MODULE 14: international avant-garde since 1945: Consumer Culture and Pop Art, Chapt. 29

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 Modules: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

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The sated wealth of America inspired Pop Art commented on a society dominated by popular culture, the acquisition of products, and a comforted Middle-Class. Europeans saw this glut of consumerism (relative to the war ravaged poverty in Europe) as symbolic of American values. They felt we had replaced a culture based on historic aesthetics and belief in religion, with one based on Popular Culture, therefore the idea of Pop Art. The imagery of Pop Art in the 1960’s tended to be readily readable, familiar, often funny, somewhat erotic, and political protest studded with social commentary. Some of these artists took the literal objects of their culture as an element of their art. Assemblage used actual material or ‘found-objects’ as visual elements in their art- perhaps an homage to Dadaism. The use of recognizable imagery also opened the opportunity for artists to ply their technical skills that had be repressed during the Abstract Expressionist era. All of these avant-garde innovations would inspire the Conceptual and Photo-Realist movements to come.

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SLIDE:
Johns “Target with Four Faces” (1955) Pl. 29-24

Jasper Johns’ is more a neo-Dadaist than truly a Pop Artist, although he expressed sensibilities of both. It was perhaps more important that he was a provocateur of ideas for others. His humor was often wry and biting. His painting “Three Flags” of a stack of three diminishing-sized American flags suggests both the ubiquity and the vapidity his saw in political imagery. With “Target with Four Faces” he expressed the anonymity of his personal life and an intellectual dialogue regarding a new generation of artists response to the strictures of Abstract Expressionism.

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SLIDE:
Lichtenstein “Oh, Jeff…I Love You, Too…But…” (1964) Pl. 29-26

Lichtenstein looked to his first fascination with graphic imagery and found it in the comic books of his youth. He even incorporated the Ben-Day dot method of cheap color reproduction used in comic books. To add a more contemporary twist to the image, he added dialogue that often suggested a social commentary.

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SLIDE:
Warhol “Marilyn Diptych” (1962) Pl. 29-27

Andy Warhol was both an icon and an iconographer of the Popular Culture of the 1960’s. His self-promoting image, much like Salvador Dali before him, was as much a statement about the values of his time as was his art. His art generally consisted of a singular popular image (Campbell’s Soup, movie stars, tragedy figures, car wrecks, etc.), often gridded and repeated like the constant glut of T. V. ads or print ads, and was generally reproduced by commercial printing processes.

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SLIDE:
Oldenburg “Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks” (1969) Pl. 29-28

Claus Oldenburg brought a sense of humor to Pop Art. His over-sized common products brought to our attention the objects of our daily lives. By taking these objects out of their normal context he could use them as devices for more esoteric commentary.

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