Andy Warhol pop art in 1960s

Andy Warhol (1928,1987)

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist. Warhol's artwork ranged in many forms of media that include hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, music, and commercial advertisements.

Andy Museum

 

Andy Warhol was one of the most important artists of pop art, which became extremely popular in the second half of the twentieth century. Though he is best remembered for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans, the Soupcan is one of Warhol's most famous and recognized paintings. It was done in 1962 and is an oil on canvas. This painting defines his personal artistic repertoire of low cost consumer items. The soupcan is a mass-market article of the American consumer and a recognizable symbol of American way of life.

paper dress of 1966–67

Warhol's first exhibition in an art gallery came in 1962 at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. He displayed his canvases of Campbell's soup, one canvas for each of the 32 types of Campbell's soup. He sold all the paintings as a set for a $1000.

Unfortunately, Warhol found that he couldn't make his paintings fast enough on canvas. Luckily in July 1962, he discovered the process of silk screening. This technique uses a specially prepared section of silk as a stencil, allowing one silk-screen to create similar patterns multiple times. He immediately began making paintings of celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Jackie Onassi and Marilyn most notably a large collection of paintings of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol would use this style for the rest of his life.

Marilyn Monroe

Elvis Presley

Jackie Onassis

Warhol focused much of his attention to the faces of movie stars and popular celebrities of his time. Many of his Pop art images use high contrast colors and exaggerated “off register” edges. 

References:

http://artobserved.com/2011/08/go-see-los-angeles-andy-warhols-campbells-soup-cans-at-the-museum-of-contemporary-art-through-september-19th-2011/