Pop Art
 

Masterpiece
"Once you got 'Pop' you could never see a sign the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again." - Andy Warhol
Roy Lichtenstein, Masterpiece, 1962.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historical Context
 
1957
Soviet Union launches Sputnik I starting the "Space Race"

1961
John F. Kennedy becomes youngest elected President of the U.S.
East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall
First contraceptive pill made available to the public
First Soviet manned space flight
1962
First US manned space flight
Cuban missle crisis
Death of Marilyn Monroe
1963
Racial unrest in Birmingham, Alabama
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
1964 - 1973
Vietnam War
1965
Assassination of Malcolm X
1966
Foundation of the National Organization of Women
1967
Che Guevara killed in Bolivia
1968
Assassination of Martin Luther King
1969
Neil Armstrong becomes first man to walk on the moon
 
Elaine De Kooning,
John F. Kennedy, 1963.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Pop Art = art movement of the 1960s that dealt with images from mass culture
 
1947
10,000 televisions in U.S. homes
1957
40 million televisions in U.S. homes
1962
Average American exposed to 1600 advertising images a day
Today
"The average American is exposed to about 3000 advertising messages a day, and global corporations spend over $620 billion each year to make their products seem desirable and to get us to buy them."
- Union of Concerned Scientists

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Drowning Girl
Andy Warhol, Telephone, 1961.
Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, 1963.
James Rosenquist, President Elect, 1960 -1961/1964.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blam
Structuralism = philosophical approach that analyzes society by looking at cultural phenomena, particularly signs, that have hidden underlying meanings that can be decoded
Roy Lichtenstein, Blam, 1962.
Blam source material

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Semiotics for Beginners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962.
James Rosenquist, Marilyn Monroe, 1962.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Marilyn's death reported in Italian newspapers 1962
Niagra billboard, 1953

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

semiotics = the study of signs, symbols and how meaning is constructed

Fourth of July Jay New York
Signifier (image or word) + signified (concept, object or emotion) = sign (whole)
 "a - p - p - l - e" + apple= apple
  • Relationship between the signifier and the signified is conventional – it is always dependent on social and cultural conventions
  • Therefore, the relationship between the signifier and the signified (the sign) is always arbitrary

Robert Frank, Fourth of July - Jay, New York, 1955-1956.