
BUNK! Evadne in Green Dimension 1952 Eduardo Paolozzi Collage, paper, glue and string, 13.0315 x 9.6457
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OBERT RAUSCHENBERG
Robert Rauschenberg is well known for his “Combines”; works of art that incorporate everyday objects (found objects) with gestural painting and sculpture. Rauschenberg’s “Combines”, bridged the gap between Abstract Expressionism and pop art. Rauschenberg, (born Milton Ernst Rauschenberg) was born in Port Arthur Texas in 1925. Though he originally aspired to be a pharmacist, he discovered his passion for art and everyday objects while he was serving in the U.S. Marines. After his stint in the Marines, Raschenberg attended the Academie Julian in Paris, and later Black Mountain College in North Carolina. At Black Mountain, Rauschenberg encountered Josef Albers, a strict, traditionalist painting teacher. Albers’ firm teaching style had the opposite effect; it encouraged Rauschenberg to experiment.
Abstract Expressionism was described by Art News editor Thomas Hess as a “shift from aesthetics to ethics; the picture was no longer supposed to be Beautiful but True—an accurate representation or equivalence of the artist’s interior sensation or experience” (Kotz 90). Though a lot of Rauschenberg’s work can be considered Abstract Expressionism, he himself rejected the Abstract Expressionism philosophy, saying that “There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself— words like ‘tortured,’ ‘struggle’ and ‘pain’. I could never see those qualities in paint. Jasper [Johns] and I used to start each day having to move out of Abstract Expressionism” (Kotz 90). One of Rauschenberg’s first combines, Monogram, is considered a seminal piece of art that had a great impact on modern art. Monogram consists of paint and a wide assortment of unconventional objects; a stuffed angora goat, a tire, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, and a tennis ball. Fellow Pop artist Roy Lichenstein said that Monogram “marks the
Monog ra tions, m m. 1955-1959. Freesta et nding co platform al, wood, rubb mb er mounte d on fo shoe heel and ine: oil, paper ur caster , fa tennis b , 42 x 6 all on ca bric, printed 3 1/4 x p nvas, w 64 1/2 ith oil o aper, printed pap n angora goat an er, printed re pro d rubber tire, on ducwood
end of the Abstract Expressionist era. The beginning of something that developed in the fifties and sixties. The return of the subject” (Kotz 90). The incorporation of various objects and images became a staple in Rauschenberg’s work. Rauschenberg said that he worked “in the gap between art and life,” and that he began “with the possibilities of the material.” The diverse everyday objects used in the combines make them relatable and relevant for the observer, yet the heterogeneous nature of the objects allow the observer to form his or her own associations and overall interpretations. As the sixties approached he moved away from the three-dimensional and began using silkscreened photographs and magazine cutouts in conjunction with paint. Through the next couple of decades he continued to experiment with printing and different materials.
Buffalo II 1964 Oil on canvas 96 x 72
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I think a painting is more like the real world if it’s made out of the real world.
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Jasper Johns with target paintings in the backround. Photographed by Robert Rauschenberg in 1955
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Jasper Johns is also credited with initiating the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Like Rauschenberg, Johns used commonplace objects in his work, or as he put it, “things the mind already knows.” Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia but spent his childhood and college years in South Carolina. He attended the University of South Carolina before moving to New York in 1949, where he met Robert Rauschenberg. The two worked in concert, challenging each other and the divisions between art and reality. Johns began working on his most recognizable paintings in 1954. This included the flag, target and number paintings using plaster, wax, and sometimes newspaper strips on canvas. This technique created a uniquely embedded texture. Johns also frequently employed casts made from his own face or those of friends.
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Johns’ simple, subject based paintings are a clear representation of the shift from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. “His earliest works, from the mid-1950s were so blatantly representational and impersonal-looking that his art was immediately seen as making a clean break from the prevailing avant-garde style of Abstract Expressionism” (Bernstein 1). The familiarity of the subjects Johns used helped his work remain a sense of objectivity which helped connect art and reality. Johns made great efforts to keep his personality out of his work, unlike abstract expressionism which was focused on the artist’s own abstract sentiments. He wanted observers of his art to be able to see the possibilities and different perceptions of the subjects, instead of his own feelings. His simple color schemes and neutral designs kept his personal feelings an enigma. In 1960 he started using printmaking and began a series of sculptures made of simple items painted bronze.
I tend to like things that already exist.
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JASPER JOHNS
Flag. 1954-1955. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, 42 1/4 x 60 5/8
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WHAAM! 1967 Offset lithograph (diptych), in yellow, red, blue, and black, on Huntsman Superwhite Catridge Paper 24 3/4 x 58
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Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn’t look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.
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Roy Lichtenstein is best known for his manipulation of comic book imagery that brought a familiar commercial style into a relatable high art form. Lichtenstein was born in New York and studied at the Art Students League of New York before attending Ohio State University, where he was later hired as an art instructor. Lichtenstein resided in Cleveland before moving back to New York in 1957 where he continued to teach and paint in addition to working odd jobs.
Lichtenstein embraced the Abstract Expressionist style for most of the fifties. He started teaching at Rutgers in 1960 where he was influenced by colleague Allan Kaprow. He gained an interest in pop imagery and began his first pop paintings in 1961. He used cartoons and took inspiration from commercial printing. Look Mickey was his first piece of work to incorporate Ben Day dots and the comic book style. Lichtenstein used strong outlines and bold colors to makes his paintings
look like reproductions of popular comics. While criticized by some as mere copies of something that had already been done, Lichtenstein argued that his paintings are “entirely transformed in that my purpose and perception are entirely different.” Lichtenstein moved on to different subjects and mediums by 1965 including the three-dimensional, packaging, and parodies, but comic-book elements were still often incorporated.
Mr. Bellamy. 1961. Oil on canvas 56 x 42 1/2
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Andy Warhol is often considered “the personification of pop”(Moorhouse 176). While other artists used pop culture as inspiration or material, Warhol immersed himself in the glamorous consumerism of the fifties and sixties and developed an obsession with pop, not just a fascination or interest. He was materialistic himself and embraced the American dream of being successful, rich, and famous. Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Rusyn immigrant parents. He came down with St. Vitu’s dance when he was in third grade. The disease left him bed ridden for months during which he drew, listened to the radio and collected images of movies stars. Warhol later stated that this period was important in developing his character and personality. Warhol went to the Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to New York in 1949. He worked as a commercial illustrator for most of the fifties before he decided he wanted to become a serious artist and transition to painting. Warhol’s infatuation with the tabloids and “intuition that banal, commonplace subjects would permit him to enter the realm of ‘high’ art” (Baal-Teshuva 9), prompted him to make paintings of consumer products like Campbell’s
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soup cans and Coca-Cola. He also painted celebrity icons like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Elvis Presley. The paintings enhanced the materialism of the American culture and made the American dream into an art form. With his paintings, Warhol revolutionized repetition. He used rows and a grid format that abstracted the familiar images. In 1962 Warhol began using a silkscreen, which enabled him to mass produce portraits and other art. Mass production helped build the legend of Warhol’s “Factory”; his studio which also functioned as a clubhouse for his entourage made up of assistants, models, fellow artists, musicians, and celebrities. Warhol was not limited to art, he dabbled in film, music, and the journalistic community. The connections he made turned Warhol into a celebrity and made the “Factory” the place to be. Warhol continued to make portraits, but also embarked on entrepreneurial art and activities. In the seventies and eighties Warhol received commissions to make paintings for multiple brands and he created his own magazine, record label, and nightclub. With his blatant materialism and love for money and fame, Warhol integrated reality and art on a completely different level than his fellow artists.
Art is what you can get away with.
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ANDY WARHOL
Self-portrait. 1967 Synthetic polymer and silkscreen on canvas Self-portrait. 1966 Synthetic polymer and silkscreen on canvas
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As observed in the works of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, pop art is inextricably tied to consumerism. With advertising becoming more prevalent, a consumerism based art movement became possible. Capitalizing on household images and brand logos, pop art elevated them to art. Art is almost invariably a reflection of society, and to have wide appeal it must capture and expose an element of society that is both accessible and familiar to the public at large—which is precisely what pop art did, allowing it to establish itself as a major art form.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Baal-Teshuva, Jacob. Andy Warhol. New York, NY: Prestel by te Neues Publishing Company, 1993 Moorhouse, Paul. Pop Art Portraits. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Kotz, Mary Lynn. Rauschenberg/Art and Life. Second. New York: Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, 200 Salsi, Claudio. Advertising and Art. First. Milano, Italy: Skira Editore S.p.A., 2007. Bernstein, Roberta. Jasper Johns. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc, 1992. Corlett, Mary Lee. The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein. First. New York, NY: Hudson Hills Press Inc, 1994. “Robert Rauschenberg.” American Masters. PBS. 20 Nov. 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/robert-rauschenberg/about-the-artist/49/>. Adelman, Bob. Roy Lichtenstein’s ABC. First. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1999. “Andy Warhol.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Nov 2008, 06:57 UTC. 13 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Andy_Warhol&oldid=251511487>. “Pop Art.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Nov 2008, 09:37 UTC. 13 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Pop_art&oldid=251526844>. “Robert Rauschenberg.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Nov 2008, 19:09 UTC. 13 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_ Rauschenberg&oldid=251391719>. “Jasper Johns.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Nov 2008, 04:06 UTC. 13 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Jasper_Johns&oldid=251490725>. “Roy Lichtenstein.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Nov 2008, 20:26 UTC. 13 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roy_ Lichtenstein&oldid=251406883>. * Wikipedia was used for general facts and references, not as a primary source.
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Carrie Walters The Pop Art Movement HP Color Laserjet 555o Xerox Laser Paper 11 x 17 Helvetica Neue Helvetica Neue Condensed Black Georgia Special thanks to all the residents of Hughes 2
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“Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” - ANDY WARHOL