The Modern period from the late 19th to the early phase of the 20th century served as the catalyst for the beginning of avant-garde works of different artists whose works isolated their styles from the rest of the artistic movements that emerged in the previous eras. These new designs spearheaded the development of the comic book art wherein the iconography of the subjects attempted to portray the real world yet in an animated way without closely resembling the reality. The artists who popularized these method includes Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Larry Rivers each of the defined the early beginnings of the genre of popular culture. This essay argues that the works of Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Rivers exemplified the trend of destroying realistic images of the body simplified these images into smaller sketchy lines as a form of rejection to the older styles.
Andy Warhol was a pioneer of the Modern period and he began his work way back in the early phase of the 20th century wherein he became active in the years starting from the 1950s up to his death in 1987. Most of his works reflect the psychedelic retro styles of the Swinging Sixties especially his motifs used pictures of the famous celebrities; yet, although he managed to portray these people as realistic as possible, the artwork only meant to represent the person but not the actual realistic image. For instance in the artwork titled, Marilyn (see fig. 1) created in 1967, the artist portrayed Marilyn Monroe’s face with polychrome colors opposing each other. The face is covered in purple hue with minimal streaks of black on the either side for chiaroscuro. The hair was covered in a ridiculous neon orange color smeared haphazardly and only following the outlines of the hair. The red pigment had covered the entire lips and teeth while the eyelids and the single mole had been covered with a sea-green shade. Another popular work created by Warhol that is currently existent in the market is the design of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup (see fig. 2) created in 1969. Here, Warhol only minimized the portrayal of the actual can in the picture to appeal to the masses; the simplified lines of the can composed of a cylindrical shaped with smaller half-circles on the top while the label shows the brand name and the circular logo. The characters are written in uniformed bold letters while circling the lower part are the repeated patterns of fleur-de-lis signifying that the product can be eaten by those of the upper classes since the fleur-de-lis also meant a heraldic symbol meant for the royalties especially from France. The colors he used were muted and flat mimicking the simplified Japanese ukiyo-e prints composed of one to three colors usually applied on to the surface without any regard for three-dimensional perspective. The lack of chiaroscuro made the image appear flat and two-dimensional without volume.
On the other hand, another popular print created by Warhol was the Self-Portrait (see fig. 3) dated in 1986 wherein the artist portrayed himself wearing his iconic hair blond wig ruffled in different directions. The photo was unusual due to the fact that it was made with only single color. The black background highlighted the red color of the work. Warhol’s work signified the transition of the artistic styles from the realist up to the playful styles of the Pop Art. Pop Art or popular art has its capitalist roots simply because it was the art used in advertising and the increased of advertisement and production in the early 20th century demanded many changes in visual styles of the works. Although Warhol’s works valued the simple styles, the succeeding artists who also worked under the Pop Art genre further simplified the images until they resembled rough sketches of the actual people. This trend can be observed on the works of Rauschenberg and Rivers. Like Warhol, these two people were also the pioneers on the existence of the Pop Art genre; however, unlike Warhol, Rauschenberg experimented on making photographic collage of objects and famous personalities and adding rough lines on to the surface of the work to make the appearance distorted and rough. For example, the two works can be considered as the modern period Dadaism since Dadaism was a style that originated in the late 19th century as a rebellion towards the realistic art. In the Port of Entry (ca. 1998; see fig. 4) and Retroactive (ca. 1964; see fig. 5) Rauschenberg used rough crosshatching on the surface of the artworks to distort the appearance of the images and make them resemble the reality less unlike Warhol. Meanwhile, Larry Rivers also followed the style dominant in the Pop Art however unlike Warhol and Rauschenberg, the style he used no longer followed the realistic portrayal of the objects as seen from the natural environment. The style he used can be linked on the Japanese animation existing today since his works closely resembled sketches made on paper with an additional splashes of color applied haphazardly for a queer appearance. Two of his artworks titled CIAA: Now and Then (ca. 1981; see fig. 6) and The Last Civil War Veteran (ca. 1959; see fig. 7) used lines to illustrate the outlines and contours of the body. The only difference was the coloring; in the CIAA, Rivers used colors and aligned them according to the shape of the subject’s bodies while demonstrating his skill in chiaroscuro. However, in The Last Civil War Veteran the subject no longer resemble the real person but in fact a mere representation of an old man lying on his bed waiting for his last breath. The flags of both the Union and the Confederates hung on the background. The colors are applied through the use of fast and cropped brush strokes and did not fit the outlines of the objects properly. In these paintings, the image of the human body became distorted to the point of making them a comic character without discernible features. The face and the body are all masked in dabs of white pigments applied on to the surface, yet, the audience clearly knows that the image of the old man lying on the bed through the use of ‘impression’ or the rough sketch lines and the implied lines created by the pigments. What makes Warhol’s art different from the two was the fact that he still retained a bit of realistic portrayals of personalities he used. In the Marilyn, Self-Portrait, and Campbell’s, the outlines can be discerned immediately and close to reality. On the other hand, Rauschenberg’s Port of Entry and Retroactive also did the same style by remaining true to reality through minimal changes, but in the case of Rivers’ CIAA and The Last Civil War Veteran, the images were reduced to lines and resembled rough sketches which makes it less realistic compared to the two. Yet despite their differences, the three shared the same trait of abandoning the traditional image making by distorting the image either by putting additional lines and reducing the iconography into nothing but slapstick figures with psychedelic colors. The Popular Art spearheaded by Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Rivers started the transition towards a less realistic portrayals of the human body and the natural environment into something that combines the works of the previous artistic movements such as Impressionism and Dadaism which attempted to portray the world through the perception of the artists that neither represent the reality but rather a copycat image of the object from the real world. The artworks of Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Rivers eventually became the models for the graffiti and common arts of the popular culture, a style that is relaxed, comical, and attempts to illustrate the real world but not to the point of portraying every detail as accurate as possible.
WORKS CITED
Rauschenberg, Robert. Port of Entry. Vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate. 1998. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Web. Art Slant.com. 28 Apr. 2016.
Rauschenberg, Robert. Retroactive. Oil and silkscreen on canvas. 1964. Web. Art Factory.com. 28 Apr. 2016.
Rivers, Larry. CIAA: Now and Then. Oil on canvas. 1981. Web. Larry Rivers Foundation.org. 28 Apr. 2016.
Rivers, Larry. The Last Civil War Veteran. Oil on canvas. 1959. Web. Larry Rivers Foundation.org. 28 Apr. 2016.
Warhol, Andy. Campbell’s Soup II. 1969. Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Web. Warhol.org. 28 Apr. 2016.
Warhol, Andy. Marilyn. Screen-print. 1967. Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Web. Warhol.org. 28 Apr. 2016.
Warhol, Andy. Self-Portrait. 1986. The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts. Web. Tate Kids.org.uk. 28 Apr. 2016.
