Pop Art for Dummies

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Copyright Š 2012 Richie Serrano All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without permission in writing from the author/publisher. ISBN 1-556865-22-9 Printed in US by ForDummiesPublishing.com

Designed and Edited by Richie Serrano

Table of contents d

Brief History of Pop Art

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Andy Warhol

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Roy Lichtenstein

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Robert Rauschenberg

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Jasper Johns

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A Brief History of Pop Art POP ART

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is an art movement that came about in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in [OL <UP[LK :[H[LZ 7VW HY[ WYLZLU[LK H JOHSSLUNL [V [YHKP[PVUZ VM ÄUL HY[ I` PUJS\KPUN imagery from popular culture. Images from advertising, news, pictures of celebrities, cartoons, etc., were all used in pop art. The material is sometimes visually removed from its usual context. It is then isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself, as to the attitudes that led to it. Pop art uses many aspects of mass culture (pop culture), such as advertising, comic books and oridinary cultural objects. It is widely viewed as a reaction to the ideas of abstract expressionism, that were then dominant, as well as an expansion of them. Due to its usage of found objects and images it is similar to Dada art movement. Pop art is aimed to use images of popular, as opposed to swanky culture in art, emphasizing the common elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony. It is also associated with the artists’ use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques. Much of pop art is considered contradictory, as the conceptual practices that are often used make it, HYL KPMÄJ\S[ MVY ZVTL [V LHZPS` \UKLYZ[HUK 7VW HY[ HUK TPUPTHSPZT HYL JVUZPKLYLK [V IL HY[ TV]LTLU[Z that precede postmodern art. Some may say that they themselves are some of the earliest examples of movements in Postmodern Art. Pop art often takes as its imagery that which is currently in use in advertising. Product labeling and SVNVZ ÄN\YL PU[V [OL PTHNLY` [OH[ PZ OPNOS` JOVZLU I` WVW HY[PZ[Z ,]LU SHILSPUN VU ZOPWWPUN JHY[VUZ containing retail items have been used as subject matter in pop art.

Roy Lichtenstein “Look Mickey” 1961 Oil on Canvas

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Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987)

Some of his most famous works include:

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TLYPJHU HY[PZ[ HUK ÄSTTHRLY (UK` >HYOVS ^HZ VUL VM [OL THPU SLHKLYZ VM [OL 7VW art movement of the 1960s. His mass-produced art idealized the supposed cliché of the commercial culture of the United States. An cunning self-publicist, he projected a JVUJLW[ VM [OL HY[PZ[ HZ HU PTWLYZVUHS ÄN\YL ^OV PZ UL]LY[OLSLZZ H Z\JJLZZM\S JLSLIYP[` businessman, and social climber.

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O L ZVU VM *aLJOVZSV]HR PTTPNYHU[Z >HYOVS NYHK\H[LK MYVT [OL *HYULNPL 0UZ[P[\[L VM Technology in Pittsburgh, with a degree in pictorial design in 1949. He then went to 5L^ @VYR *P[` ^OLYL OL ^VYRLK HZ H JVTTLYJPHS PSS\Z[YH[VY MVY HIV\[ H KLJHKL >HYOVS began painting in the late 1950s and received sudden notoriety in 1962, when he exhibited paintings of Campbell’s soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and wooden replicas of Brillo soap pad boxes. By 1963 he was mass-producing these purposely common images of consumer goods by means of photographic silk screen prints. He then began printing LUKSLZZ ]HYPH[PVUZ VM WVY[YHP[Z VM JLSLIYP[PLZ PU ÅHZO` JVSVYZ ;OL ZPSR ZJYLLU [LJOUPX\L ^HZ PKLHSS` Z\P[LK [V >HYOVS MVY [OL YLWLH[LK PTHNL ^HZ YLK\JLK [V H JOHYHJ[LYSLZZ HUK KLO\THUPaLK J\S[\YHS PJVU ;OLZL PJVUZ YLÅLJ[LK IV[O [OL Z\WWVZLK LTW[PULZZ VM American material culture and the artist’s emotional noninvolvement with the practice of OPZ HY[ >HYOVS»Z ^VYR WSHJLK OPT PU [OL MVYLMYVU[ VM [OL LTLYNPUN 7VW HY[ TV]LTLU[ PU America.

Marilyn Monroe (p.8)

Campbell’s Soup Cans (p.9)

Banana (p.10) 7

(UK` >HYOVS “Marilyn Monroe Variations” 1967, Silkscreen Print

(UK` >HYOVS “Cambell’s Soup Cans Variations” 1968, Silkscreen Print

(UK` >HYOVS “Banana” 1966, Silkscreen Print

Roy Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997)

Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York as the son of a realtor and H OV\ZL^PML 5L_[ [V (UK` >HYOVS OL PZ JVUZPKLYLK HZ VUL VM [OL NYLH[ HY[PZ[Z of the Pop Art movement. The use of familiar subjects like comic strips, bank notes or advertising themes, makes the art of Roy Lichtenstein easy [V \UKLYZ[HUK 3PJO[LUZ[LPU NYL^ \W \UKLY UV ZWLJPĂ„J HY[PZ[PJ PUĂ…\LUJL At the age of 14 he attended a painting class at Parson’s School of Design every Saturday morning. From 1940 to 1943 he studied in New York at the Art Students’ League. He was then drafted into the US Army and served in ,\YVWL K\YPUN >VYSK >HY 00 6UJL IHJR MYVT [OL HYT` 3PJO[LUZ[LPU Z[\KPLK at the Ohio State University from 1946 and received his M.A. (Master of Arts) PU 3PRL (UK` >HYOVS OL ^VYRLK PU [OL JVTTLYJPHS NYHWOPJ I\ZPULZZ MVY a while, making designs and decorating shop windows. Lichtenstein worked a lot with stencils. He would produce rows of oversized dots that he used to make his paintings and prints look like a huge mass publication product. Although he put as much work into his art the old masters, he wanted his works of art look like machine made. One of his notable quirks was that he did not want his brush strokes to be seen. Other than paintings and sculptures, Lichtenstein produced a number of prints; using different techniques (lithographs, screenprints, etchings and woodcuts.) He often combined these techniques into one print. Lichtenstein is usually characterized as ironic, humorous and witty. He openly commented on his own works. Roy Lichtenstein “Sweet Dreams Babyâ€? 1963 Color Screenprint (Detail on next page)

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Roy Lichtenstein “WHAAM!” 1963, Lithograph

Roy Lichtenstein “Crying Girl” 1963 Lithograph

Robert Rauschenberg

(August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987)

American artist Robert Rauschenberg is best known for paving the way for pop art of the 1960s with fellow pop artist, Jasper John. His work made use of non-traditional materials and questioned the distinction between art and everyday objects. He worked as a costume and stage designer in New York City. He then went on to using painting, sculpture, music and collage to produce his work. Rauschenberg studied at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1946-1947, and the Académie Julien in Paris in 1947. He went on to studying with Josef Albers and John Cage at Black Mountain College in North Carolina between the years of 1948-1950.Traveling widely, he began living in New York City starting in 1950. That is where he and Jasper Johns paved the way for the pop art movement in the 1960s. He worked with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York as costume and stage designer from 1955–64. An imaginative and eclectic artist, he used a mix of sculpture and paint in works he called ‘combines’, as seen in The Bed (1955). From the late 1950s he incorporated sound and motors in his work, such as Broadcast (1959), and silk-screen transfers, as in Flush (1964). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he experimented with collage and new ways to transfer photographs. In 1997, the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York City, staged a major exhibition VM OPZ ^VYRZ ZOV^JHZPUN [OL ILH\[` VM OPZ ^VYR HUK P[Z PUÅ\LUJL V]LY [OL ZLJVUK OHSM VM [OL JLU[\Y`

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Robert Rauschenberg “BMW 635 CSi Art Car” 1986 Print transfer on Car

Robert Rauschenberg “Signs” 1970 Silkscreen (Detail on previous page)

Robert Rauschenberg “Retroactive” 1964 Oil and Silkscreen on Canvas

Jasper Johns (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987)

After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, Jasper Johns studied art at the University of South Carolina for three semesters. He then packed up and left for New York City. This was a goal shared by nearly every young, talented American art student in the late 1940s. Leaving college also meant that Johns became eligible for the draft, a fact that the US Army did not overlook. He was summoned back to South Carolina in May of 1951 and spent the next 18 months at Fort Jackson. For the last six months of his service he was stationed in Sendai, Japan. Johns returned to New York after being honorably discharged in May of 1953. Deeply intellectual with a sly sense of humor, Jasper Johns is of course best known for his paintings of Ă…HNZ HUK [HYNL[Z /L PZ HSZV RUV^U MVY PUZLY[PUN HJ[\HS VIQLJ[Z Z\JO HZ WHPU[IY\ZOLZ HUK SPNO[ I\SIZ PU[V OPZ ^VYRZ Johns also worked in sculpture and, more extensively, printmaking. He continues to exhibit hs works, and is permanently on the list of the top 10 most expensive living artists. For proof that this artist has forever made the \UVMĂ„JPHS (Y[ 0JVUZ SPZ[ WSLHZL YLMLY [V ;OL :PTWZVUZ ,WPZVKL ¸4VT HUK 7VW (Y[ š MVY ^OPJO 1VOUZ KPK [OL voice over of--wait for it--Jasper Johns.

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Jasper Johns “Map� 1964 Oil on Canvas

Jasper Johns “Flag” 1964 Oil on Canvas

Jasper Johns “Untitled” 1984 Encaustic on Canvas

Jasper Johns “Target with Four Faces” 1955 Encastic and collage on canvas with plaster casts

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m Sources used to produce this book

ALL IMAGES REPRODUCED ARE FROM GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH http://www.biography.com/people/robert-rauschenberg-9452410 http://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875 http://www.artelino.com/articles/roy_lichtenstein.asp http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesjj/p/johns.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art

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