Pop Art: Seated Woman And Lavender Disaster

Post-impressionism and Pop Art resulted as an artistic reaction on both sides. Post-Impressionism groups diverse pictorial tendencies that arose in France surroundings to 1880-1905 like reaction to the impressionism. In the other hand pop art was an artistic reaction to abstract expressionism. It can seem surprising the fact that in so short space of time, as soon as a quarter of century, so many evolutions and involutions in the land of art have taken place, mainly considering that until second half of century XIX, the great

In September 1949, Warhol got a job working for Glamour magazine this is were he went on to become a successful commercial artist of the time. He won many awards for his own unique blotted line technique and rubber stamps.

A review of the world’s great artists conjures familiar images: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night; Pablo Picasso’s The Tragedy. There are many more, of course: Monet, Moya, Warhol, Rembrandt, Kandinsky. What is immediately noticeable, however, upon any brief study of art, is the significant absence of women as heralded artists—not only in our ancient pasts, but even today, amongst valiant efforts for gender equality.

Pop art got its name from Lawrence Alloway, who was a British art critic in 1950’s. The name “Pop Art” reflected on the “familiar imagery of the contemporary urban environment” (kleiner, 981). This art form was popular for its bold and simple looks plus its bright and vibrant colors. An example of this type of art is the oil painting done by Andy Warhol, “Marilyn Diptych” (Warhol, Marilyn Diptych) in 1962. The Pop art movement became known in the mid-1950 and continued as main type of art form until the late 1960’s. The Pop art movement, was a movement where medium played a huge part in the society, with it reflecting on advertisements, comic strips and even celebrities, like Marilyn. This movement also has a large

In the late 1950’s, Warhol began to have the interest in painting. He painted his first well-known paintings, which was based on comics, and ads he found in 1961. The next year the big spots lights came on and he had his big introduction on the Campbell’s Soup Can series, which changed him completely. Shortly after, Warhol got the inspiration and started working on a large variety of movie star portraits, including Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, and the biggest of all Marilyn Monroe. Using screen-printing process, and knowing that Marilyn was one of the biggest deaths in a while, he decided to take that for granted and come up with this marvilent idea to make him go viral.

Pop Art emerged in Britain in the late 50’s and the United States in the early 60’s.(Mamiya 1992) Pop Art is generally known today as a representation of celebrating popular culture and consumerism, however it’s background and origins are far more broad and extensive. There are many factors and influences that lead to the creation of the Pop Art movement such as adjusting to life after World War II, new technological advances that lead to mass cooperate growth, the evolution of Abstract Expressionism and also social issues in the media such as feminism. (Smith 2001; Mamiya 1992) Many of these factors overlap and act as a catalyst in the creation of Neodadaism and eventually Pop Art. (Livingstone 1992) Pop Art does not have a soul distinct style nor just one major influence and this can be proven by looking at key artists of the movement such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist as well as female Pop artists such as Martha Rosler. (Brauer, Edwards, Finch & Hopps 2001) Exploring these artists and the major influences of their work will break down Pop Art and establish the movement’s purpose as well as its evolution.

Art by its nature is a subject of the philosophical, social, economic, political or religious context surrounding its creator. More often than not, a work of art addresses a specific topic or somewhat revolves around a particular person. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the context of a piece of painting, either historical or cultural, to its intrinsic value or the artwork's meaning. On the other hand, different cultures and time utilized specific conventions that govern the representation of objects of creativity. This essay highlights various pieces of art and their relationship to particular cultural, political, economic, or social settings. Moreover, it pinpoints how different times influence art presentation.

In the first example, a painting done by Norman Rockwell, a girl is portrayed as “more kittenish than hoydenish” the girl and her appearance are described as “soft and tentative”. She is with a boy who is awkward, she touches just his hand and that is only to tell his fortune. The girl “looks into his eyes with confidence and no assumption of consequences to her boldness”. The girl described, was the first step away from “Mary Pickford” yet is still far away from “Flapper”. In the cover the next year, the boy and girl are shown again, this time already contrasting from the Mary Pickford type; the boy and girl share a closeness - “he is standing close in an attitude of embrace” where last time there seemed to be a line drawn in-between them. The girl’s appearance is beginning to change as well, “her dress is beginning to be tomboyish” she wears a sweater and a skirt opposed to a one piece dress and it is no longer soft and delicate. The girl has a “glance backward at the young man- awkward boy no longer- is more conscious of possible consequences of this exciting intimacy”. The stark differences in the looks that each girl is giving is enough to show the changing behavior of this new generation

The artwork during this time was influenced by Art Nouveau which included “curvilinear shapes, illegible hand-drawn type, and intense optical color vibration inspired by the pop art movement” (Psychedelic 60s). Pieces included abstracts swirls, intense colors, and bending

Andy Warhol, U.S. painter, film- maker and figure in Pop Art movement (BBC, 2011). Studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology then moved to New York in 1949 (BBC, 2011). Andy in 1960’s experimented with reproductions on advertisements, newspapers headlines and other mass productions such as Coca Cola bottles and Campbell’s Soup tins (BBC, 2011). Andy started in 1962, portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and Elvis Presley. Andy Warhol’s studio, also known as Factory, that is where he began working on experimenting films establishing a meeting point for artists, actors and musician (BBC, 2011). In 1968 Warhol was shot at the studio by Valerie Solanas (BBC, 2011). Throughout the 1970’s- 1980’s, Warhol’s exhibitions

Between 1962 and 1984, Andy Warhol had three different locations for his studio; the 5th floor at 231 East 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan, the 6th floor of the Decker Building at 33 Union Square West, and 22 East 33rd Street. It was where his workers would assemble silkscreens, making its moniker as “The Factory”. The Factory was more than just the place where Warhol worked. It was also his breeding ground of ideas, where he surrounded himself with a strange collection of people who served as his inspirations, collaborators, and movie stars: fellow artists, musicians, actresses, socialites, drug addicts, drag queens, free thinkers, and many more, All of them were to be known as “Warhol’s Superstars”. I’ve researched one of Warhol’s quotes to see if i can relate to him and seems like I can.

In order to discuss pop art I have chosen to examine the work and to some extent lives of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol who were two of the main forces behind the American movement. I intend to reflect the attitudes of the public and artists in America at this time, while examining the growing popularity of pop art from its rocky, abstract expressionist start in the 1950s through the height of consumer culture in the 60s and 70s to the present day.

In 1952, Warhol had his first solo exhibition at the Hugo Gallery. Afterwards, Warhol 's work was exhibited in several venues throughout the fifties. In 1953, Warhol produced his first illustrated book, A is an Alphabet and Love is a Pink Cake. With his thriving career as an illustrator, he formed Andy Warhol Enterprises in 1957. By 1960, Warhol had become one of the most successful commercial artists in New York. He drew with a unique and recognizable line; creating magazine illustrations, advertisements, book jackets, and album covers; but he had fine-art aspirations. Adopting images from popular culture, Warhol created many paintings that remain icons of 20th-century art. Warhol’s big break finally came in 1962 with a one-man exhibition at the Ferus Gallery, in Los Angeles. 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans was a creation of thirty-two paintings of soup cans, each a different flavor. In 1963 Warhol established a studio at 231 East 47th Street which became known as the "Factory." By 1964, the year he exhibited Brillo Soap Pads Box sculptures, he was being written up in Time Magazine, and the Pop Movement was born, dubbing Warhol the Pope of Pop. In addition to painting and creating box sculptures, Warhol began working in other mediums including record producing, magazine publishing, and filmmaking. His unconventional films have become classics of the underground. In 1968, Valerie Solanis, a periodic factory

Over the entire duration of Warhol’s iconic career, ‘The Factory’ as a concept would exist in a total of three different locations (all in New York), but his original studio was situated on the fifth floor of two-three-one East Forty-Seventh Street in Midtown Manhattan. Based there between nineteen sixty-two and nineteen sixty-eight, this first space is considered to be ‘the centre for one of the most productive and experimental periods in Warhol’s career’. (Finkelstein, Warhol, and McGarry, 2007:7) With an impressive mass-output of works enabled by an army of ‘art-workers’ who manned the ‘assembly line’ that gave The Factory its name, ‘one person was making a silkscreen’ whilst another filmed a ‘screen test’, each day in The Factory brought

‘pop art was open to all forms of communication and popular information in its attempt to embody all of reality in its own language’’ (Parmesani, 2012, P: 72).