Cristina del Rosso: POP????

Pop music, pop art, pop movement… what’s POP?

Pop art is a movement originary from United Kingdom in the 50’s, created by a group of artists named ‘Independent Group’. “POP” is the abbreviation of ‘Popular Art’, which was suggested by Alloway in 1954, one of the group’s founders. They used the mass culture’s language, introducing it into the world of art, and, at the same time, criticizing it ironically. Their works are figurative, as a reaction against abstract painting and surrealism, and most of them are collages made out of advertisements.

The first painting considered as pop is Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? (1956) by Richard Hamilton, also part of the Independent Group. It consists in a collage in which we can see objects characteristic of his epoque: a body builder (Charles Atlas) holding lollipop with the word POP on it (which is an easy word game, thanks to which the name ‘POP Art’ spread itself), a magazine girl wearing a lampshade on her head, a television, a vacuum cleaner, a tinned food can, a Ford logo in a frame, another one with a comic inside, a taperecorder on the floor; and also, we can see a cinema billboard through the window. They all are icons that represent progress after war. They also were icons against the consumerism’s and the American influence in the Britanic society.

Lichstenstein, Oh, Jeff!

Warhol, 100 cans

This movement booms almost at same time in New York and Los Angeles. There was an adequate atmosphere for this due to Duchamp’s ‘ready-mades’ and John Cage’s classes…

Soon, this movement was accept by the general public because it was easy to understand. Today we mostly think of Warhol, Rauschenberg, Lichstenstein when thinking of pop. We have also nowadays’ most important pop artists, such as Takashi Murakami… but we tend to forget about Mr. Atlas’ ‘Lollipop’.