Christine A. Elmore
By the time of the late 1950s there were two broad schools of Modern American Art. The earlier of these was Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art was a reaction to it. One cannot really appreciate the significance of Pop Art apart from the context of an already established school of Abstract Expressionism.
Abstract Expressionists belonged to a group of American and U.S.-based artists who dominated the art scene in New York City during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko were part of this movement. Some of these artists were sometimes referred to, perhaps more descriptively, as 'action painters'. They placed great emphasis on the act of painting where one could express himself through the flow and energy of color and paint in a vigorous way. The Abstract Expressionist used gesture, color, form and texture to express his deep emotions and inner turmoil living in postwar America where so many had become quite disillusioned with current ideologies. These artists "shared a romantic vision of the artist alienated from mainstream society, a figure morally compelled to create a new type of art which might confront an irrational, absurd world" (Dempsey 188). Another characteristic of these artists was to paint quite spontaneously on much larger canvases, thus turning "personal feelings into grand statements" (Ridley 36).The effect on the viewer was quite powerful, inviting him/her to explore its depths and emotionally get involved with the painting. According to Bob Raczka in his book entitled Name That Ism: All About Isms In Art art historians considered Abstract Expressionism to be "the most original style ever created in the United States" (27).
Some artists felt that Abstract Expressionism was purely self-indulgent. Their thinking was that it focused on the artist's own emotions and took such a serious tone. Reacting against this style, some younger artists in New York City created work "with a greater sense of fun" (Rubin 29). Thus the Pop Art movement was born with three of its leading figures being Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. They replaced the more serious ideas of Abstract Expressionists with art that held "no pretense of fine art and minimal signs of personal expression" (Mason 120). Instead their art created a dialogue with mass media techniques and materials using themes from popular culture. It was the artist Richard Hamilton who actually coined the word Pop Art. Pop Art held great appeal for people because of its easily recognizable subject matter and its use of bright colors. What these artists sought to do was to connect art with daily life and with familiar images gotten from television, comic strips and commercial billboards. As Bolton so aptly puts it in her book Pop Art: "…instead of thinking about how to present the human soul in paint, the Pop artist showed hot dogs; instead of depicting anger and fear, they had a shopping basket; instead of passion, for them there was popcorn" (13). People who beforehand were often put off by the obscure style of Abstract Expressionists now felt they could view and appreciate the work of Pop artists with interest and with a stronger sense of familiarity. Art was no longer for only the elite to appreciate. But there can be, I would argue, a more serious side to the intent of Pop artists. Art critics at least have sometimes detected a deeper meaning in Pop Art's message. In some sense Pop Art presents a real critique of American consumer values. Satire is perhaps its most profound message.
In an effort to make these two movements come alive for my students, I have created a simple power-point presentation showing them some of the artwork of Pollock, Kline, Johns and Warhol. I have also included a few pictures of the artists themselves. Using this vehicle we will be able to compare characteristics and techniques used by these artists.
Making it Simple for Young Learners
My students will learn about the Pop Art Movement primarily through their study of Andy Warhol (see Section Two) and their imitation of his art (see Section Four), but I will also take artwork samples for them to view from two books written for the intermediate-level student, Pop Art by Christian Demilly and Art Revolutions: Pop Art by Linda Bolton. Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and, of course, Andy Warhol are a few of the artists highlighted in these texts. I will also use samples taken from the book entitled Andy Warhol: Paintings for Children by Silvia Neysters and Sabine S”ll-Tauchert. I have discovered a very good power-point presentation on the Pop Art Movement suitable for children which is found on The Warhol: Resources & Lessons website (http://edu.warhol. org/20c_ppt.html). I do plan to simplify the language as I present each slide in this presentation so that my first-graders can better understand it.
My introduction of Pop Art will continue with a brief explanation of how 'pop' comes from the word popular and then I will quickly turn to content that they can make connections to. I will initiate a discussion of what is trendy now in their lives in terms of food products, cartoons, and TV and Movie Stars. To make it more relevant to them (what's a Brillo Pad, Mrs. Elmore and who is Shirley Temple?), I will conduct a lesson (see Lesson Plan 1) where we will use packaging from such commercial products as Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups, Skittles, Cheetos Corn Curls, McDonald's hamburgers, Lays Potato Chips, and Kellogg's Fruit Loops and discuss how Warhol would use them in his artwork. At the same time I will use these samples of environmental print (the words we see all around us) to show my young readers that there are many such labels that they can easily read just by sight.