Pop Art 1960 - 1974 - Warhol Vs. Lichtenstein

Pop Art 1960 - 1974 Ð'- Warhol vs. Lichtenstein

The "Pop Art" movement began as a reactionary statement against the long running streak Abstract Expressionism held on popular art. It began the late 1950's, though it truly prospered during the sixties and early seventies. Pop artists utilized the imagery and techniques of consumerism and pop culture as a subject matter. As a style, it was based on using bright imagery and reproduction, to show the beauty of everyday objects. The movement set out to break down the distinctions between "good" and "bad" taste. Most importantly it broke down the distinctions between fine art and commercial art.

The movement primarily started in America. The U.S. was in a time of economic prosperity due to the successes of World War II. When the soldiers came home, they started families. These families needed "stuff". The American boom of consumer goods led to an artistic response to the nation's new consumerist society. Besides America, the only other country that truly embraced this movement was Great Britain. Though in Britain the works were generally less garish, and more nostalgic in nature.

The movement had many notable artists. Richard Hamilton was considered to be the first to use the style. His seminal collage entitled "Just what is it that makes today's home so different, so appealing?" has a multitude of references to popular culture and consumerism. Jasper Johns was another main contributor to the movement. When most people think of Pop Art they tend to think of its two most successful artists. Andy Warhol who used the method of silkscreen printing, and Roy Lichtenstein whom used a painting style that mimicked comic book techniques.

Andrew Warhola, later changed to Warhol, was born in Pennsylvania in August of 1928. He attended college at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in pictorial design. After graduation he moved to New York City to pursue his artistic endeavors. He dropped some of his drawings off at the offices of Glamour magazine, and was later commissioned to draw shoes for the magazine. His "Gold Shoe" drawings were immediately admired, and led him to a job creating ads for a shoe chain. His ads grew in popularity, and in 1957 he won the Art Directors Club Medal. After winning the award, his popularity grew even more. Andy found himself submitting his work to the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and later the walls of the galleries of New York City.

In 1960 Andy's work started to reflect a new direction. Instead of shoes, he began to produce artwork based off of popular cartoon characters such as Popeye, Dick Tracy and Superman. Then he moved on to painting everyday objects such as Coke bottles and Campbell soup cans. He was given his first solo show in 1961 with these paintings, and when first displayed the gallery they were ridiculed. While not a commercial success at first, these works did facilitate his love of the silk-screening method and its ability to create mass production art. He started creating paintings using money as a subject matter, and then later Marilyn Monroe. The Marilyn prints are easily his most popular works. These paintings were first displayed in 1962 and to huge critical success. Pop Art was already gaining notoriety in the art world, and Andy rode this momentum to the top.

Andy then opened up a large studio called the Factory. It was named this due to the mass production approach to creating his paintings. It got to the point that Andy claimed he loved having others create his paintings for him by using his silk screens. The Factory was famous for attracting the famous pop stars of the sixties. Many fascinating people and eccentric characters from the art and entertainment world were attracted to the Factory whenever visiting NYC. He became interested in producing films in the late sixties, and some were met with limited commercial success. They mainly focused on depicting mundane daily activities such as sleeping and eating at first, but then the films grew into light porn and later monster movie satires. By 1974 Warhol had been involved in over 60 films.

Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City in