Pop Art

Pop Art

Q1. What is Pop Art?

Pop art began in Britain in the 1950’s and then emerged in the United States in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s, and lasted approximately two decades. The main theme of pop art was the representation of popular culture, mass media and production, through the use of various techniques.

Through the 1930’s and 1940’s the developing world experienced many hardships through the Great Depression, . These events caused restricted access of basic necessities to the public. By the end of these events, many pop artists were adults. The world gradually became wealthier during the 1950’s and pop artists experienced how this change in wealth was affecting the developed world.

The Beginning of Pop Art

One of the first to have started the pop art movement was the Independent Group which was part of the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, and first met in 1952. The members of the group discussed many different issues that would become pop arts themes including the expansion of art beyond its traditional forms, popular topics concerning mass media and local culture, films, comic books and pop music. Some of its founders are seen as the founders of pop art and include the pop artist Richard Hamilton. Pop art really began to flourish in London in 1953 and in New York in 1961. These major cities produced many of the leading pop artists and became the most important cities for pop art to prosper because they had the most influence on the popular culture, the mass media and influenced the mass produced items , which pop art got its inspiration from.

Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol

Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol

Important Themes of Pop Art

Ordinary people could afford to spend money on the new and emerging products which used to be unaffordable. All these new and constant products being brought into the market meant that marketers had to find clever ways to persuade and appeal to specific audiences to buy their products. These...