Pop Art in the 1960s

What is Pop Art? Pop Art is an art movement that started in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s in America and Britain. It was a way of reflecting wealth in post –war society. The drawing inspiration came from sources in popular and commercial culture such as, advertising, Hollywood movies and pop music. There's two type of Pop Art; Pop Art made in America about America and Pop Art made in Britain about America. Artists in Britain began making art inspired by America’s vibrant and aspirational culture. Pop Art was brash, young, fun and bold to the artistic establishment. It included different styles of painting and sculpture from various countries, but what they all had in common was an interest in mass-media, mass-production and mass-culture.   The word 'POP' was first created in 1954, by the British art critic Lawrence Alloway, it was inspired by the imagery of popular culture to describe a new type of art.

Pop Art in the 1960s Pop Art evolved from the growing interest in the world of popular culture, to an art movement in its own right, thanks to artists, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Their pop art was often in the form of screen prints of everyday objects vibrantly presented. They used simple techniques to create their artwork for instance, the silk screen process, “which contrasted the techniques used by established artists of the 1960s”- (V. Ryan, 2007-2009, POP ART 1950s 1960s). The use of these techniques meant that their work could be reproduced and printed easily. They used every day objects such as coke tins, dollar bills and comic strips as their subjects, which made their work entertaining and amusing. Pop art also used the faces of well known people such as, Marilyn Monroe. Pop Art shocked many but inspired even more!

Andy Warhol Roy Lichtenstein Andy Warhol was the “most successful and highly paid commercial illustrator in New York” – (The Art Story, 2016), even before he began to make art designed for galleries. He became famous through his screen-printed images of Marilyn Monroe, soup cans and sensational newspaper stories. It is also said that the gallery owner and interior designer Muriel Latow gave Warhol the idea of painting soup cans, when she suggested to him that he should paint objects that people see every day. Quote: “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” – (Youtube) Roy Lichtenstein Roy Lichtenstein was one of the first American Pop artists to achieve widespread fame, and he became a lightning rod for criticism of the movement. Lichtenstein gained renown as a leading Pop artist for paintings sourced from comic books and specifically DC Comics.

Pop Art in Sweet Charity

Pop Art in Sweet Charity In Sweet Charity the Fandango Ballroom where Charity and her girls dance and the “Rhythm of Life” scene both contain Pop Art. The Fandango Ballroom contains Pop Art as the clothing, props and makeup are all bold and over the top. The clothing are multi-coloured, attention grabbing, short and sassy. The props add to the pop art as there very bright and big. The makeup looks very flashy, vibrant and rich. The Rhythm of Life Scene contains a lot of Pop Art as the signs on the wall, their clothing ,the lighting and their hair styles are all bright, colourful and bold. The peace atmosphere also adds to the Pop Art. Signs on the wall; The clothing are very luminous, positive, live and colourful. It also stands out very much. The lighting is multi-coloured, vivid and shimmery. The hair styles are bold, big and unique. All of these are also inspired by hippies.

Additional information All of the information from the previous slides will help you understand your character more and realise the production, as it gives you a clearer insight on the production and on what some of the scenes include such as, it indicates how Pop Art plays an important role in Sweet Charity without you knowing it. It also shows how the 1960s had a huge influence on the production itself. Bibliography YouTube, 18th December 2013, Alan Cumming on Pop Art – Unlock Art [online], Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBm8_ooPVo [Accessed on 21/03/2016] Technology Student, V. Ryan, 2007-2009, POP ART 1950s 1960s [online], Available at http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/popart1a.html [21/03/2016] The Art Story, 2016, Andy Warhol [online], Available at http://www.theartstory.org/artist-warhol-andy.htm [21/03/2016]