Topics in American Art

Pop Art

 


Introduction

This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "American Pop Art." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to these articles and essays. The date at the end of each title is the Resource Library publication date.

Following the listing of Resource Library articles and essays is the heading "From other websites" with links to valuable online resources found outside our website. Links may be to museums' articles about exhibits, plus much more topical information based on our online searches.

Following online resources is information about offline resources including museums, DVDs, and paper-printed books, journals and articles.

We recommend that readers search within the TFAO website to find detailed information for any topic. Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.

 

Articles and essays from Resource Library in chronological order:

Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent (8/12/15)

Pop Art and Beyond: Tom Wesselmann (4/18/13)

George Deem: The Art of Art History (3/28/12)

Robert Dowd: Pop Art Money; text by Michael Zakian (2/24/09)

Andy Warhol: Pop Politics (10/1/08)

American Pop: Featuring Andy Warhol's Athletes from the Richard Weisman Collection (9/28/08)

Contemporary American Art at The Academy; essay by Joan M. Marter (8/1/08)

The Pop Environment (5/27/08)

Power Up: Serigraphs by Corita Kent; text by Glori Simmons (3/29/08)

Pop and Op (2/8/08)

Towards Popular Art; essay by Constance Schwartz (2/8/08)

Warhola Becomes Warhol - Andy Warhol: Early Work (2/20/07) -- at the bottom of this article there is a list of TFAO and other Web resources regarding Andy Warhol

Jasper Johns' Green Angel: The Making of A Print; essay by Betti-Sue Hertz (1/29/07)

Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965 (11/9/06)

Red Grooms: Ruckus in Roslyn; essays by Constance Schwartz and Franklin Hill Perrell (11/4/05)

Pop!; article by Sean M. Ulmer and Carole McNamara (4/20/05)

Past Things and Present: Jasper Johns since 1983 (3/5/04)

Pop! From San Francisco Collections (2/12/04)

Jasper Johns: Prints from the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation (2/9/04)

Jasper Johns: Numbers (2/2/04)

Jasper Johns: Numbers (10/28/03)

Pop Impact! From Johns to Warhol (9/20/00)

Pop Impact! From Johns to Warhol (9/18/00)

Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy (3/31/00)

The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the Sixties and Pop! The Permanent Collection (2/21/00)

POP(ular)/OP(tical):Art of the 60s and 70s from the Permanent Collection (12/30/99)

The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the Sixties (10/9/99)

Contemporary American Masters: The 1960s (7/14/99)

Gold Rush to Pop (9/23/98)

 

From other websites:

All the Pop is a 2019 exhibit at the Nasher Museum of Art which says: "Inspired by mass media and popular culture, artists implemented vivid colors, graphic designs and text both to appeal broadly to viewers and to address significant issues of the day. " Accessed 1/20

American POP! Selections from the CU Art Museum Collection is a 2013 exhibit at the Figge Art Museum which says: "In the heyday of the 1960s, artists in the United States turned an eye on the wonderful -- and sometimes wild -- images of American consumer culture. Pop artists reveled in the vibrancy of the urban landscape and in the bounty of the post-World War II economic boom. They adopted images from mass media, billboards, cartoons, tabloid magazines and advertisements. Pop Art glorified and parodied the "things"of everyday life." Accessed 2/17

The Essential Robert Indiana, an exhibit held February 16-May 4, 2014 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Accessed February, 2015.

Expansive Presentation of Roy Lichtenstein is a 2021 exhibit at The Broad which says: "An in-depth installation of Roy Lichtenstein, opening May 26, 2021, features 22 artworks, with nearly half on view for the first time, including Purist Still Life (1975), Female Figure (1979), Two Paintings: Radiator and Folded Sheets (1984), and Nude with Pyramid (1994)." Accessed 12/22

Floyd D. Tunson: Son of Pop, an exhibit held Oct. 27 - Jan. 20, 2013 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Includes six videos, plus press coverage.

From Camelot to Kent State: Pop Art, 1960-1975 is a 2019 exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts which says: "From Camelot to Kent State: Pop Art, 1960-1975, includes seventy-three prints, drawings, multiples, and sculpture primarily from the DIA collection.  It highlights artists including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Corita Kent, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol." Accessed 4/19

In the Tower: Mel Bochner, an exhibit held June 10 - October 8, 2012 at the National Gallery of Art. Includes audio materials. Accessed March, 2015.

Jump Cut Pop Evans + Fukui + Hammond + Paolozzi + Rosler + Yokoo an exhibit held July 22 - October 4, 2009 at the Haggerty Museum of Art. Includes exhibit guide. Accessed August, 2015.

Men of Steel, Women of Wonder is a 2019 exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art which says: "Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, examines the art world's responses to Superman and Wonder Woman, ranging from their Depression-era origins to today's contemporary interpretations." Also view Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art video  Accessed 11/19

On Display: The Art of Clint Hamilton, an exhibit held September 20, 2013 - February 15, 2014 at the Grace Museum. Includes exhibit brochure. Accessed August, 2015.

Pop art from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.

Pop Art from askArt. Accessed August, 2015.

Pop Art from the Anderson Collection at SFMOMA, an exhibit held August 13, 2014 - October 26, 2015 at the Cantor Arts Center / Stanford University. CAC says "For the past 50 years, Bay Area art collectors Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson have passionately assembled one of the most outstanding private collections of 20th-century post-war American art in the world. On September 21, more than 100 extraordinary works from their collection- donated to Stanford University-will be on view in a new museum adjacent to the Cantor Arts Center: the Anderson Collection at Stanford University. To celebrate its new neighbor, the Cantor presents an exhibition of spectacular Pop Art works on loan from SFMOMA's own Anderson collection."

Pop Art Prints, an exhibit held March 21, 2014 ­ August 31, 2014 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Includes blog entry. Accessed April, 2015.

Pop Evolution is a 2017 exhibit at the Tweed Museum of Art which says: "Curated from the Tweed's permanent collection, this exhibition of prints and paintings will first examine artworks by the progenitors of Pop Art -- artists such as Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha -- who became household names during the 1960's by creating artworks in which the technique and subject matter reflected the consumer and media-driven identity of America at the time." Accessed 3/17

Pop! New Work by Todd Gray is a 2019 exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum which says: "Todd Gray is a modern-day contemporary pop artist. Among Todd Gray's many artistic accomplishments are an iconic mural, recently completed at Ground Zero at the World Trade Center, and a three-year touring museum show that has traveled to ten different museums throughout the United States."  Also see artist's website Accessed 12/19

Pop! Selections from the Collection, an exhibit held May 3 - July 31, 2014 at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy. Includes illustrated checklist. Accessed January, 2016.

Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE, an exhibit held September 26, 2013-January 5, 2014 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Includes four videos and press coverage. Accessed April, 2015.

Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is? is a 2016-17 exhibit at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which says: "This historic and long-overdue monographic exhibition celebrates Rosalyn Drexler's multidisciplinary artistic practice and acknowledges her important contribution to Pop art. Drexler (American, born 1926) began using imagery culled from popular culture in 1961, the same year as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Her artwork, however, was often overshadowed by that of her male counterparts." Accessed 3/17

Shiny, Sticky, Smooth: Pop Art and the Senses From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation is a 2017 exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art which says: "Inspired by advertising, movies, television, and comic strips of the late 1950s and 1960s, the modern art movement commonly referred to as "Pop Art" embraced the visual language of popular culture, including its graphic imagery and bold colors, and left a lasting mark on American art and culture.... This exhibition includes 53 paintings, prints and sculptures -- several spanning more than 7 feet -- by such notable Pop artists as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud, James Rosenquist, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Claes Oldenburg." Accessed 3/17

Young America: Roy Lichtenstein and the America's Cup is a 2017 exhibit at the Middlebury College Museum of Art which says: "In 1994, PACT 95, a syndicate organized to compete in the America's Cup trials the following year, invited Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) to create a graphic design for the hull and spinnaker of their boat.... The exhibit, which will remain on view through August 13, includes the actual seventy-seven foot hull of Young America -- on loan to Middlebury from Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY -- which is displayed above the pond adjacent to the Museum." To read more after exhibit closes, go to "Past Exhibitions" section of museum website. Accessed 6/17

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art presents a video from the Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art titled Tom Wesselmann: Pop Artist, or Not, October 22, 2008 by John Wilmerding is emeritus professor of American art at Princeton University and adjunct curator in the Princeton University Art Museum. The above video listing contains biographical information courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed May, 2015.

 

DVD/VHS videos:

Claes Oldenburg is a 52 minute 1997 video directed by Gerald Fox and produced by RM Arts; London Weekend Television. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen address the critics who question the nature of their collaborative work and Coosje's contribution to it. Claes Oldenburg is a look at the works and life of the artist whose giant soft sculptures based on food and domestic items helped define Pop Art. The video also features contemporaries Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Dine and other art experts.

Drawings of Roy Lichtenstein, 1961-1986, The. Produced in 1986 on the occasion of an exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art, this 20 minute Edgar B. Howard/Seth Schneidman video provides a useful overview of the work of this seminal pop artist. Bernice Rose, who curated the exhibition, explains Lichtenstein's styles in different periods, and the artist himself discusses his approach. "This video was produced on the occasion of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It provides a useful overview to the work of this seminal Pop artist, and it also gets behind the sometimes impenetrably slick surfaces of Lichtenstein's canvases and prints, to show how such works have their genesis... Lichtenstein starts out drawing freehand, and the video shows many examples of his sketches that he later refines into finished paintings. Lichtenstein says about drawings, "It's a way of describing my thoughts as quickly as possible," and those thoughts are often on art history." (video available through Checkerboard Film Foundation, quote from Checkerboard Film Foundation)

George Segal: American Still Life. George Segal's life-size plaster casts command attention in major museums and exhibition halls throughout the nation. This 60 minute 2001 documentary contains archival footage of the Pop Art scene in the 60s and chronicles his life and work through interviews with the artist, his friends, family, and art historians. Amber Edwards. From Kultur Video. George Segal: American Still Life: 60 minutes 2000. "This video chronicles the life and work of George Segal whose sculptures have captured seemingly uneventful moments of life in the form of plaster casts of actual humans. As he says, "It strikes me that daily life is baffling, mysterious, and unfathomable." View Segal at work casting a model in his studio with commentary from friends, critics, art historians, and rare archival footage from the 1960s Pop Art scene."

I Only Want to Paint is a documentary about Pop artist Tom Wesselmann filmed in 2010. The DVD is available through Galerie Klaus Benden.

Jasper Johns, Ideas in Paint, 1989, "American Masters takes a rare look at the life, work, and inspiration of artist Jasper Johns. Dubbed the "Darling of the Art World" by Time magazine in the late 1950s, Johns emerged as the preeminent force on the American art scene when he was only in his late twenties." 56 minutes, color (text courtesy Georgia Museum of Art

Large Scale Projects: Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen is a 60 minute 2000 Museum of Modern Art video whcih covers the works of husband-and-wife artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Follow the couple as they plan and execute various large-scale works, including "Knifeship" at the Guggenheim Museum, "Binocular Building" in Venice, California, and "Spoonbridge and Cherry" in Minneapolis.

Larry Rivers, Public & Private is a 75 minute film from the Museum of Modern Art. Larry Rivers is known for his outspokenness, irreverence, and wit. Here Rivers appropriates images of historically established masterpieces and transforms them according to his personal vision.

Lichtenstein in London: 21 minutes 1968. "By blending actual film of people viewing Roy Lichtenstein's works with comments by them at a 1968 opening in London, this video gives an often humorous slant by revealing just how people react to art. As well, comments by the artist are included to give serious insight into Lichtenstein's approaches as a major force in Pop Art and graphics oriented painting and sculpture."

Making Art "This DVD collection of six video presentations filmed in studios, laboratories, and museum galleries provides rare behind-the-scenes experiences. It introduces art elements such as color and perspective; demonstrates artistic techniques ranging from sculpture to printmaking; and studies conservation issues related to art objects. Artists interviewed include Sam Gilliam, Roy Lichtenstein, and Sean Scully, each at work making art." This DVD is lent free of charge through the National Gallery of Art's Division of Education (go to NGA Loan Materials). Titles are available separately and include: Seeing Color: Object, Light, Observer (27 minutes); Masters of Illusion (30 minutes); Art + Science = Conservation (19 minutes); Introduction to Sculpture (19 minutes); James McNeill Whistler: His Etchings (27 minutes); Roy Lichtenstein: The Art of the Graphic Image (25 minutes)

Painters Painting: The New York Art Scene 1940-1970. A film about how artists think and work as seen through visits to the artists in their studios.  Artists include: Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and others. 116 minutes. (quote courtesy Plains Art Msueum)

Roy Lichtenstein (Portrait of an Artist) is a 49 minute video directed by Chris Hunt and produced in 1991 by Iambic Productions for RM Arts; London Weekend Television; RM Arts. The artist talks about his use of cartoon images, his homage to art history, and his magnified brush strokes theme.

Roy Lichtenstein: Reflections. In this 30 minute 1993 program Roy Lichtenstein offers exciting insights into the artistic process and the source of inspiration. "This video features one of the great pop artists of our time discussing his work, his artistic process, and the sources of his inspiration. Done on location in New York City, Southampton, Long Island, Los Angeles, and Rome, this film features Lichtenstein's large-scale murals, his Reflections series, and his recent Interior series. Conversations with leading authorities on contemporary art complete this portrait of an artist who rose to fame in the 1960s and continues to create art on the cutting edge."

20th Century American Art is a 27 minute video that provides an overview of modern and contemporary art in America through the Whitney Museum of American Art's collection. Starting with art at the turn of the century, it continues through Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism.

 

 

Books:

-- not researched
 
 

Return to Topics in American Representational Art

 

TFAO catalogues:

American Representational Art links to dozens of topics in American Representational Art

Audio Online a catalogue of online streaming audio recordings

Collections of Historic American Art notable private collections

Distinguished Artists a national registry of historic artists

Geographic Tour of American Representational Art History a catalogue of articles and essays that describe the evolution of American art from the inception of the United States to WWII.

Illustrated Audio Online streaming online narrated slide shows

Articles and Essays Online substantive texts published outside of Resource Library

Videos Online a comprehensive catalogue of online full motion videos streamed free to viewers

Videos an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

Books general reference books published on paper

Interactive media media in CD-ROM format

Magazines paper-published magazines and journals

 

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