Pop Art in 7 Minutes: True Art or Mass Market? 🤔

[Music] what comes to your mind when you hear the phrase pop art if the first thing you think is andy warhol and cans of campbell soup you aren't alone the 1962 series depicting different flavors of that popular meal as one of the most iconic works of not just pop art but modern art in general what makes pop art so special how did a single picture of 1.48 can of soup end up costing 11.8 million dollars at auction in 2006. to know this we need to understand a wider context in our new episode we will give

you an overview of everything pop art how it emerged who was involved what role it played in history and what the deal was with all those soup cans and coca-cola bottles [Music] if you want to support us and see more content like this hit the like and subscribe buttons and let us know what you'd like to see more of in the future pop art was an artistic movement that emerged in the 1950s in great britain and the united states in britain a group of young artists and critics who called themselves the independent group started having

meetings in the institute of contemporary art in london around 1952-1953 with members like richard hamilton and eduardo pelosi the independent group got together to discuss some of the pressing issues they saw in contemporary art the gallery based idea of art was elitist for them as it didn't reflect the real lives and needs of people nor was it available to them in 1955 the independent group discussed mass culture film advertisements comic books sci-fi celebrities and pop music they started making collages using elements from everyday life like found objects magazine cutouts comic book characters ads and product

labels of course this didn't go over too well with critics mass culture was not only considered kitsch and consumerist it was also very american unsurprisingly the most dynamic developments in the pop art movement came from the united states robert rauschenberg and jasper johns were among the first artists to oppose the dominant trends of abstract expressionism rauschenberg drew inspiration from the dadaism movement and he believed that art needed to be closely tied to real life rauschenberg used discarded ready-made objects in his works before silk screen printing made it easier to transfer photographs onto his paintings jasper

john's was most notable for his depictions of the american flag in the 1950s both johns and rauschenberg were called new dadaists in 1962 however the term pop art was coined to describe the use of bold colors repetitions and mass media references from comics and magazines to hollywood stars and popular food and beverage commercials roy lichtenstein is one of the most notable figures in 1960's american pop art his work owes the most to popular american comic books like batman and spider-man using thick black lines primary colors ben-day dots and ironic speech bubbles in onomatopoeia although they

represented mass printed media most of lichtenschein's best known works were in fact meticulously painted oils on canvas seems hard doesn't it we can only assume andy warhol thought so too because around 1962 he started using screen printing in his works the printmaking technique allowed warhol to craft numerous iterations of the same photographic image on paper or on canvas this brought us some of the most iconic images of the pop art movement warhol was obsessed with the celebrity world for him images of popular actors singers and even politicians were an essential part of american life just

like the household brands coca-cola and you guessed it campbell's soup although works of pop art were heavily criticized for their admiration of banality and consumerism the movement quickly became popular and more importantly it raised some of the essential questions of art that eventually led us to post-modernism questions such as what can be art are some subjects more important than others who gets to enjoy art the fact that everything and anything could become a subject of art undermined the elitism and hierarchy that had been upheld in the world of art for centuries some of these questions

had already been raised by data artists in the first two decades of the 20th century but it was pop art that really pushed things further and into the mainstream respective philosopher and art critic arthur danto went as far as declaring the end of art after having seen warhol's brillo boxes in new york in 1964 warhol's new works were screen printed doubles of original wooden brillo soap pad boxes indiscernible in size shape or form from the product itself unlike duchamp's fountain this series wasn't even signed the fact that they could now be understood as art brought

danto to the conclusion that art history had entered an entirely new chapter this didn't mean people would stop producing art it just meant the idea of a linear progression of art history was over [Music] let's recap pop art was a revolutionary movement that developed in the 1950s in britain and the u.s peaking during the 1960s with artists like andy warhol roy lichtenstein and robert rauschenberg if you are looking at a work that features celebrities flat color surfaces speech bubbles or brand logos it's probably pop art the movement marked the end of modernism and kick-started the

rapid transition into post-modernism it challenged society to take a closer better look at their daily lives but the glamorous and party-like atmosphere of pop art didn't last long the social and political circumstances of the 1970s called for a more critical standpoint and conceptual art performance art feminist art and land art emerged so what do you think of pop art and its figures let us know in the comments section and don't forget to subscribe to us on youtube and instagram for your regular dose of culture from curious muse if you'd like to support us you can

now do so by joining our channel your membership means we can keep this project running and continue to share knowledge with more people thank you for your help [Music] you