Following the Second World War, popular art became dominated by images of popular culture. While it can be said that all art is a reflection of its period and all artists voices of their generation, pop art is so wholly owned by the post-war period it is impossible to separate the time from the art it produced. Pop art was a visual movement that defined a period and a genre of artistic expression. The attitude of the period was one of the defining characteristics of pop art. The work produced within this time frame was highly influenced by the recent past and the world's new obsession with material commodities. Advertising was infused into daily life as mass media grew to overtake all forms of culture.
[...] Loner at the Ball: The Life of Andy Warhol. (New York, Bantam Press, 1989.) Sander, Irving H. The New School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties. (New York, Harper & Row, 1978.) Sandberg, John. “Some Traditional Aspects of Pop Art.” Art Journal, Vol No (Spring, 1967), pp. 228-245. Whiting, Cecile. “Borrowed Spots: The Gendering of Comic Books, Lichtenstein's Paintings, and Dishwasher Detergent.” American Art, Vol No (Spring, 1992), pp. 9-35 Stephen Bann. Art and Genre.” In New Literary History, [...]
[...] Images of pop art exist as concurrently flawed and perfect. Angles, scale and realistic representation are ignored in favor of dramatic, colorful and over the top exaggeration. Neither Warhol nor Lichtenstein believed himself to be a carrier of truth. Neither artist believes it is his responsibility to represent images and culture as they are, but rather as they appear and as they have been sold and commoditized. Social awareness was heightened following the Second World War and these artists became beacons of America's social consciousness; seemingly more aware of their social significance than any generation that came before. [...]
[...] Here, Warhol is showing that Monroe was a symbol, a commodity, just as the imagery of the symbols he used in other works such as “Campbell's Soup.” He can turn her image into a visually appealing piece of art, just as he can with every other image he depicts. The image is desired because of the subject but, more, in the manner that Warhol chooses to depict that subject. The subject is infused within the culture of its period. Therefore, while Marilyn Monroe was no longer living in 1967 when this print was created, she was still very much a cultural icon of the period. [...]
[...] As with much pop art there is not much abstraction, the images are simply placed and obviously recognizable. The meaning lies within the viewer. Why did the artist believe this was a necessary image to portray and what is his message? The answers do not have to be uniformed. By simply producing something whose meaning is ambiguous, the art has value for the viewer and as a creative outlet for comment by the artist. Here, again, the art is understood within the context of its period, and it would be difficult to view the significance of this piece without understanding the social and artistic quality of the time. [...]
[...] She is choosing to put herself in this situation because she refuses to succumb to requesting the help of a man. The colors and shapes are wholly of the pop art genre, completely contained within the artistic movement of the 1950s, into the 1960s. The sentiment is clear; the social message is painted across the top of the print. More than appearing as a simple drowning woman, Lichtenstein is able to showcase the mindset of many newly social conscious women. [...]
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