The Artsy Sisters went AWOL in the last couple of days, but we're back now and we'd like to share with you one of our great loves - Art! Art influences everything, our culture, our perceptions, our mindsets and our individual and collective imagination. Art opens our minds to new horizons and helps us explore new heights. And when Art and fashion come together - nothing beats that! Over the years, we've all heard lots and lots of references to Pop Art in fashion and have come to regard pop art-inspired fashion as fun, bold, graphic and funky - but most of us hardly ever bother to discover and explore the Art that inspired the fashion movement we've all come to know, and love. Which is why, we would love if you'd join us on a maybe lengthy tour of the Pop Art movement- and its influence on fashion as we know it today.
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... and then there was Pop Art!
We love to explore anything or concept that breaks away from the norm - and the Pop Art Movement, it defines that. Unlike most art that was being done before the 50's, Pop Art drew on popular imagery and popular culture for inspiration and sought to blur the boundaries between 'high art' and 'low art' - the notion was that there was (is) no hierarchy in culture, and (fine) art may borrow from any source, regardless of their context and history! Pop Art has been traced to the gathering of the 'Independent Group' in London in the the 1950's. This style of art came to the United States in the mid-1960s and was an expression of the optimistic spirit of the 1960's.
Andy Warhol(1928 - 1987)
Self Portrait c.1986
"How can you say one style is better than another? You ought to be able to be an Abstract Expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you've given up something.. I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that's what's is going to happen, that's going to be the whole new scene."
Campbell's Soup 1 c.1968
Diamond Dust Shoes c. 1980 Flowers (Red) c.1964
10 Marilyns c.1967
Hamburger c.1985-1986 300 SL Coupe c.1954
The Art of Mickey
8 Elvises
Superman c.1981 Roll of Bills c.1962
Mick Jagger Suite of 10 c.1975
Gun, c.1981-82 Jackie c.1964
Heaven and Hell are Just one Breath Away 1985-1986
Andy Warhol's works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. He made paintings/screen prints of famous public figures and American branded products and subsequently switched to silk screen prints which allowed these mass produced products to become mass produced art.The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist
Roy Lichtenstein(1923 - 1997)
Roy Lichtenstein, 1985
"I suppose I would prefer to sit under a tree with a picnic basket rather than under a gas pump, but signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter"
-Roy Lichtenstein
Drowning Girl c.1963
Maybe Sweet Dreams Baby
Sandwich and Soda
Washing Machine c.1961
I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in It! c.1961
BLAM! c.1962
WHAAM! C.1963
The Ring (Engagement) c.1962
Vicki c.1964
Sleeping Girl c.1964
Roy Lichtenstein was a leading American Pop Artist. His work was majorly influenced by popular advertising and the comic book motif. He used bold colors, black outlines, and tones rendered by Ben-day dots (a method of printing tones in comic books during the 1950s’ and 1960s’).
“One night in the early sixties I passed something on the Long Island Expressway just before the Queens tunnel that I must have seen for years. The billboard advertising cigars, Dutch Masters. I realized it was sort of perfect. It's weird isn't it? You're looking at Rembrandt - in neon! It was too much, it was irresistible.”
-Larry Rivers
The History of the Russian Revolution: From Marx to Mayakovsky c.1965
Madame Butterfly c.1978
Queen of Clubs c.1979 The Greatest Homosexual c.1964
Fashion Seated c.2001
Fashion and the Birds: Blue Dress c.1997
Fashion and the Fish c.2001
Whose Lips are These? c.1969
Popcorn Early Chaplin
Head of A Man
Culture Boxes: Opera Divas c.1992
Open Camel c.1978 Camel Quartet
Paris Review
Larry Rivers was an American artist whose work combines the brushy texture of Abstract Expressionism with figurative elements and a Pop art style. He was an earlier practitioner of appropriation techniques, and his paintings sample from art history, commercial products, celebrity imagery, and other styles and sources. According to Michael Kimmelman, NY Times Art Critic, "Rivers created an important bridge between the Abstract Expressionists and the Pop artists".
Richard Hamilton (1922-2011)
Four Self Portraits c.1990
"Popular (designed for a mass audience); transient (short-term solution); expendable (easily forgotten); low cost; mass produced; young (aimed at youth); witty; sexy; gimmicky; glamorous; and last but not least, Big Business." -Richard Hamilton, defining what Pop art means to him
Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So
Different, So Appealing? c.1956
Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So
Different? c. 1992
Study for a Fashion Plate c.1969 Fashion Plate c.1970
Swingeing London 67 (1968-69)
Readymade Shadows
Interior A dedicated follower of fashion c.1980
Towards a Definitive Statement on the Coming Trends in Men's Wear and Accessories (b) c.1962
My Marilyn c.1965
Shock and Awe c.2008 TiT c.2002
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Interior With Monochromes c.1979
Maps of Palestine The Beatles c.1968
War Games c.1991
AAH! in perspective c.1963 The House of Keyes c.1988
I'm dreaming of a black Christmas c.1971
Richard Hamilton is an English painter and collage artist, and is best known as a founding
member of the British Independent Group, which arguably launched the mid-century Pop
art movement. Hamilton's 1956 collage Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So
Different, So Appealing? is widely considered one of the first works of Pop art.
Claes Oldenburg (1929 - )
"I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something more than sit on its ass in a museum".
-Claes Oldenburg
Spoonbridge and Cherry (w/Coosje van Bruggen) c.1988
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Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (w/CVB) c.1999 The Apple Core c.1990
Safety Pin, Blue c.1999
Balancing Tools Soft Bathtub (Model)—Ghost Version c.1966
Crusoe Umbrella c.1979
Shuttlecock (w/CVB) c.1994
Dropped Cone(w/CVJ) c.2001 Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks
Match Cover c.1992
'Free' Stamp c.1985 Saw, Sawing (w/ CVB) c.1996
The Big Sweep (w.Coosje Van Bruggen) c.2006
Hat in Three Stages of Landing c.1982
Bat Column c.1977 Clothespin c.1976
Bowling Pins (w/CVB) c.2000
Bottle of Notes c.1993
Geometric Mouse c.1969-71
The Swedish-American artist and architect Claes Oldenburg was an early figure in New York "happenings" and Pop art. He is best known for his floppy sculptures and larger-than-life public works of consumer goods, musical instruments, and everyday objects.Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife,Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009 after 32 years of marriage.
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
"I think a painting is more like the real world if it's made out the real world".
- Robert Rauschenberg
Untitled 'Combine' c.1963 Eco-Echo IX 1992-93
Riding Bikes c.1998
Canyon c.1959
Satellite c.1955
Bed c.1955 Signs c.1970
Studio Painting
Retroactive 1 c.1964 Untitled (with stained glass window) c.1954
Monogram
Factum I & II c.1957
1st Landing Jump c.1961 Octave c.1960
Interview
Satellitte c.1955 Pilgrim
Features From Currents #62
BMW 635 CSi Art Car c.1986
Short Circuit (Combine Painting) c.1955
Untitled (Runts) c.2007
Aen Floga (Combine Painting) c.1962 Winter Pool c.1959
Untitled (Spread) c.1983
Dylaby (Combine Painting)c. 1962
Robert Rauschenberg was a key figure in early Pop art. He admired the textural quality of Abstract Expressionism but scorned its emotional pathos. His famous "Combines" are part sculpture, part painting, and part installation. He was famous for his incorporation of junkyard objects in his works.
James Rosenquist (1933- )
"People say I use my billboard technique to make art. Baloney! I used my art technique to paint billboards".
- James Rosenquist
President Elect c.1960-61
A Free for All c.1976 Marilyn c.1962
Dishes c.1964
I Love You With My Ford c.1961
World's Fair Mural c.1964
No-No c.1990 Untitled c.2000
Dog Descending a Staircase c.1979
White Bread c.1964
Flowers and Females c.1989
Nails c.1973
Hey! Let's Go For a Ride c.1961
Moonbeam Mistaken for the News c.1963
The Facet
Fahrenheit c.1982
Car Touch c.1966 Study for Fire Pole c.1967
Bedspring c.1962
Mirage Morning c.1974-75
F-111 c.1964
James Rosenquist is an American Pop artist whose paintings feature fragments of faces, cars, consumer goods, and other items in bizarre juxtapositions. With their realist rendering and attention to surface textures, his works take up the visual language of advertising and entertainment.
Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005)
{Source}
"I suppose I am interested, above all, in investigating the golden ability of the artist to achieve a metamorphosis of quite ordinary things into something wonderful and extraordinary..."
- Eduardo Paolozzi
I was a Rich Man’s Plaything (Bunk! collage series ) c.1947
Evadne in Green Dimension c.1972 Wittgenstein in New York c.1964
Never Leave Well Enough Alone (from Bunk!) c.1972
Sack-O-Sauce (from Bunk!) c.1972 Four Stills from the History of Nothing c.1962
It's Daring, It's Audacious (from Bunk) c.1972
Real Gold c.1950 Moonstrips Empire News: Secrets Of Internal Combustion Engine c.1967
Paolozzi was a founding member of the Independent Group. His collage, I Was a Rich Man's Plaything (1947) was the first artwork to incorporate the word 'Pop' and is regarded in some circles to be the origin of the term, 'Pop Art'. The collage contained cut-up images of a pinup girl, Coca-Cola logo, cherry pie, World War II fighter plane, and a man's hand holding a pistol, out of which burst the world 'POP!' in a puffy white cloud. He became renowned for taking objects out of their contexts (frequently the scrapheap) and placing them in new combinations, thereby imbuing them with fresh meaning.
Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004)
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"I'd never painted anything before. I was quite content to take other people's work since I didn't care anyway about the subject matter. I approached subject matter as a scoundrel. I had nothing to say about it whatsoever. I only wanted to make these exciting paintings".
- Tom Wesselmann
Still Life with Liz c.1993
Still Life No.2
Still Life No. 28
Still Life No. 6
Still Life #36 c.1964
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Smoker No. 1 (Mouth, 12) c.1967 Interior No.2 c.1964
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Still Life No. 61 c.1976
Still Life No. 58 c.1972 Smoker No. 9 c.1973
Study for Bedroom c.1977
Fast Sketch Still Life with Fruit and Goldfish (3-D) c.1988-89
Bathtub Collage No.2 c.1963
Still Life No. 20 c.1962 Great American Nude No. 50 c.1963
Bedroom Study No. 2
Bedroom Painting No. 7 Still Life No. 30 c.1963
Tom Wesselmann is widely regarded as a Pop Artist because in the early days of his career he painted still lifes of commercial foodstuffs and stylized but erotic bodies, or parts thereof.Tom Wesselmann never liked his inclusion in American Pop Art, pointing out that he made an aesthetic use of everyday objects and not a criticism of them as consumer objects: “I dislike labels in general and 'Pop' in particular, especially because it overemphasizes the material used. There does seem to be a tendency to use similar materials and images, but the different ways they are used denies any kind of group intention”.
Robert Indiana (1928 - )
"Some people like to paint trees. I like to paint love. I find it more meaningful than painting trees."
-Robert Indiana
Love c.1966-1999
Hope c.2008
Art c.1972-2001
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The Electric Eat c.1964-2007
The American Dream No. 2 c.1982 American Dream # 5" (The Golden Five) c.1980
Numbers 1-9 c.1983
Robert Indiana is a prominent figure of the Pop Art movement. He created geometric art and incorporated everyday symbols, signs and letters throughout his art. His most famous sculpture is called "Love" and it was conceived in a time when the United States was consumed by the Vietnam War. It was a symbol of Peace and remains one of the most celebrated works within the pop art movement around the world.
FACT: Pop Art was originally called "Propaganda Art"!
The Pop Art Fashion Movement
Perhaps from our foray into the works of the pioneer Pop Art artists, you have also identified several fashion trends influenced by the Pop Art movement.
Much Ado About a "Soup Can"
The original Pop art fashion movement was an artistic reaction to abstract art and design and much like the originl Pop Art movement, it challenged the domination of couture and bourgeois status dressing with the ironic use of advertising and everyday objects. It coincided with the youth and pop music phenomenon of the 1960's, and contributed very much to the fashionable, 'swinging' image of London.
Many freelance fashion designers also took their inspiration from pop art and graphics including Thomas Sabo, Lisa Perry, Blumarine, Tommy Hilfiger, Liz London, Erin Healy, Max Mara, Antonio Lopez, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino and Jean Charles de Castelbajac.
Jean Charles de Castelbajac {Source}
Yves Saint Laurent certainly went down the pop art road with his Mondrian dress and the black and white block sheaths he introduced in the early 1960s.
Yves Saint Laurent"Mondrian" day dress (autumn 1965) {Source}
These days, clean bold lines, graphic pops of colour (think neon), large-scale geometric prints, illustrations and collages are a huge part of mainstream fashion and the formerly mundane have taken centre stage in our clothing and accessories - from advertising campaigns, billboards, food, supermarket products, tools, signs, flags and emblems, cars, bicycles, skateboards, planes, numbers, celebrities, cartoons, alphabets, words, home utilities, magazine layouts, comic strips, skulls, guns, newspaper clippings, the list goes on and on...
POP! Goes the Heels!
Nicholas Kirkwood'Keith Haring',Gianmarco Lorenzi,Christian Louboutin,Jeffrey Campbell, Christian Dior, Le Silla
To get a feel of modern Pop Art fashion, see here and here.
Pop Art Fashion: "FUNKY" is the word!
From its inception in the 1950's, the pop art movement has been a revolutionary phenomenon and till date, popular culture continues to influence fashion designers, runway couture, mainstream fashion, our style and indeed, our lives.
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And there you have it - our guide to Pop Art. We hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed sharing it. We would be extremely thrilled to know which of the Pop artists or works made the greatest impression on you. Have you noticed always wondered about the origin of Pop Art fashion as well? How has art influenced your life and your style? We'd love to share your thoughts, experiences and views, too!
TheArtsySisters
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