Pop Art began in England in the 1950s as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. Key early figures included Richard Hamilton, who coined the term "Pop art", and Eduardo Paolozzi, whose collages incorporated imagery from mass media and popular culture. Pop Art spread to the United States in the 1960s, where artists like Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Jim Dine incorporated everyday objects and imagery into their work. They challenged definitions of art and blurred lines between high and low culture.

1. Chapter 19
TAKING CHANCES
WITH POPULAR
CULTURE

2. Pop Art
 was a reaction and renewal from about two decades of Abstract
Art.
 first began in England (British Pop).
 Pop artists appreciated the work of Marcel Duchamp whose ready-
mades, as he called them, added a new sense of completion for the
Pop artists.
 was so successful for its artists in the early years was because the
world had grown tired of the repetitive forms of Abstract art.
 Throughout the 1950's and 60's, artists created work that was
deeply rooted in culture, both in the United States and Europe.

3. Hamilton and Paolozzi
• Pop Art was founded in England by
Richard Hamilton, who created collages
that parodied the commercial imagery
pervasive at the time.
• Hamilton was a member of the
Independent Group, at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts.
• Hamilton declared that "Pop art" would
be: "Popular, transient, mass-produced,
gimmicky, glamorous, and Big
Business."
• Although less famous than Warhol, it
was Hamilton who defined the
movement’s trajectory.
Richard Hamilton. Just what is
it that makes today’s homes
so different, so appealing?
1956, Collage on paper
10-1⁄4 × 9-3⁄4”. Kunsthalle
Tübingen Sammlung Zundel
“This is Tomorrow”:
Pop Art in Britain

4. Paolozzi
• grew up during World War II.
• loved American culture which led him
to make collages that were credited
for launching the Pop art movement in
America.
• his collages reflected the way
contemporary culture and mass
media influenced individual identity.
• created abstract sculptures that
illustrated the idea of man as an
assemblage of parts in an larger and
more complex machine.
Eduardo Paolozzi, Medea,
1964. Welded aluminum
6’ 9” × 6’. Rijksmuseum
Kröller-Müller, Otterlo
the Netherlands

5. Blake and Kitaj
Blake came of age in postwar
England. An optimistic lifestyle was
being touted via advertising in
magazines, on posters, and on
billboards.
The advertising lexicon infiltrated Pop
Art, challenging what constituted fine
art.
Many of Blake's paintings are
compositions of pictures within
pictures, painted homogeneously on
a single plane reminiscent of
Matisse’s Red Studio.
Peter Blake. On the Balcony
1955–57. Oil on canvas
47-3⁄4 × 35-3⁄4”
Tate, London

6. R.B. Kitaj
• lived in London and studied art at
Oxford.
• his exposure and education in the
history of art, politics, and literature,
informed his paintings.
• moved back to the United States in
the nineties
• believed deeply in the connection
between images and ideas.
• Never created self-referential works,
but connected to a web of outside
events.
• his works are a patchwork of images,
intended to communicate a complex
layering of meaning.
R. B. Kitaj. The Autumn of
Central. Paris (After Walter
Benjamin). 1972–73. Oil on
canvas. 60 × 60”. Private
collection.

7. Hockney
• chose to depict personal subject
matter which diferentiate him from
most other Pop artists.
• aligns himself with Alice Neel, Alex
Katz, and others artists of the period.
• focused his interest on bright
swimming pools, and suburban
Californian landscapes
• explored how to represent the
movement captured by a photograph.
• Used a photograph of a swimming
pool to paint A Bigger Splash.
David Hockney. A Bigger Splash
1967. Acrylic on canvas.
8’ 1⁄8” × 8’ 1⁄8”. Tate, London

8. Rauschenberg
• In 1966 Robert Rauschenberg was interested in
fusing art with technology.
• The same year he helped form EAT (Experiments
in Art and Technology) a group enabling artists
and engineers to work together.
• collaborated with Susan Weil in creating
monoprints through direct exposure.
Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil
Untitled (Double Rauschenberg)
c. 1950. Monoprint: exposed blueprint
paper. 8’ 9” × 3’. Collection Cy Twombly,
Rome
Signs of the Times: Assemblage
and Pop Art in the United States

9. Rauschenberg
• was a crucial figure in the transition from
Abstract Expressionism to later
movements.
• expanded the traditional boundaries of art,
opening up opportunities of exploration for
future artists.
Robert Rauschenberg. Bed. 1955
Combine painting: oil and pencil on
pillow, quilt, and sheet on wooden
supports. 75-1⁄4 × 31-1⁄2 × 8”. The
Museum of Modern Art New York

10. Rauschenberg:
• employed a radical blending of
materials and methods.
• mixed kitsch and fine art,
traditional media and found
objects when he created
"combines” in the 1950’s
• Was one of the key Neo-Dada
movement artists
• aligned his views with the Dada
modes of inquiry into the definition
of art.
Robert Rauschenberg. Monogram
1959. Combine painting: oil and
collage with objects. 42 × 63-1⁄2 ×
64-1⁄2”. Moderna Museet Stockholm

11. • used appropriated photographic images to
mediate the dialogue between the viewer,
the world, and art history.
• was preoccupied incorporating imagery
from the commercial print media but began
to rely more heavily on his own
photography.
• established the in 1984, the Rauschenberg
Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) ,went
around the world in an international tour
that begun in 1985 and traveled for six
years.
• the ROCI project included
• 60 paintings,
• 21 sculptures,
• 60 photographs,
• 30 graphic works,
• and 15 video monitors that were on
Robert Rauschenberg,
Estate, 1963. Oil and
silkscreen ink on canvas.
8’ × 5’ 10”. Philadelphia
Museum of Art
Rauschenberg

12. Johns
Despite early Abstract
Expressionist influences,
Jasper Johns took everyday
objects and re-contextualized
them.
As a result he initiated a
dialogue with the viewers and
their cultural context through
his artistic explorations.
Jasper Johns. Flag, 1954–55 (dated
1954 on reverse). Encaustic oil and
collage on fabric mounted on plywood.
42-1⁄4 × 60-5⁄8”. Museum of Modern Art
New York

13. In Target with Plaster Casts, 1955,
Johns merged painting and
sculpture.
Johns’ inclusion of the plaster
casts of the lower half of a face,
attached to the top of the canvas,
emphasized the existence of the
painting as an object in itself.
His contributions created
important challenges to traditional
definitions of art and objects.
Jasper Johns. Target with Plaster
Casts, 1955. Encaustic and collage
on canvas with wood construction
and plaster casts. 51 × 44 × 3-1⁄2”,
Collection David Geffen

14. Twombly
• In 1953 was drafted into the
army where he served as a
cryptographer.
• used this experience to
address the difference of
linguistic signs in his
paintings.
• created a group of grey-ground
works between 1966 and 1972
to evoke blackboards covered
in chalk writing.
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1969.
Crayon and oil on canvas,
6’ 6” × 8’ 7”. Whitney Museum of
American Art New York

15. Kaprow, Grooms, and Early
Happenings
Alan Kaprow
• in the late 1950s developed the
happenings and environments
for which he is well known.
Red Grooms
• Today Grooms is recognized
as a pioneer of site-specific
sculpture and installation art.
Allan Kaprow. Household, 1964.
A Happening featuring women licking
strawberry jam off a car presented for
Festival of Contemporary Arts at
the city dump, Ithaca, New York
Getting Closer to Life:
Happenings and Environments

16. Segal
• In 1958 George Segal started
creating sculptures from chicken
wire and plaster.
• In 1960 he turned to plaster casts.
He usedfamily members and friends
as models.
• was associated with members of
Pop art in the late 1950s,
• his installations display a mute,
ghostly anguish.
His casting technique creates a rough
texture and a minimum of surface
detail to the figures, which heightens
the sense of anonymity and isolation.
George Segal. The Diner, 1964–
66. Plaster, wood, chrome,
laminated plastic, Masonite,
fluorescent lamp, glass, and
paper. 8’ 6” × 9’ × 7’ 3”
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

17. Oldenburg
 was born January 28, 1929,
in Stockholm, Sweden, but
spent most of his childhood
in the United States.
 After studies at Yale
University and the Art
Institute of Chicago, he
moved to New York City in
1956, where he established
himself in the early 1960s
with a series of installations
and performances influenced
by his surroundings.
Claes Oldenburg seated in The Store
107 East 2nd Street, New York,
December 1961. Collection the artist

18.  Oldenburg's initial interest in
constructing environments such
as The Street (1960), The Store
(1961), and Bedroom Ensemble
(1963) soon evolved into a
concentration on single
sculptures.
 Using ordinary, everyday objects
as his form of expression, he
went on to develop "soft"
sculpture and fantastic
proposals for civic monuments.
Claes Oldenburg, Floor Cake
(Giant Piece of Cake), 1962
Synthetic polymer paint and
latex on canvas filled with
foam rubber and cardboard
Boxes. 4’ 10-3⁄8” × 9’ 6-1⁄4” × 4’
10-3⁄8”. Museum of Modern Art
New York

19. In 1969, Oldenburg took up
fabrication on a large scale.
In 1976 Oldenburg installed the
Clothespin for downtown
Philadelphia.
Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar
Tracks, which became a
controversial focus for student
protest when it was installed on the
Yale campus.
Claes Oldenburg, Geometric
Mouse Scale A. 1969–71.
Aluminum, steel, paint height 12’.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

20. Claes Oldenburg, Proposed Colossal
Monument for Park Avenue New York:
Good Humor bar 1965. Crayon and
watercolor on paper. 23-1⁄2 × 17- 1⁄2”.
Collection of Carroll Janis New York.
Oldenburg’s sculptures often
challenge the definition of
“monument”.

21. Dine
Jim Dine moved to New York in 1959 and
became involved in the Happenings
movement together with Allan Kaprow, and
Claes Oldenburg.
Dine is closely associated with the
development of Pop art in the early 1960s
as he frequently attached everyday objects,
such as tools, rope, shoes, articles of
clothing, and even a bathroom sink, to his
canvases.
This autobiographical content was evident
also in his recurrent themes and images,
such as the Palettes, Hearts, and bathrobe
Self-Portraits.
Jim Dine. Double Isometric
Self-Portrait (Serape), 1964. Oil
with metal rings and hanging
chains on canvas. 4’ 8-7⁄8” × 7’
1⁄2”. Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York
“Just Look at the Surface”:
The Imagery of Everyday Life

22. Samaras and Artschwager
Samaras
• Inspired by the Fluxus movement,
• he created the groundbreaking work
Mirrored Room (1966),
• was one of the earliest
installations
• allowed viewers to become active
participants.
Artschwager
• Associated during his career with
Pop, Optical, Minimalist, and
Conceptual Art,
• defied classifications to create his
unique blend of inventive work.
Richard Artschwager,
Destruction III, 1972. Acrylic on
Celotex with metal frames, two
panels. 6’ 2” × 7’ 4”. Private
collection.

23. Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam, 1963.
Magna on two canvas panels
5’ 8” × 13’ 4” Tate, London
Rivers
Lichtenstein
• focused on methods of mechanical
reproduction, through his signature
use of Ben-Day dots, highlighting
that all forms of communication are
filtered through codes or languages.
• embraced "low" art such as comic
books and popular illustration,
became one of the most important
figures in the Pop art movement and
a considerable influence to later
generations of artists.

24. Lichtenstein
• his early work ranged widely in
style and subject matter.
• demonstrated considerable
understanding of modernist
painting,
• used subject matter, and
techniques of reproduction,
common in popular culture.
• his mature Pop style for which he
is widely known since 1961, and
which was inspired by comic
strips, was received with criticism
like most of the other Pop artists..
Roy Lichtenstein, Artist’s Studio:
The Dance, 1974. Oil and synthetic
polymer paint on canvas.
8’ 1⁄8” × 10’ 8-1⁄8”. Museum of
Modern Art New York

25. Warhol
• elevated to the status of a popular icon,
represented a new kind of fame and celebrity
for the fine art field.
• learned to manipulate popular tastes while
he worked and became the most successful
commercial illustrator in NY.
• printed images which established his
reputation as a Pop artist in the early 1960s.
• challenged the idealist visions and personal
emotions of Abstract Expressionism
• became one of the founding father of the Pop
art movement
Andy Warhol, Marilyn
Monroe, 1962.
Silkscreen ink on
synthetic oil, acrylic,
and silkscreen enamel
on canvas. 20 × 16”

26.  Between 1962 and
1964, Andy Warhol
created a series
known as Death and
Disaster.
 These serigraph
images were based
on grainy, black and
white tabloid images
of race riots, fatal
accident scenes and
instruments of death
including electric
chairs, guns and
atomic bomb blasts.
Andy Warhol,
Tunafish Disaster
1963
Andy Warhol,
Electric Chair,
1967.

27. James Rosenquist
• supported himself for several years by working as an industrial painter
and sign painter, his work in 1958-60 including painting the enormous
billboards in Times Square.
• in 1960 began to work with bizarre juxtapositions of fragments of
immense, sometimes unrecognizable images derived mainly from
advertisements.
• painted some very large pictures, including a mural for the New York
World's Fair 1964
• painted a huge painting 'F-111' 1965, over 86 feet long.
James Rosenquist Portion of F-111
1965. Oil on canvas with aluminum
overall 10 × 86’.Private collection

28. Wesselmann
• developed a style that reflected a
contemporary culture consumed
by mass media and a society
obsessed with objects.
• his artworks are characterized by
flat colors, clean lines, and bold
yet seemingly anonymous
presentation of the female
figures.
• was born in Cincinnati in 1931,
• studied psychology at the Hiram
College.
• after serving in the army he
entered the Cincinnati Academy
of Art.
Tom Wesselmann. Great
American Nude No 57.
1964, Acrylic and collage on
board, 48” x 65”.Whitney
Museum of American Art , New
York.

29. Axell, Marisol, and Sister
Corita
Marisol
• was an American artist best
known for her carved wooden
sculptures,
• often incorporated photographs
and painted elements in her
sculptures
Sister Corita
• worked almost exclusively with
silkscreen
• her work promoted love, peace.
and tolerance.
Sister Corita
Enriched Bread
1965. Serigraph

30. Thiebaud
• Is best known for paintings of
• still lifes of edible treats
• everyday objects in
illustrative style
• colorful cakes,
• slices of pie,
• candy pieces,
• and the winding streets
of San Francisco.
• his paintings capture a
uniquely American sensibility,
Wayne Thiebaud. Pie Counter, 1963.
Oil on canvas. 30 × 36”. Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York
Poetics of New Gomorrah”:
West Coast Artists

31. Kienholz
• made installation art before there really
was such a thing.
• also made conceptual art works before
it became a movement.
• his socially critical art against the
Vietnam war, the treatment of Native
Americans and of the mentally ill,
against US TV culture, the power and
big business.
• paved the road for the tableaux of
George Segal, for Red Grooms, for
Claes Oldenberg, and for younger
artists such as Paul McCarthy, Mike
Kelley and Charles Ray.
Ed Kienholz. State Hospital,
1966. Mixed Media
This artwork is based on
Kienholz’experience working in
a mental hospital in the 1950s

32. Ruscha
• combines Pop Art iconography
with the rigor of Conceptual Art.
• practice includes drawing,
painting, photography, film,
printmaking, and publishing,
• is perhaps best known for his
artist’s books, such as
Twentysix Gasoline Stations
(1963)
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas,
1963, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas.
64 1/2 x 121 3/4 in. Hood Museum
of Art, Dartmouth College,
Hanover, New Hampshire. © Ed
Ruscha

33. In the years around World War II, other photographers
• embraced documentary photography.
• and photojournalism into personal statements inspired by
contemporary social life.
Bruce Davidson is known for capturing images of communities and
individuals living on the fringes of society.
Duane Michals
• creates narratives within a series of images.
• blends images with text in a format similar to cinematic sequences,
Personal Documentaries:
The Snapshot Aesthetic in
American Photography