AMERICAN POP ART Course // Art114 Modern Art 1920-1970 Lecturer // Lisa Watt Name // Scott Johnson Student No // 11520265 Email // scottnj@bigpond.net.au
POP ART SHOULD BE Popular (designed for mass audience) ........................ 2 Transient (short-term solution) ..................................... 3 Expendable ...................................................................... 4 Low-cost ......................................................................... 5 Mass-produced ............................................................... 6 Young, (aimed at youth) ................................................ 7 Witty ................................................................................. 8 Sexy .................................................................................. 9 Gimmicky ........................................................................ 10 Glamorous ...................................................................... 11 and Big Business ............................................................. 12 Richard Hamilton, 1957
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POPULAR (DESIGNED FOR MASS AUDIENCE) The term Pop Art was coined during the Fifties by the UK critic Lawrence Alloway (1926–1990) in reference to a contemporary form of “popular art” being created through consumer culture.1 This collage from the English artist Richard Hamilton (1922–2011) Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? is recognised as one of the earliest Pop works. It acts as precursor to American Pop Art with images appropriated from a variety of American magazines. The word “Pop” is noticeably branded on the oversized sucker and a Young Romance comic on the wall acts as a future reference to the work of Roy Lichtenstein2 The television set, the Ford Logo and the cinema advertising Al Jolson’s Jazz Singer are all examples of popular Americana. The man holding the sucker is professional body builder Irwin ‘Zabo’ Koszewski, suggesting Andy Warhol’s celebration of celebrity. Lasting between 1955-1975, but hitting it’s peak during the 1960’s, Pop Art both celebrated and parodied popular culture and consumerism. 1. Edward Lucie-Smith, “Pop Art,” in Concepts of Modern Art: From Fauvism to Postmodernism, ed. Nikos Stangos (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994), 225. 2. Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991), 342
Richard Hamilton • Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? (1956) Collage • 26 cm x 25 cm • Kunsthalle Tubingen, Germany -2-
TRANSIENT (SHORT-TERM SOLUTION) Look Mickey, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) features two of the most recognisable icons in popular culture, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. This large single panel painting was taken from a bubble-gum wrapper (itself a piece of transient material), after an idea that originated when Lichtenstein penned some illustrations to entertain his two small children.3 In many ways this painting by Lichtenstein, also represents a transitional period in his work, as the closely spaced system of Ben Day dots, which were to become such an iconic feature of his later paintings are absent here. However, along with the subject matter, there are other recognisable elements of future Lichtenstein paintings, such as the limited colour palette and the “emphasis on flatness and frontal presentation.”4 Lichtenstein’s painting was created during the early stages of a American Pop Art and reflects the optimism associated with America’s postwar commercial boom. For what else other than positive social circumstances could allow for an artwork which readily embraced such flippant subject matter? 3. Marco Livingstone, Pop Art: A Continuing History (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990), 11 4. Livingstone, Pop Art: A Continuing History, 1
Roy Lichtenstein • Look Mickey (1961) Oil on canvas • 121.9 cm x 175.3 cm • The National Gallery of Art, Washington -3-
EXPENDABLE “Pop Art looks out into the world” Lichtenstein once said “it appears to accept its environment, which is not good or bad, but different, another state of mind.”5 This attitude of cool detachment is evident in Drowning Girl (1963) (Figure 2), where a distraught, yet nameless female declares somewhat melodramatically that she’d rather die than call her ex-lover for help. The closely cropped composition pulls us right in front of the woman’s face and yet we can only watch objectively, unable to take a hand in her fate. Lichtenstein’s hand-painted Ben Day dots cover almost the entire canvas, adding a further sense of fluidity to the churning waves. Lichtenstein also uses a solid layer of cool blue paint to frame the nameless female’s face, at one time drawing us closer, yet enhancing the distance between subject an onlooker. In Drowning Girl, Lichtenstein has taken an expendable, disposable comic book and given us a moment forever frozen in time.
5. Lucy R. Lippard, Pop Art (World of Art), 3rd ed. (1970; repr. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.), 85-86
Roy Lichtenstein • Drowning Girl (1963) Acrylic paint and oil paint on canvas • 172.7 cm x 172.7 cm • Museum of Modern Art, New York -4-
LOW-COST “Pop chose to depict everything previously considered unworthy of notice, let alone of art: every level of advertising, magazine and newspaper illustration... tasteless bric-a-brac and gaudy furnishing, ordinary clothes.”6 Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was employed as a commercial artist when he produced this illustration of a women’s shoe. In 1956, before hitting the heights of fame, Warhol offered the shoe to the Museum Of Modern Art in New York as a free gift. The museum politely returned Warhol’s illustration, claiming “We must turn down gifts offered since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently.” Today, the Museum of Modern Art has 168 of Warhol’s works in their private collection including the Shoe.7 Warhol’s shoe is an example of appropriation, a relatively low-cost way to produce art and not too dissimilar to Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) and his “readymades” of the early 20th century.
6. Lippard, Pop Art (World of Art), 82 7. Tanya Singh “7 Masterpieces Rejected By Art Critics“, Agora Gallery NYC, Published February 23, 2017, accessed September 17, 2018, https://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/ blog/2017/02/23/art-criticism-masterpieces/
Andy Warhol • Untitled from À la recherche du shoe perdu (1955) Offset lithograph with ink • 24.7 cm x 34.8 cm • Museum of Modern Art, New York -5-
MASS-PRODUCED “The reason I’m painting this way is because I want to be a machine. Whatever I do, and do machine like, it’s because it’s what I want to do. I think it would be terrific if everybody was alike.”8 Warhol created his Marilyn Diptych in 1962, shortly after the actress’ death from an overdose of barbiturates. The print is based on a publicity still from Monroe’s 1953 film, Niagara9 and is comprised of multiple reproductions of the actress’ face. The machine like quality of Warhol’s print captures the same image repetitiously, yet due to the uneven renderings each face is unique. In Warhol’s screenprint, evidence of the process is as equally important as the subject matter itself. The print not only acts as a commentary on Monroe’s life, but also the nature of stardom. The juxtaposition of the heavily pigmented half of the canvas against the black and white can be viewed as that of a vibrant, fresh faced star eventually fading away as celebrity takes its toll.
8. Lucie-Smith, “Pop Art,” in Concepts of Modern Art, 232 9. Art & Artists, Tate Galleries UK, accessed September 20, 2018, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-marilyndiptych-t03093
Andy Warhol • Marilyn Diptych (1962) Silkscreen on canvas • 205.4 cm x 144.8 cm • Tate Modern, London -6-
YOUNG (AIMED AT YOUTH) “Painting, which has slept so long in its gold crypts, in its glass graves, is asked to go for a swim, is given a cigarette, a bottle of beer, its hair rumpled, is given a shove... is taught to laugh... finds a girl in a cab and feels her up... ”10 When artist Claes Oldenburg (1929–) used these words to describe Pop Art he could easily have been looking at the work of Tom Wesselmann (1931–2004). Sexy, slick and provocative, Wesselmann’s Smoker, 1 (1967) features a female mouth, lips slightly parted and painted a glossy, ruby red. A slow-burning cigarette dangles casually from the corner, exuding an air of easy defiance or a post-sexual encounter - maybe even both. The image is not to dissimilar to the t-shirts worn by rock star Mick Jagger, another symbol of teen pop culture from the 1960’s. “Don’t question why she needs to be so free” Jagger first sang in 1967 “She’ll tell you it’s the only way to be.”11 Lyrics which perfectly capture the spirit of rebellious youth in Wesselmann’s work. 10. Diana Crane, The Transformation of the Avant-Garde: The New York Art World, 1940-1985, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987) 68 11. The Rolling Stones lyrics, Ruby Tuesday (London: Decca Records, 1967)
Tom Wesselmann • Smoker, 1 (Mouth, 12) (1967) Oil on canvas, in two parts • 276.6 cm x 216 cm • Museum of Modern Art, New York -7-
WITTY “I don’t dislike the work that I’m parodying... The things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire.”12 Lichtenstein’s witty response to Abstract Expressionism can be seen in Little Big Painting (1965). In this work, Lichtenstein reacts to the emotion fueled paint application of a Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) by applying the cool, mechanical process of Pop Art. The painting is a carefully constructed composition of four abstract brush strokes as opposed to the nonrepresentational, action based method of paint application used by Abstract Expressionists. The work is a parody of “Action Painters”13 as art critic Harold Rosenberg described them, but in isolating and stylising the paint strokes, Lichtenstein has given the viewer enough pause to draw an eyer over the shape of each individual form. The red “W” for instance allows us to better appreciate the expressiveness of an abstract form and in this way gain a clearer understanding of the chaos and colour of Abstract Expressionism. In this Little Big Painting, works as much as a homage as it does a parody. 12. Lippard, Pop Art (World of Art), 87 13. Livingstone, Pop Art: A Continuing History, 18
Roy Lichtenstein • Little Big Painting (1965) Oil and Magna on canvas • 234.1 cm x 328 cm • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York -8-
SEXY During an interview in 2011, Mel Ramos (1935–) remarked on his work “I’m not sure what good taste means – it changes from one person to the next. Somebody likes something that someone else doesn’t like.”14 Questions of taste are a reasonable way to approach the work of Mel Ramos, who like Lichtenstein began by reproducing comic book panels to the canvas. A key difference between the two is technique, with Ramos rendering his subjects in a vividly colourful, commercial art style. His paintings of women are reminiscent of those which adorned the side of American fighter planes during WWII. Señorita Rio (1963) announces the “voluptuously sexual imagery that soon became a feature of his work”15 and depending on point of view could be viewed as sexy or exploitative. Ramos has said that Germany is the country with the greatest number of collectors of his work, yet in Cologne in 1967 the police closed down a Ramos gallery exhibition, due to the countries “morality” laws.16 14. Mel Ramos: Why Not Be Naked in Public, June 22, 2011, accessed September 20, 2018, The Talks, http://the-talks.com/interview 15. Livingstone, Pop Art: A Continuing History, 122 16. Kate Bowen, “Germany has love-hate relationship with daring Pop Art guru Mel Ramos”, DW, September 3rd, 2010, accessed September 20, 2018, https://www.dw.com/en/
Mel Ramos • Señorita Rio (1963) Silks screen print (multiple editions) • 41.28 cm x 57.79 cm • Unknown -9-
GIMMICKY Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) once wrote “This Neo-Dada, which they call New Realism, Pop Art, Assemblage, etc., is an easy way out, and lives on what Dada did. When I discovered ready-mades I thought to discourage aesthetics. In Neo-Dada they have taken my ready-mades and found aesthetic beauty in them.”17 Duchamp’s view of Neo-Dada, or Pop Art sees him interpret it as a kind of gimmick. When Duchamp entered a urinal into a New York exhibition in 1917 it was meant as an act of anti-art and an attempt to destabilise the institutionalised art world. Pop Art was, in Duchamp’s opinion the antithesis of Dada, as it sought through the assemblage of various kitsch items to create works of appeal. In 1958 Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) created Cocacola Plan, an assemblage whose central feature is a trio of soda bottles. His use of discarded materials was an attempt to bring aesthetics to a group of otherwise mundane objects. The bottles and orb have been carefully placed within the centre of the wooden cabinet’s cavities and the addition of two neatly arranged metal wings gives the object a pleasing sense of balance. Rauschenberg appropriates in the manner of Dada, but delivers a decidedly Pop Art piece. 17. Lucie-Smith, “Pop Art,” in Concepts of Modern Art, 227
Robert Rauschenberg • Coca-Cola Plan (1958) Combine of Coca-Cola bottles, wool newel cap, and cast metal wings on wood structure 67.9 cm × 64.1 cm × 12.1 cm • The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles - 10 -
GLAMOROUS According to his draft notes Claes Oldenburg’s Bedroom Ensemble (1964) was based on a famous motel in Malibu, where each suite was decorated with a Playboy safari fantasy.18 Oldenburg’s bedroom has been furnished in a lurid collection of animal prints, white vinyl sheets and abstract paintings. Bedroom Ensemble is a parody of glamour - what a middle class person living in the suburbs might imagine a luxury hotel room to look like. None of the furniture functions properly either, “the bed is hard, the mirror distorts and the drawers do not open.”19 The furnishings have been built with exaggerated foreshortening, meaning that depending on viewer angle the pieces seem overlong, while in others they appear very short. When considered together, the trashy decor and non-functioning bedroom furniture could be interpreted as a comment on male sexual dysfunction, the skewed objects only add to the sense of confusion and frustration.
18. Barbara Rose Claes Oldenburg: The Museum of Modern Art Catalogue 1969, (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1970), 93 19. ibid
Claes Oldenburg • Bedroom Ensemble (1964) Installation • 26 cm x 25 cm • Original installation: Sidney Janis Gallery, New York - 11 -
BIG BUSINESS Traditionally the avant-garde had spurned the bourgeoisie, but many Pop Artists embraced the middle classes and their interest in modernism, and because of this the dealers and collectors were quick to take up this new art.1 However not all artists welcomed the new found fandom, as Tom Wesselmann complained at the time “Some of the worst things about Pop Art have come from its admirers. They begin to sound like some nostalgia cult - They really worship Marilyn Monroe or Coca-Cola.”2 Whatever the motivation it was clear that Pop Art had become a lucrative business and 50 years later, nothing has changed. In May 2013, Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 painting Woman with Flowered Hat sold for US 56.1 million.3 The painting references the Cubist work of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), but combined with Lichtenstein’s Ben Day dots and flat primary colours gives the impression of a playing card. The painting is a fine example of Pop Art appropriation and a profitable one at that. 1. Amy Dempsey, Styles, Schools and Movements: An Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art, (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002), 221 2. Lippard, Pop Art (World of Art), 80 3. Post-War & Contemporary Evening Sale, Christies, London, accessed September 20, 2018, https://www.christies.com/ lotfinder/paintings/roy-lichtenstein-woman-with-flowered-hat5684070-details.aspx
Roy Lichtenstein • Woman with Flowered Hat (1963) Magna on canvas • 1 27.0 x 101.6 cm • Collection of Laurence Graff - 12 -
BIBLIOGRAPHY Lucie-Smith, Edward. “Pop Art”, in Concepts of Modern Art: From Fauvism to Postmodernism, ed. Nikos Stangos. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994
Bowen, Kate. Germany has love-hate relationship with daring Pop Art guru Mel Ramos. DW, September 3rd, 2010. https://www.dw.com/ en/germany-has-love-hate-relationship-with-daring-pop-art-gurumel-ramos/a-5335748
Parmesani, Loredana. Art of the twentieth century: movements, theories, schools and tendencies, 1900-2000. Torino: Skira, 2000
Crane, Diana. The Transformation of the Avant-Garde: The New York Art World, 1940-1985. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987
Raizman, David. History of Modern Design (2nd edition). London: Laurence King, 2010
Christies, London. Post-War & Contemporary Evening Sale. https:// www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/roy-lichtenstein-womanwith-flowered-hat-5684070-details.aspx
The Rolling Stones. Lyrics, Ruby Tuesday. London: Decca Records, 1967
Dempsey, Amy. Styles, Schools and Movements: An Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002
Rose, Barbara. Claes Oldenburg: The Museum of Modern Art Catalogue 1969. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1970
Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991
Rosenberg, Harold. “Feelings Are Things”, in The Other Tradition: Exhibition at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania, ed. Gene R. Swenson. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1966
Khan Academy. “Popular culture and mass media in the 1950s”, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/ postwarera/1950s-america/a/popular-culture-and-mass-media-cnx
Singh, Tanya. 7 Masterpieces Rejected By Art Critics, Agora Gallery NYC. https://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/blog/2017/02/23/ art-criticism-masterpieces/
Lippard, Lucy R. Pop Art (World of Art), 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. First published 1970
The Talks. Mel Ramos: Why Not Be Naked in Public. June 22, 2011. http://the-talks.com/interview/mel-ramos
Livingstone, Marco. Pop Art: A Continuing History. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990
Tate Galleries UK. Art & Artists. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ artworks/warhol-marilyn-diptych-t03093
OpenStax College. “Popular Culture and Mass Media.” July 20, 2018. https://legacy.cnx.org/content/m50187/1.5/. - 13 -