When Pop Art was published in 1966, Lucy Lippard was just beginning her career as a writer, critic, curator and activist. Since then, she has written dozens of books and essays and organized over fifty art exhibitions, and Pop Art has been reprinted multiple times. The book contains chapters by Lawrence Alloway, who was involved in the beginnings of the British Pop movement, Nancy Marmer, and poet and critic Nicolas Calas, in addition to Lippard herself.
"Pop Art is an American phenomenon..."
In the book's introduction, Lippard delineates the essence of Pop Art and analyzes precursors of the style. She says the movement first appeared in Britain, but - this is an important distinction - "it was born twice." American Pop Art represents the true nature of the style, in part because of its industrialized technology and mass media culture. Thus Andy Warhol, who was probably the most influential of the Pop artists, famously said in 1963, "I want to be a machine. Don't you?"
Pop Art and Pop Culture
The first chapter, "The Development of British Pop Art," was written by Lawrence Alloway. He invented the term Pop Art, but used it to designate something entirely different from what it soon came to mean. Alloway's Pop Art referred to the actual "products of the mass media," and not the artwork itself. In other words, Pop Art, or Pop Culture, as he alternatively called it, was billboards, movies, car ads, and product packaging.
IG and "This Is Tomorrow"
Alloway organizes his discussion of the British Pop Art movement around arts organizations and shows. The Independent Group, or IG, met informally at the Institute of Contemporary Art in the early 1950s to discuss the topic of mass media. Key members of the early British Pop scene took part, notably Richard Hamilton, who would later show his collage "Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?" in the seminal "This Is Tomorrow" show."
"Young Contemporaries" and the Royal College of Art
According to Alloway, a "third phase" of British Pop was later ushered in with the "Young Contemporaries" exhibition in 1961. Most of the artists were from the Royal College of Art. Key Pop figures Allen Jones and American R. B. Kitaj took part, as did David Hockney, who later moved to California. The work from this later phase was figurative, whereas American Pop Art was largely abstract.
New York Pop Art
The chapter on New York Pop is the most substantial and includes color illustrations. Tom Wesselman, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg, and Roy Lichtenstein are all classified as "hard-core" Pop. Jim Dine and Jasper Johns, Lippard argues, are not Pop. Other artists seem to fall somewhere within the continuum; James Rosenquist and Robert Indiana, for example. It's important to recall that Lippard wrote this essay in 1966 and was defining a movement as it came to an end.
California Pop
Contributor Nancy Marmer notes that California Pop was disparate, arrived later, and was influenced by local subcultures such as hot-rod culture and the Beats. Wallace Berman, with his connections to the Beats and Assemblagists, his interest in mechanical reproduction, and his predilection for Pop subject matter, was a progenitor. Key figures in California include Ed Ruscha, author of the groundbreaking "Every Building on the Sunset Strip."
Pop Art and Modernism
"Pop Icons," by Nicolas Calas, briefly discusses Pop Art in relation to modernism, and makes strong connections between Pop and Surrealism. Both are anti-art, the difference being that Pop art's stance is cool while that of Surrealism is lyrical. Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger are the undeniable yet problematic Pop influences: Calas admires both artists' ability to simplify but objects to their treatment of subject matter.
Europe and Canada: Nouveau Réalisme and Manifestations
Pop Art was American and British. However, Nouveau Réalisme, or New Realism, had traits in common with Pop. The intriguing Yves Klein was probably the most cutting-edge and significant artist of the group. Also mentioned is theorist Daniel Spoerri, who was interested in chance and manifestations, which are like Happenings. And Lucy Lippard calls Canadian Michael Snow a Pop artist. Snow went on to make the influential film "Wavelength" in 1967, the year after Pop Art was first published.
Pop Art was influenced by mass media and pop culture, but it in turn had a huge impact on American society. Lucy Lippard's book is a thorough introduction to the most important American art style of the 1960s. The essays in the book look closely at different facets of the Pop Art movement. There are a lot of illustration, but this isn't a coffee table book: the images are meant as an accompaniment to the text.
Lippard, Lucy, with contributions by Lawrence Alloway, Nancy Marmer and Nicolas Calas. Pop Art. Thames and Hudson, 2000. ISBN 0-500-20052-1
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