Pop Art emerged in the 1950s as a reaction to Abstract Expressionism, using imagery from popular culture and mass media. Major pop artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg incorporated symbols, objects, and graphics from advertisements, product packaging, and other commercial art into their brightly colored, photo-realistic paintings and sculptures. Pop Art blurred the lines between high and low art to comment on the growing role of consumerism and mass production in postwar Western culture.

2. What is Pop Art?
• Pop Art is a type of art that is based on
popular culture and the mass media
Reflects current values of
society/culture
Uses images borrowed from
advertising, photography, comic
strips, and other mass media sources
• Pop Art is influenced from two dimensional
images
• Pop artists also incorporated/reproduced
3-dimensional objects

3. Where Did Pop Art Come From?
• Pop Art first emerged in Great Britain during
the mid 1950s and later in America during
the late 1950s
• The Pop Art movement was a reaction against
the seriousness of Abstract Expressionism
• The term “pop art” was first used during
discussions among artists who called
themselves the Independent Group
• The Independent Group was part of the
Institute of Contemporary Art in London,
which began in 1952

4. Where Did Pop Art Come From
Continued
• The movement was officially named
by Lawrence Alloway in his article
“The Arts and Mass Media”
• Pop Art appreciates/supports
popular culture, which is often also
known as “material culture”
• Pop Art does not critique but rather
recognized the existence of
materialism and consumerism

5. History of Pop Art
• The art movement first began during
the 1950s
• The 1950s were a period of…
 Optimism
 Consumer boom
 Products were beginning to be
mass marketed and advertised

6. Influences
• The Pop Art movement initially arose from
a rebellion against Abstract Expressionism
• Many Pop artists saw Abstract
Expressionism as pretentious and over-
intense
• Pop Art drew upon Neo-Dadaist elements
The Neo-Dadaist often mocked artistic and
social conventions
Emphasized the illogical and absurd
Favored montage, collage, and the
readymade

7. Characteristics
• Much of the imagery used during the Pop Art
movement came from the mass media and popular
culture
• Pop artists gave common, everyday objects and
individuals value
• Pop artists blurred the line between fine art and
commercial art
• One of the most influential characteristics of Pop
Art was that the art could “borrow” from any
source
• Pop artists often believed that everything was
interconnected and tried to make the connections
literal in their artwork

8. Characteristics Continued
• Key characteristics of the Pop Art
movement include…
Recognizable imagery drawn from
popular media and products
Bright/bold colors
Clear lines
Flat imagery influenced by comic
books/newspaper photographs
Images of celebrities or fictional
characters

9. British Pop Art
vs.
American Pop Art
• American Pop Art was known to be
more anonymous and aggressive
while English Pop Art was more
subjective
• English Pop artists used to work with
popular culture and technology
mostly as themes or metaphors while
American Pop artists were more
interested with the ideas behind the
movement

10. Andy Warhol
• Born August
6, 1928
• One of the most
influential artists of
his time
• Famous for Avant-
Guard Pop Art
paintings and
screen paintings

11. Marilyn
Monroe—1967

12. Campbell’s Soup
Can—1964

13. 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans—1964

14. Peel Slowly and
See—1967

15. Famous Quotes
• “In the future everybody will be world-
famous for fifteen minutes.”
• “Art is anything you can get away
with.”
• “I don’t know where the artificial
stops and the real starts.”

16. Roy Lichtenstein
• Born October 27,
1923
• First pop paintings
used cartoon
images and
techniques derived
from the
appearance of
commercial
painting

17. The Drowning
Girl—1963

18. Ohhh…Alright…
1964

19. Whaam!—1963

20. Famous Quotes
• “I like to pretend that my art has nothing
to do with me.”
• “Pop Art looks out into the world. It
doesn’t look like a painting of something,
it looks like the thing itself.”

21. Jasper Johns
• Born May 15, 1930
• Early works were
composed using simple
schemes of flags, maps,
letters, targets, and
numbers
• Wanted to create meaning
through the use of symbols

22. Flag—1954

23. Target with Four
Faces—1955

24. False Start
1959

25. Famous Quotes
• “Sometimes I see it and then paint it.
Other times I paint it and then see it. Both
are impure situations, and I prefer
neither.”
• “I don’t want my work to be an exposure
of my feelings.”

26. Robert Rauschenberg
• Born October 22, 1925
• His early works anticipated
the Pop Art movement
• Rauschenberg is well
known for his “Combines”
of the 1950’s
• His “combines” were made
of non-traditional materials
and objects that were put
together in new/different
combinations

27. Monogram
1959

28. Signs—1970

29. Red—1954

30. Famous Quotes
• “The artist's job is to be a witness to his
time in history.”
• “I always have a good reason for taking
something out but I never have one for
putting something in. And I don't want
to, because that means that the picture is
being painted predigested.”

31. Summary
• Characterized by clear lines, bold/bright
colors, and recognizable imagery from
popular culture
• Influenced by Abstract Expressionism and
Neo-Dadaism
• Easy to understand, recognize, and
interpret
• Major Artists: Andy Warhol, Roy
Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Robert
Rauschenberg