Post WWII culture: architecture, design, movies, music, politics, products, Rock 'n Roll and all the events that completely changed Western Culture in the aftermath of the war. Loads of images and text. Researched, Assembled and Designed by Alex Brown Blog: alexbrown.net

1. Popular Culture
1950s to 1990s
Music – war –
fashion – politics –
art - technology
Part I
The Story from the
50s to the 70s

2. The 1950s – The Post War World
The post -
World War II
period
The war in Europe
ended with Soviet
troops Taking
Berlin

3. The 1950s -
The Post War World
The post World War II
period
The war in Asia ended
with atomic bombs
dropped on Japan

4. The 1950s – The Wars (1)
• Malaya 1953 Indochina 1954 Korea 1950
• Part of the Cold War Global Conflict

5. The 1950s – The Wars (2)
Suez 1956 Hungary 1956 Cyprus 1955
The West & the Russians Cutting up the World after WWII

6. The 1950s – Americana
Flashy, fun, popular
images and
entertainment
This was the image
of the U.S. to the
War-ravaged societies
of Asia and Europe
FUN, FUN, FUN! THEY SAY
………Meanwhile back in the slums of Jakarta or Berlin

7. The 1950s – The New Icons (1)
Marlon Brando Marilyn Monroe James Dean
Blondes and Rebels – ‘I wannabee like…’

8. The 1950s – The New Icons (2)
Brigitte Bardot John and Jackie Liz Taylor
French sex symbol Kennedy wedding Star!
These people were news – everything they did was gossip

9. The 1950s - The New Icons (3)
Marilyn Monroe Audrey Hepburn James Dean

10. The 1950s – The Movies
Hollywood Sci Fi and and Musicals
Wonderful Escapism
Singing and Screaming

11. The 1950s – The Movies
Searchers Gentlemen prefer Blondes Rebel without a Cause
1956 1953 1955

12. The 1950s – Abstract Art
• Jackson Pollok
• A field of swirling
colour mix.
• Drips, splashes,
runs produce a
vibrating plane.
• Jackson Pollok:
• ‘Lavender Mist I’
• 1950

13. The 1950s – Abstract Art
• Colour assumes its
final and complete
dominance of the
picture plane.
• Abstract expressionism
is Expressionism
without subject matter.
• Franz Kline 1950s

14. The 1950s - Consumerism
Domestic design Jukebox design Coca Cola fronts Time
Together with Hollywood, American
Consumerism
becomes the dominant factor in the new post war economies

15. The 1950s - Corporate Culture
Above: McDonald’s 1955
Right: Lever House, New York 1951
While Europe and Asia recovered
from the war, The U.S. built a new
consumer & corporate culture

16. The 1950s – Car Culture
Vastly Different
Styling and
Design Concepts
Between U.S.
& European
cars due to
cultural and
economic
differences
above: the Mini 1950s the Fiat 500
below: Plymouth 1950s 1950s

17. The 1950s- Car
Culture
European
VERY SMALL CARS
For the masses

18. The 1950s – The
Roots of Rock ‘n Roll
Black Rhythm ‘n Blues music
is the soul of Rock ‘n Roll
Jive to the blues
Black Rhythm ‘n Blues PLUS White Country
Music = Rock ‘n Roll

19. The 1950s-
Hey, its only
Rock ‘n Roll
Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
In 1953 Elvis walks into the
Sun recording studio –
Memphis Tennessee to
record a song for his
Mother…….
Rock ‘n Roll is Born
Presley combines white country with black ‘soul’

20. The 1950s – Hey, Its Only Rock ‘n Roll
New Music – Eddie Cochran - rocks the night away
The groups The fans Dance the night away
The new culture of ‘teenagers’ and pleasure

21. The 1950s –
Hey, Its only Rock ‘n
Roll
Bill Haley and the Comets –
1956 - Rock around the Clock
Mr. Rock ‘n Roll
Chuck Berry

22. The 1950s – Hey, Its only
Rock ‘n Roll
Jukeboxes and Jukeboxes and Jukeboxes………..
‘Teenage’ Music provides part of an new group identity:
Rock ‘n Roll in the cafe

23. The 1950s – Cars and Things
Supposedly this was
American Youth
lifestyle in the 1950s
as shown on the
movies:
Money cars and
freedom
For Asian and
European kids this was
just a dream
Saturday Night Chevrolets,
burgers and the jukebox

24. The 1950s – Cars and Things
Cadillac Eldorado 1959 Tailfins
Baroque Consumerism
extravagant styling as a sales factor

25. The 1960s – Vietnam
Vietnam:
The Americans pour
men money and credibility
into supporting a corrupt
South Vietnamese
government set up by the
French against North
Vietnamese forces.
Starts in 1960-61and finishes
for the Americans in 1972
A U. S. Soldier under fire
All Part of the COLD WAR conflict

26. The 1960s – The Icons
Rock ‘n Roll
music and images
connect with fashion,
politics and anti-
establishment ideas to
Form a new
YOUTH
counter culture
Elvis Presley electric guitars

27. The 1960s – The Icons
John, Paul, George & Ringo
The Early Beatles 1962.
They were to change dramatically
during the ‘flower power’ era
British Fashion model Twiggy

28. The 1960s – The Icons
Muhammed Ali Bob Dylan Big Red Guitar
Times they are a-changin’

29. The Movies of the Times
Above: Easy Rider 1969
Dir: Dennis Hopper
Right: The Graduate 1967
Dir: Mike Nichols

30. The 1960s-The New
Culture
Album covers had become a powerful
new art form. They show the influence
of Eastern design and philosophies
Jimi Hendrix and Cream album covers

31. The 1960s -The New
Culture
Artist: Andy Warhol 1968
Pop Art
Art meets Consumerism Capitalism

32. The 1960s – Vietnam goes on
• Helicopters drop
• U.S.troops
• into to search and destroy
• operations
U.S. Machine gun post
More men more money
more dead

33. The 1960s – The Space Program
Lift off orbit recovery

34. The 1960s – The Space program
Space ships link up in orbit
Astronaut suited up

35. The 1960s – the Cuban missile crisis
Kennedy talks to the Soviet leader Krushchev just before
the dangerous period of the Cuban missile crisis.
Right: Fidel Castro Cuban leader

36. The 1960s – Cars and Things
1960s marketing
techniques to sell
gas-guzzling cars
Cadillacs – the U.S.
Luxury car
Class, women, status, colour, chrome
SELL CARS

37. The 1960s – Cars and Things
Standard European Cars.
Above: The British Mini
Above:
The Italian Fiat 500

38. The 1960s – Cars and Things
Vespa Italian Scooters: Cheap and
popular European transport

39. The 1960s – Vietnam goes on
Above: South Vietnamese Soldiers
carry a wounded comrade
Getting out fast

40. The 1960s – Civil Disorder
Anti War and Civil Rights demonstrations rock the U.S.,
European and Japanese cities.
Left: Martin Luther King
Right: Chicago demonstration

41. The 1960s –
Man on the Moon
11th
July 1969 Man Lands on the Moon
Saturn Launch Vehicle

42. The 1960s – The Counter Culture
Sgt. Peppers Album Rocking at the concert Jimi Hendrix
Advanced Rock music combines with drugs,
fashion, anti-war protest to re-create culture

43. 1960s –1970s Movies
The Graduate: 1968 Rocky 1976 Midnight Cowboy 1969
Dir: Mike Nichols Dir: John Avildsen Dir: John Schlesinger

44. 1960s – 1970s Movies
James Bond The Sound of Music Lawrence of Arabia
Dr. No - 1962 1965 1962
HOLLYWOOD alive and well

45. The 1970s – The Counter Culture
Music graphics fashion politics art genders and relationships
lifestyles changed in the early 1970s. This counter culture
filtered ideas and attitudes into everybody’s lives.

46. The New Design Culture – The 1960s
• Top Left: Carnaby St. London fashion
• Top: Model Jean Shrimpton
• Top right: Fashion group – mini skirts
• Left: Male fashion history 1950s to 1990s
• London becomes fashion capital of the
• world & British pop music takes over.

47. The New Design Culture – 1960s
Vespa scooters 1960s Loungers Joe Colombo 1967
Tactile, colourful & fun ideas from
pop consumer culture entered the
Normally ‘serious’ design areas of
architecture, furniture, product Design.
Colombo loungers 1967

48. Pop Influences on Culture–
The 1960s70s
Pop Art uses
Popular and
Familiar
Consumer items
as subject
Matter, like
Modern Design
Style, irony
and retro.
Hockney and Lichenstein
above. Right: Ironic statement
on Consumerism and pop music

49. Art Meets Life - Pop Art Icons
• Pvc Pop sculpture:
‘Dual cheeseburgers’
(‘with everything’).
The connection with
Surrealist movement
is obvious.
Familiar image but
unfamiliar material.
Claes Oldenburg – 1962
Art: Just ordinary everyday items sold in shops

50. Art Meets Life – Pop Art Icons
• What is familiar about
this image? The style is
taken from a Marvel
comics production.
• But there it is - as art!
Up on the wall of the art
gallery. Context is
everything!
Roy Lichenstein:
‘As I opened fire’ 1964

51. Art Meets Life - Pop Art Icons
A tiny detail raised to a
very large scale.
The comic book style
again, but a clear
artistic statement.
Context and size as
factors in the image
Roy Lichtenstein
“Brushstroke’ 1960s

52. Pop Influences on Culture –The 1960s70s
Sgt. Pepper Band 1967 Soft Toilet 1966 Marilyn 1962
The Beatles Claus Oldenburg Andy Warhol
A new art & design consciousness emerges out of an ironic analysis of popular
consumer culture. It is then applied to the design of products.
The beginnings of Postmodernism

53. The New Design Culture - 1960s
Top: Los Clubes, Mexico, Barragan 1966
Right: Urban graphics, U.K. 1960s
Colour
invades the environment & designs of the 1960s

54. 1960s –1970s Movies
By the 1960s and 1970s Hollywood had a truly global power
reaching and influencing every culture in the
world

55. 1960 – 1970s Movies
Above: Ben Hur
The Hollywood historical epic
Above:Spartacus

56. 1970s – Oscar Movies
Patton: George C. Scott (1970) Godfather: Marlon
Brando (1973)

57. The 1970s – Politics & Politicians
Richard Nixon Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
1969 – 1974 1976 -1980 1981 - 1989

58. The 1970s – Punks
The Punks, hard reaction to the new soft hippie clean
image and soft music. above: New York Punks
Punk = Tough music, tough style & Attitude

59. The 1970s – Punk
Culture
• The Sex
• Pistols U.K.
• Punk Rock
• album:
• ‘Never mind
• the Bollocks’
Above and right:
style like nothing before or since

60. The 1970s – Fashion
Street fashion, but cleaned up for the mass market.
The 1970 made even radical fashion statements acceptable for
money and mass markets

61. The 1970s – The Age
of the Big Concerts
• Rock goes Commercial – Big Time

62. The 1970s – End of
the Vietnam War
Over a million Vietnamese
killed and 58,000 Americans,
the war ends and America
withdraws defeated.
Top right: Last helicopter
from the U.S. Embassy, Saigon
Right: Last U.S. operations

63. The 1970s – Technology
Top: Nuclear submarine
Top Right: Radio telescope
Right: Nuclear accellerator
(atom smasher) at CERN
laboratories

64. The End
Thank you
Folks
For your patience
I hope you enjoyed
some of this talk
and learned
a few things
See You Again, Maybe
Hmmm..he looks tired