Marilyn Monroe Vs. Crying Girl: Who Is the Face of Pop Art?

Pop art is an art style that had its origins in England in the 1950s and made its way to the United States during the 1960s featuring images of the popular culture such as comic strips, magazine ads, celebrities, and supermarket products. This movement was marked by a fascination with popular culture reflecting the affluence in post-war society. In celebrating everyday objects such as soup cans, washing powder, comic strips and soda pop bottles, the movement turned the commonplace into icons. Some of the most prominent pop artists that are believed to have begun the North-American pop art revolution in the 1960s are Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928. During his said-to-be derange childhood Warhol excelled in the arts. In 1945 he entered the Carnegie Institute of Technology where he majored in pictorial design. Upon graduation, Warhol moved to New York where he found steady work as a commercial artist. He worked as an illustrator for several magazines including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker and did advertising for retail stores such as Bonwit Teller and I. Miller. Prophetically, his first assignment was for Glamour magazine for an for an article titled "Success is a Job in New York." Throughout the 1950s, Warhol enjoyed a successful career as a commercial artist, winning several commendations from the Art Director's Club and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. In these early years, he shortened his name to "Warhol". In 1952, the artist had his first individual show at the Hugo Gallery, exhibiting Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote. His work was exhibited in several other venues during the 1950s, including his first group show at The Museum of Modern Art in 1956. The 1960s was an extremely prolific decade for Warhol. Appropriating images from popular culture, Warhol created many paintings that remain icons of 20th-century art, such as the Campbell's Soup Cans, Disasters and Marilyn Monroe screenprints. In addition to painting, Warhol made several 16mm films, which have become underground classics such as Chelsea Girls, Empire and Blow Job. In 1968, Valerie Solanis, founder and sole member of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) walked into Warhol's studio, known as the Factory, and shot the artist three times in the chest. Doctors had to perform a risky procedure to prevent his heart from stopping and he nearly died. After his recovery, Warhol's career was bigger and better than ever. He continued his life of drugs, sex, fame, art and experimentation. Within the next two decades he published a magazine, hosted a TV show, and continued to wow the critics with his artistic ability. Following a routine gall bladder surgery on February 22, 1987, Warhol died. After his burial in Pittsburgh, his friends and associates organized a memorial mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York that was attended by more than 2,000 people.

Warhol's most legendary piece of work, as previously discussed, was the Marilyn Monroe screen prints (1962-1967). Warhol was greatly influenced by Hollywood stars since childhood. Warhol first explored Marilyn Monroe's image while experimenting with multiple stamped impressions on paper. Monroe's status as a screen goddess and her unexpected and tragic death in August 1962 inspired him to utilize his newest technique, the photo-silkscreen, to create his famous portraits of her. Warhol used a cropped publicity still from the film Niagara as the basis for about fifty paintings, branding Marilyn's image into our cultural memory. He is quoted as saying "People look the most kissable when they're not wearing makeup. Marilyn's lips weren't kissable, but they were very photographable." (The Philosophy of Andy Warhol)

Another prominent pop artist in the 1960's is Roy Lichtenstein. He was born in 1923 as the son of a realtor and a housewife. Lichtenstein grew up under no specific artistic influence - neither at home or at school. But at the age of 14 he attended a painting class at Parson's School of Design every Saturday morning. From 1940 to 1943 he studied in New York at the Art Students' League. Then he was drafted to the US Army and served in Europe during War II. Back from the army, Lichtenstein studied at the Ohio State University from 1946 and received his M.A. in 1949. Like Andy Warhol he worked in the commercial graphic business for a while - making designs and decorating shop windows. From 1957 on, he taught at