Pop art is a formidable art movement that arose in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in the U.S. and Britain. Pop art drew inspiration from popular and commercial culture, starting as a rebellion against the prevailing approaches to art and culture and conventional ideas on what art should be.
Although people today associate pop art with the works of American artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, the movement actually began in Britain. British pop artists sought to destabilize a long-held art tradition of focusing on mythological, biblical, or emotional themes. Pop art became the medium through which these artists expressed their desire for change.
British pop art initially adopted many aspects of Dadaism, but it eventually began drawing from contemporary culture. Artists infused motifs with humor and novel techniques such as collage and commercial screen printing. Among the most renowned British pop artists were David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, and Peter Blake.
Although British pop art draws heavily on American advertising from the post-World War II consumer boom, it was fundamentally disparate from American pop art. American pop artists portrayed what they observed and experienced in their own culture. Meanwhile, their British counterpart viewed American pop culture from a distance and approached the movement more academically. Subsequently, as London’s musical and fashion sectors grew, British artists also started incorporating their own culture into their artistic lexicon.
Seohyun Park Staff Reporter
1. What is pop art? What did pop art draw inspiration from? What did it start out as?
2. What did British pop artists seek to destabilize? What role did pop art play for these artists?
3. What were the motives and techniques used in British pop art? Who were some famous British pop artists?
4. How is British pop art different from American pop art?
1. What is your impression of pop art?
2. How has art been used as a form of protest throughout history?
3. How are art techniques today compared to the past? What are novel art forms that have appeared in recent years?
4. How are the British and American cultures different?
Pop art is a formidable art movement that arose in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in the U.S. and Britain. Pop art drew inspiration from popular and commercial culture, starting as a rebellion against the prevailing approaches to art and culture and conventional ideas on what art should be.
