Skip to main content

Pop-Art

An Art movement that emerged in the 1950s was largely a British and American cultural phenomenon. It emerged to light in reaction to consumerism, mass media and popular culture.  The term 'Pop' was introduced by the British Art critic Lawrence Alloway to describe a new type of art that was inspired by the imagery of Popular culture. Started with New York artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg, an interesting transition from traditional subjects to more common and everyday objects was witnessed. Pop artists started celebrating ordinary things which could resonate with people of all classes. 

One of the most significant objectives of the movement was to make art accessible to everyone and not just to the elite classes. It aimed to restructure the social order in the society by bringing this new and dynamic approach to the world of Art.  The movement that started in New York became wildly popular in Britain too.  The bright and vibrant colour palette with humorous and fun subjects were some of the main characteristics that broke the typically stereotyped  style of painting. 

Artists experimented with colours, subjects, paint mediums and painting techniques which revolutionized the whole definition of how people looked at art. However both the British and American Art Movement was not entirely same as American Pop art tended to be emblematic, anonymous, and aggressive; British Pop was more subjective, referential, and expressive. 

Pop art found critical acceptance as a form of art suited to the highly technological, mass-media-oriented society of Western countries. Although the public did not initially take it seriously, by the end of the 20th century it had become one of the most recognized art movements.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Symbolism

Symbolism was an artistic movement that originated with a group of French poets in the late 19 th Century. The movement came into existence with an expression of an idea over the realistic description of the natural world. The term ‘symbolism’ was coined in 1886 by French critic Jean Moreas to describe the poetry of Stephane Mallarmi and Paul Verlaine. The concept of symbolism was incorporated in visual arts, to depict the natural world using symbols as metaphors. Symbolist artists aim to depict various forms of expressions and emotions using varied symbols. The work of symbolist artists and writers was also fueled by new psychological content particularly erotic and mystical. Common themes included: love, fear, anguish, death, sexual awakening and unrequited desire. Though the movement began in France, symbolism was an international avant garde movement that spread across Europe and America during the last two decades of the 19 th Century.       The use of symbolism ...

National Treasure- Amrita Sher-Gil

  Amrita Sher-Gil was a renowned Indian painter, often considered one of the most important Indian artists of the 20th century. Born in 1913 to a Sikh father and a Hungarian mother, Sher-Gil's artistic talent was evident from a young age. She studied art in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Grande Chaumière, where she was influenced by European art movements like Post-Impressionism. Sher-Gil's work is known for its unique blend of Western techniques with traditional Indian art styles. She painted mostly portraits and landscapes, capturing the essence of India and its people. Her art often depicted the lives of Indian villagers and reflected the socio-economic realities of the time. Tragically, Sher-Gil passed away at a young age of 28 in 1941, leaving behind a relatively small but impactful body of work that continues to influence and inspire artists to this day. Her legacy remains significant in the history of Indian art, celebrated for its richness, depth, and portray...

Tyeb Mehta

  Born in Kapadwarj, Gujarat – Tyeb Mehta is one of the most well-known Indian artists of his generation. He briefly worked as a film editor and then joined Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai to study art and graduated in year 1952. Tyeb Mehta became a part of Bombay Progressive Artists Group. He was a strong film maker, His one and only film, Koodal was also a masterpiece of such montages, where he tries to project the same or similar images through a different medium. He won a National Award for the film. Bulls, Rickshaw pullers, Kali were some of the main subjects of his artworks. His work is characterized by matte surface, diagonal lines breaking his canvasses and images of anguish – a result of pre occupation with formalist means of expression. Use of flat planes of colour provided the canvasses an intense means of expression in his oeuvre of work. A transformation occurred in his painting style when he visited America, it was during his stay in America that Abstract Express...