POP ART

In this lesson, much of the art we look at will likely be more familiar to you. That's because artists of the second half of the twentieth century became increasingly focused on popular culture.

OBJECTIVES

• Explain the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art.

• Discuss the role of Rauschenberg and Johns in this transition.

• Describe the work of Warhol and Lichtenstein.

VOCABULARY

THE END OF THE REIGN OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

After Abstract Expressionism, where could artists take their art? It seemed everything had been done through Classicalism, Realism, Expressionism, and finally, Abstraction. As images began to saturate the modern world, artists increasingly began to turn away from notions of high art and started looking at images from advertisements, newspapers, objects, and celebrity photography. The question was what exactly is art? Artists decided they would find out.

Artists Who Paved the Way

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)

Robert Rauschenberg was an American painter who played a major role as Abstract Expressionism transitioned to Pop Art, which is best described as a celebration of consumer art. He was born in Texas and studied art in Kansas City, Paris, and later at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. While in North Carolina, he studied under Josef Albers, a Bauhaus painting instructor. This was an eye-opening time for him since he was basically being trained to do the opposite of what he was taught in the traditional art schools. This influenced him as he developed his unusual style of art.

In the 1950s, Rauschenberg was most famous for combining oil paint with various objects such as torn newspaper clips, fabric, photographs, metal, and trash that he found on the streets of New York. These works were called Combines. His most famous work is called Monogram where the piece has a stuffed goat with a car tire around its belly.

In his later years, Robert focused on working with collages, lithographs, graphic arts, and photography.

Learn more about Rauschenberg by visiting the following sites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rauschenberg

• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/robert-rauschenberg/about-the-artist/49/

Jasper Johns (1930- ) 

Johns was a leading figure in mid-twentieth-century American art. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp, he was a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Johns' work served as a break from Abstract Expressionism because it showed more control and less spontaneity. Beginning in 1954, his canvases were devoted to such familiar objects as targets, American flags, numbers, and alphabet letters. He painted his subjects with objectivity and precision and, by applying paint very thickly, he made them appear as objects in themselves, and the idea that became a potent influence on sculpture as well as painting.

Notes

Read the article on Jasper Johns at the PBS website. Take notes in your online journal.

Now take a virtual trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to view the image The Seasons , which incorporates Mona Lisa, by Jasper Johns. 

POP ART ARRIVES

Andy Warhol (1928-87) 

Warhol is considered the most famous artist to emerge from the Pop Art movement. He was born in Pittsburgh in August 1928. Warhol studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began his career in commercial art in New York City, working as an illustrator and commercial artist for magazines. He created many clever ads; these eventually lead him to work as an artist for RCA records.

In the 1960s he became famous for incorporating daily objects into his works. Examples of these works include:

• Campbell's Soup (1965)

• Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962)

• Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and John Lennon (1962)

He would use silk screens to create repetitive images of the object or person.

Warhol was also a filmmaker and author. His publications include:

• Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again (1975)

• America (1985)

• Interview magazine

Notes

Read this article on Andy Warhol at the PBS website.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97)

"My work doesn't look like a painting...it looks like the thing itself." — Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein is another prominent artist who emerged from the Pop Art movement. Lichtenstein was born in October 1923 in Manhattan. He studied art at Ohio State University and also served in the army from 1943 to 1946. Once he finished his studies, he worked in Cleveland performing many jobs such as drafting, window decorator, and painter. He started teaching art at Rutgers University in 1961. During this time, he began creating his pop art mostly consisting of cartoons and other works deriving from commercial art. He is famous for using ben-day dots and bright colors within his works.

Explore Lichtenstein’s works by going to this site: www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/frames.htm.

One of Lichtenstein's more fun pieces is a sculpture called House I at the National Gallery which uses the illusion of three dimensions.

1. First look at the large image: House I.

2. 
   Now look at it from a different angle and read the accompanying text: House I.

3. 
   Read the article at the Smithsonian: "Roy Lichtenstein: Making History"

LET'S REVIEW!

In this lesson you have covered the following concepts:

• Pop Art was a rebellion against the intensity of Abstract Expressionism.

Complete the following quiz before moving on.