Pop art style: brief history, features and interesting facts. Pop Art: A Brief History of “This Is Tomorrow”

Having glorified the culture of mass consumption, pop art itself has become one of the most cited movements in modern culture. We have selected 5 pop art artists who still influence fashion today.

On August 18, the exhibition "POPOP: Pop and Op Art" will open in Indiana, which will demonstrate how "mass" art influenced modern culture and directions in painting. And in this regard, we decided to remember which pop art artists made an important contribution to the development of fashion.

1. Andy Warhol

The pop art icon, who turned basically any consumer product into a work of art, did not ignore clothing. The famous paper dress The Souper Dress, inspired by his work with Campbell's soup cans, marked the beginning of a long relationship between Warhol and fashion. Thus, in the same collection as the Mondrian dress, Yves Saint Laurent turned to Andy's work, using a collage of his portraits on trapezoidal dresses. Warhol’s influence on the fashion world did not end there. In 2013, Dior released a collection of dresses and accessories with sketches of shoes made by Warhol, and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac created an ironic dress with. black and white portrait the father of pop art and white synthetic fur instead of hair.

2. Roy Lichtenstein

In terms of the use of painting motifs in clothing and furniture design, Liechtenstein ranks almost first. In 2011, Lisa Perry released a collection of dresses entirely dedicated to comic books. famous artist. A year later, Karla Spetic followed suit, and Markus Lupfer released a series of cashmere sweaters with sequin-embroidered inscriptions from Lichtenstein’s paintings. And it’s impossible to count the number of pairs of shoes created based on the artist’s works: Nike sneakers, Charlotte Olympia shoes, Vans and Converse sneakers - there is a pair for every taste and lifestyle.

3. Keith Haring

Haring's work has become so ingrained in contemporary culture that last year the department store Colette launched a pop-up store filled with items inspired by his work. A whole collection of T-shirts, accessories and even skateboards were extremely popular. With a nail fashion program then it became a dress designed by Vivienne Westwood. This is not the first time that fashion designers have turned to the work of the famous student of Warhol: shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood has already created a provocative collection of shoes based on the works of Keith, as well as adidas, and even Tommy Hilfiger (the designer released rubber boots with the famous Haring men).

4. Takashi Murakami

One of the most successful contemporary Japanese artists works in a style very close to pop art. The source of his inspiration is the culture of manga and anime. Murakami himself says that “this represented more than anything modern life Japan." His interest in fashion as part of modern pop art culture resulted in a collaboration with Marc Jacobs for a line of bags and other items from the Louis Vuitton collection. As a result, boutiques around the world turned into a fabulous "Murakami land", inhabited by anime characters and childishly bright colors.

5. Yayoi Kusama

The house of Louis Vuitton generally ranks first in the number of collaborations with pop art artists. Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist known throughout the world for her recognizable polka dot pattern, with which she fills rooms, objects and even the naked bodies of her assistants, was no exception. In 2012, the result of her collaboration with Louis Vuitton turned the brand's boutiques into art installations, and the artist's image served as a prototype for mannequins in the brand's storefronts around the world. Cooperation with Kusama continued good tradition attract painters to work on Marc Jacobs collections. Iconic bags have been turned into works of art before with the help of Richard Prince and Stephen Sprouse.

Pop Art

Direction

Pop art (English) pop art, abbreviation for popular art - popular or natural art) - a direction in fine arts Western Europe and the United States of the late 1950s and 1960s, which emerged as a backlash against Abstract Expressionism. Pop art used images of consumer products as its main subject and image. In fact, this direction in art replaced the traditional fine arts- to demonstrate certain objects popular culture or the material world.

An image borrowed from popular culture is placed in a different context:

The term “pop art” first appeared in the press in an article by the English critic Lawrence Alloway; in 1966, Alloway openly admitted: “Then I did not put into this concept the meaning that it contains today. I used this word along with the term "pop culture" to describe products mass media, and not works of art for which elements of this „ folk culture“. In any case, the concept came into use sometime between the winter of 1954/55 and 1957.”

The first “pop art” works were created by three artists who studied at the Royal College of Art in London - Peter Blake, Joe Tilson and Richard Smith. But the first work to achieve pop art icon status was Richard Hamilton's collage What Makes Our Homes Today So Different, So Attractive? (1956)

Pop art has been repeatedly criticized by artists and art critics. September 13, 1962 New York Museum contemporary art organized a symposium on pop art. During the ensuing discussion, the influential conservative critic Hilton Kramer of The New York Times expressed the opinion that, at its core, pop art is “no different from the art of advertising.” According to Kramer, both of these phenomena have the goal of “reconciling us with the world of consumer goods, banality and vulgarity.” The critic insisted on the need for decisive opposition to Pop Art.

Poet, critic and Pulitzer Prize winner Stanley Kunitz, who was present at the symposium, also spoke disapprovingly of pop art, reproaching its representatives artistic direction in an effort to please the dominant social class: according to the poet, they express “the spirit of conformity and the bourgeoisie.” In addition, Kunitz expressed the idea that pop art “signs, slogans and techniques come directly from the citadel of bourgeois society, from the bastion where the images and needs of the masses are formed.”

Mario Amaya (English)

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Wikipedia:

The art movement of the 1950s and early 1970s emerged as an objection to immortal abstractionism, as a transition to a new vision of avant-gardeism. Artists of this movement use images of consumer products in their work. They combine everyday objects, photographs, reproductions, and excerpts from printed publications in their works. The inspirations are glossy magazines, television, advertising, photography.

New technical techniques (photo printing, use of an overhead projector, borrowed from industrial design and advertising), deprived artists of their unique individual style of execution, but at the same time revealed the aesthetic side of mass production samples.

-History of Pop Art

In 1952, several artists, critics and architects at the Institute of Modern Art in London created the "Independent Group", which studied modern technologies And urban culture. Based on research, they are trying to form a new art. They took American culture as a basis, which evoked dual feelings of irony and admiration. One of the group members, critic Lawrence Alloway, proposed the term “pop art” to denote this style. The first work that became an icon of this movement was Richard Hamilton’s collage “So what makes our homes today so special, so attractive?” 1956 After this, the combination of various printed items becomes one of the main techniques of pop art. Further students of the institute used urban images in their works - graffiti, advertising posters. A little later, in America, the public saw a work that would later become recognizable throughout the world. This is the work of Andy Warhol, made using silk-screen printing technique - a portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Soon this work was supplemented by other equally famous ones: Lichtenstein's comics in the format oil painting, huge vinyl hamburgers and others.

Criticism had different attitudes towards the emerging trend. Some said that this is not art, but anti-art. However, in Los Angeles he was received excellently, since there was no strict artistic tradition and there were wealthy residents who were very willing to collect works of modern art. Through numerous exhibitions, Pop Art spread throughout Europe.

-Representatives of Pop Art

  • Richard Hamilton is an English artist and member of the Independent Group. The creator of the first work in the Pop Art style entitled “So what makes our homes today so different, so attractive?”
  • Roy Lichtenstein- English artist, Great master pop art. He used acid colors and various typographic techniques to create his works. His works with comic book stories, done in oil painting format, symbolized American life in an ironic interpretation.


  • Andy Warhole - American artist, designer, writer. A cult figure in the direction of Pop Art and all modern art in general. Created worldwide famous painting Marilyn Monroe using silk-screen printing technique.

  • Claes Oldenburg- famous American sculptor, classic of Pop Art. His peculiarity was the manner of depicting everyday objects on a gigantic scale and often in bizarre colors, which were subsequently unexpectedly located in the surrounding space of the city. For example, in Milan, in front of the railway station, there is a sculpture of him - a needle with a multi-colored thread sticking out of it.



  • Robert Rauschenberg- American artist. Initially he was a representative of abstract expressionism, and later conceptual art and pop art movements. When creating his works, he loved to use garbage and various discards.

  • Tadaomi Shibuya- designer, artist, illustrator. Creating images in style pop Art, takes straight lines as a basis, uses a blurry effect, depicts geometric patterns from which in the end a very harmonious work with well-readable images is obtained.

  • James Rizzi - a talented artist, star of the Pop art movement. This man made the world brighter. There were no barriers for him; he drew on almost everything he could reach: on any small objects, on fabric, on cars and houses. He gave happiness to all people.

  • Peter Blake - English artist who was a representative of the first generation of British Pop Art painters. He was interested in contemporary art back in early years. Unlike many artists of this movement, who used cutouts of advertisements and magazines in their works, Peter Blake creates real picturesque images. For example, a work called “Playing Chess with Tracy.”

He also designed the cover of the world-famous Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Pop art is an art movement based on objects of mass culture and aimed at entertainment, commerce, and not at the search for deeper meaning, philosophy and spirituality. The leading role in the development of the direction was played by: advertising, fashion, trends, style icons, various means of popularization and commercial promotion. Pop art was a reaction to the seriousness of abstract art and other 20th century art styles. The style is called one of the branches of avant-garde art.

History of style development

It was one of the most significant and influential artistic movements in painting and other art forms of the 20th century, characterized by a specific selection of themes and techniques drawn from mass popular culture. The style is aimed at a wide audience, as it uses popular images. Thanks to its accessibility and simplicity, pop art was popular.

Symbolism as a style in painting

The movement was founded in the 1950s and peaked in popularity in the 1960s. The birthplace of pop art is Great Britain, but greatest development The movement reached the USA, where New York became the capital of this cultural movement. The founders and most famous creators of the pop art style were Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns.

Independent group

The first steps of a new style in painting were associated with the activities of the “Independent Group” of artists and architects, founded in 1952 in London. They were the first to use modern technologies to create canvases with leading motifs of mass and urban folk culture. The basis for the study was American culture. The pioneers of the style, E. Paolozzi and R. Hamilton, studied the psychological influences of mass culture, its meaning, and linguistic content. First of all, I was interested in industrial advertising methods, modern advertising production technologies, and techniques for creating collages.

Art Deco painting style

It's tomorrow

In 1956, the exhibition “This is Tomorrow” took place. The painters presented to the public paintings in the pop art style, which depicted Hollywood stars and enlarged stills from famous films. It was after the exhibition that many graduates of the art school joined the movement, inspired by the new style.

USA

In the USA the style developed and popularized. Here great attention paid attention to the aestheticization of the banal - packaging, consumer goods. The essence of American pop art: the objects that people consume make representatives of different social classes equal to each other. Thus, pop art is the art of social equality.

As a term

The term used to define style appeared in 1955-1957, thanks to L. Alloway, a British critic. The author of the concept himself was surprised by the fact that the term began to be used to define an entire cultural movement. Alloway himself had in mind products with a commercial purpose, belonging to elements of the mass media.

Abstractionism as a style in painting

Artists

Most famous representatives directions:

Keith Garing

An artist from New York, known for his cartoons. His work is influenced by graffiti art.

David Hockney

Considered one of the most famous English artists of the 20th century. Hockney was one of the leaders in the development of pop art in Great Britain.

Jasper Johns

Known for his paintings of the American flag. One of famous works- “Numbers in color.”

Roy Lichtenstein

One of the famous comic book creators.

Wayne Thibault

He became famous thanks to his paintings depicting cakes, pastries, and toys.

Andy Warhole

The most famous creator of pop art style. Recognizable through the use of repeating portraits and bright colors in the works.

Features of works in pop art style

Uses images and icons that are popular in modern world. These include portraits of celebrities, movie and music stars, items such as soft drinks, comic books, and any other logos and products that are popular in the commercial world.

  • The painting uses bright colors, the technique of creating collages, and combines several logically unrelated objects in one image.
  • Pop art canvases are hard not to notice in the interior - they will become a bright accent in a room decorated in modern style. Pop art style involves the use of different textures.
  • The picture may include inscriptions, slogans, mottos - it resembles an advertising poster.
  • To create the works, the techniques of photo printing, combination with real objects, and design were used.
  • Aesthetic ideals were borrowed from popular culture popularized by the media.
  • The artists borrowed techniques from industrial advertising.

Dadaism as a style in painting

The style has been criticized several times. In 1962, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a symposium on pop art. Famous critic H. Kramer insisted that it was necessary to resist the development of pop art, since it popularizes banality, vulgarity, and bad taste. According to the critic, pop art is ordinary advertising, which they are trying to dress up as an art form.

According to another critic, S. Kunitz, pop art is a product of propaganda, and is aimed at the formation of a conformist society pursuing purely consumer goals. All the symbolism and slogans, according to Kunitz, turned advertising posters into pseudo art.

The goal of pop art, which artists put into their works, was to return to reality, from which abstractionists retreated. The main element of creativity was the subject associated with industrial culture, cinema, print media, television.