Pop Art Movement
Pop art movement refers to an artistic movement that begun in Britain in the mid 1950s and spread to the United States in the late 1950s. Although it first emerged in Britain, pop art became one of the biggest ever artistic movements of the time in the United States after Abstract Expressionism. It challenged the people who were engaged in fine art. Lawrence Alloway, a British curator, is acknowledged as the inventor of the term Pop art. Pop art was a part of the popular culture and consisted of the use of imagery of consumerism. It enabled the artists to overcome the barriers between mass culture and old fashioned art.
Unlike Abstract Expressionism, Pop art used numerous figurative aspects so that in some quarters it was regarded as a form of counter attack against the former. It consisted of simple and bold imagery and bright colors that made it appealing to look at. These enabled it to emphasize some aspects of the contemporary culture and enabled the narrowing of the gap that existed between fine art and commercial art. As an art form, Pop art portrayed how powerful film and television mediums were as they were used to popularize the famous images. Comic strips, advertisements, celebrities and pop stars, pictures of film stars as well as product packaging were used for Pop iconography.
Abstract Expressionism as the main style of art of the time did not connect with the artists and the members of the general public. There was general dissatisfaction from the genuine art lovers of the time. Pop art therefore emerged as a form of reaction to this status quo. It employed a more painterly aspect, was more abstract and figurative and thus gained acceptance by the whole artist fraternity as well as from the general public. Also, so as to commercialize artwork and have the same exposed to a larger audience, pop artists replicated their masterpieces so that they could be sold to various galleries and museums all over the world.
Historically, in Britain, Pop art began when an informal group of artists made up of Lawrence Alloway, a curator, Richard Hamilton, a painter and Eduardo Paolozzi met in London at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Their meeting centered on a discussion about popular mass culture, its relevance and the value it had artistically. Paolozzi even showed to his colleagues his collages. Later on, Hamilton also came up with his own collage and this together with Paolozzi’s was among the very first artworks of the British Pop art. Later on the Young Contemporaries Exhibition helped in spreading the Pop art culture. Further publicity was accorded to British Pop art by BBC in the year 1962 when they screened a film touching on the movement.
In the United States, the American art scenery was characterized by artists who were affiliated to certain small movements. Most of them tended to incorporate articles that touched on mass culture in their artworks. This was in a bid to differentiate their works so that they are more inclusive as compared to traditional styles. They tackled ordinary subjects and employed non art materials that made their artworks express the contemporary popular culture of the time. Proponents of this new perspective to art included Ray Johnson, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg’s works included assemblage art, combine paintings and collage. Jasper Johns was focused on sculptures of common things, paintings, especially of flags, targets and also numbers. Johnson used to prepare collages of celebrities.
There was renewed interest in previous art movements but with a new focus of reflecting the contemporary American culture in the new artworks. Performing artists such as Allan Kaprow and John Cage, the famous composer assisted in the growth of the Pop art movement as they advocated for the new style. The movement was also spread through solo exhibitions in big towns like Los Angeles and New York. The Pop artists applied such techniques as commercial printmaking in their works, as opposed to traditional painterly techniques. Such works as the comic strip oils of Lichtenstein, monumental ice-creams and vinyl burgers done by Oldenburg and Marilyn Munroe’s silkscreen prints done by Warhol became icons of Pop art.
It was, however, after the art shows that were held sometime in 1962 in New York and at Pasadena Art Museum that the term Po art movement was taken up to refer to the wave of this new style of art. After this, Pop art spread to the rest of the American continent. This spread was in part favored by Pop artists of British descent and in part by the parallel growth that was occurring at the time in other parts. The widespread use of the television, developments in music, and advances in record production, miniaturization of such media forms as the radio, expansion of the art market and the formation of cult groups also led to the movement’s spread too.
Pop art movement was inspired by the desire to develop an art form that had an instant meaning. This was realized after a number of experiments with new commercial processes such as collage with the use of materials rarely used in painting, silkscreen painting and acrylic painting. The color schemes used and the imagery employed were obtained from the common place consumerist sources like magazines, consumer goods, comic strips, and advertising graphics among others. The movement sought to show that art could be made from anything. Previous art styles used to feature subjects that were seen to be worth aesthetic treatment. These included still life, the human face, the human nude and an ideal landscape. Pop art changed this perception by seeking to present art using whatever materials available and viewed to be appropriate and reflecting the popular culture.
Generally, the Pop art movement had lots of influence on the history of art. It impacted most aspects in the world of arts. It emphasized more on the idea behind the work of art than the work of art itself as the idea is what was perceived to be more important. Most Pop artists took up conceptual art to ensure this was achieved. Pop art movement was a positive movement that led to the creation of new forms of expression with new techniques and pictorial imagery. As a work of art, Pop art opened up the world of sculpture and painting to the general public. It helped make galleries and museums relevant to the ordinary people. Earlier works of art required museum guidebooks to help viewers interpret obscure paintings.
In addition, it is the Pop art movement that opened the way for the modern day works of art. Its distinguishing feature was the use of populist subjects in addition to its use of the painterly method. The style and the medium were later improved on. Pop art thus paved way for the postmodernism art through its progression to the level of contemporary art. Even today, Pop art still attracts the general public’s interests. It is no wonder that people would spend lots of money purchasing older masterpieces. There are as well a number of Pop artists who still practice the style, at times fusing it with other styles.
Works Cited
Bigham, Julia. Pop Art Book. Ed. Nadine Käthe Monem. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007.
Danesi, Marcel and Paul Perron. Analyzing Cultures: An Introduction and Handbook. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Troughton, Rose. "Pop Art Movement." 5 January 2012. www.getpopart.com. 29 April 2012
www.artsz.org. "The Pop Art Movement." 23 November 2009. www.artsz.org. 29 April 2012
