Suggested Response Overall activity:

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Spencer Hensley
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1 POP ART and Ideas Suggested Response Overall activity: To choose two art works, produced by different Pop artists, and compare how they represent the same cultural, social or economic theme

2 From the corner store: objects and life Tom Wesselmann & Peter Blake Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #20, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York Peter Blake, The Toy Shop, Tate Britain, London

3 A Little about Tom Wesselmann Majored in Psychology at College. In 1954 he began studying drawing at the Art Academy of Cincinatti Originally interested in cartooning produced cartoon strips for magazines such as 1000 Jokes and True. Interest in painting was sparked by viewing art of Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning. Tom Wesselmann 23 Feb Dec Accepted into Cooper Union School for Arts and Architecture in New York, where he would meet his wife and other artistic contemporaries Graduated and soon became one of the founding members of the Judson Gallery. Collage technique, using paper and then real objects, became aspects of his signature style.

Tom Wesselmann 23 Feb. 1931 17 Dec. 2004 Hans Memling, Saint Veronica, c.

4 A Little about Tom Wesselmann I got my subject matter from Hans Memling (I started with Portrait Collages ) and de Kooning gave me content and motivation. My work evolves from that. Tom Wesselmann 23 Feb Dec Hans Memling, Saint Veronica, c.1470/75 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Willem de Kooning, Woman V, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

5 Still Life #20 Reality and Representation This work is essentially split into two halves. On the left hand side are objects a real sink, light switch, cupboard and cupboard contents (the door opens) integrated with the whole work. On the right hand side, flat representations of a table with everyday items such as a glass of coke, loaf of bread and bottles of beer; are applied onto the work. Above the table Wesselmann also includes a reproduction of a work by Piet Mondrian.

6 Still Life #20 Reality and Representation Wesselmann noted in an interview on his art that: A painted pack of cigarettes next to a painted apple wasn t enough for me. They are both the same king of thing. But if one is from a cigarette ad and the other is a painted apple, they are two different realities and they trade on each other; lots of things bright strong colours, the qualities of materials, images from art history or advertising trade on each other. This kind of relationship helps establish a momentum throughout the picture all the elements are in some way very intense. Interview by G.R. Swenson, 10 February Taken from the Royal Academy Pop Art catalogue, 1991.

7 Still Life #20 Reality and Representation The effect of incorporating real objects with flat representation is disconcerting. The fact that the objects represented are taken from everyday life is inviting since we recognise things that are familiar. Yet the two dimensionality of the painted objects also reminds us that we are looking at an interpretation of life not life itself.

8 Still Life #20 Art in Art In this work, Wesselmann paints a reproduction of a work by the Dutch neoplasticist artist Piet Mondrian. Mondrian sought to represent pure colours and forms in his paintings as a means of achieving utopian ideals of harmony and synergy. Mondrian noted: What do I want to express with my work..to achieve harmony through the balance of the relationship between lines,colours and planes,but only in the strongest way. Notice how Wesselmann references the colours and composition of Mondrian s image this work (wall, bananas, table). This shows that Wesselmann acknowledges the relationship between his own art and other modernist approaches and ideals. The objects in his still life become less important than their function within Wesselman s aesthetic conversation with Mondrian.

Still Life #20 Art in Art Utilising aspects of popular culture was a critical aspect of Pop Art practice. Many Pop artists integrated mass produced products and brands into their aesthetic.

9 Still Life #20 Art in Art Utilising aspects of popular culture was a critical aspect of Pop Art practice. Many Pop artists integrated mass produced products and brands into their aesthetic. Detail of Andy Warhol, Campbell s Soup Cans, Museum of Modern Art, New York The use of everyday products and visual culture from comics and adverts, blurred the boundaries between art and life.

Still Life #20 Art in Art The title of Wesselmann s work and his use of objects from everyday life, draws on the established tradition of still life painting.

10 Still Life #20 Art in Art The title of Wesselmann s work and his use of objects from everyday life, draws on the established tradition of still life painting. Historically, objects used within this genre were often symbolic. Georg Flegel, Still Life with Apples (17 th century) What might Wesselmann s selection of still life objects tell us about contemporary life?

11 A Little about Peter Blake Raised in Dartford, Kent and from attended Gravesend Art School. Heavily Influenced by circus and fairground folk art and ephemera, as well as traditional barge painting began studying at the Royal College in London, following three years National Service. Sir Peter Blake Born 25 June 1932 Blake did not become involved in the newly formed Independent Group of 1952, which convened to discuss and explore contemporary pop culture. He remained on the outside of the scene traveled on an arts scholarship around Europe and America, where he became exposed to American artists such as Jasper Johns, H.C. Westermann and Robert Rauschenberg Blake and his wife Jann Haworth created the album cover for the Beatles album Sergeant Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band, for which he continues to be identified with.

A Little about Peter Blake Blake has also been influenced by American realism a

represent true images of life experienced in the metropolis.

12 A Little about Peter Blake Blake has also been influenced by American realism a movement of New York artists, musicians and writers who strove to capture and represent true images of life experienced in the metropolis. Correlations with Blake s work can be seen in paintings by artists such as Edward Hopper and George Bellows. Sir Peter Blake Born 25 June 1932 Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, Art Institute of Chicago George Bellows, Dempsey and Firpo, Whitney Museum Of Art, New York.

13 The Toy Shop Art and Memory The Toy shop evokes a sense of nostalgia for days gone past. The incorporation of real toys and games into the fabricated shop façade (made out of a cupboard door and reclaimed window) evokes memories of early childhood, where kids would save their pocket money for a new toy or just dream at the window and buy sweets instead! The work also suggests that the local toyshop and its hand painted wooden figurines and games, is a part of Britain s heritage something which is cited by Blake in his use of the British flag.

14 The Toy Shop Art and Memory Speaking in a interview on Pop Art, Blake noted: For me, pop-art is often rooted in nostalgia: the nostalgia of old, popular things. And although I m also continually trying to establish a new pop art, one which stems directly from our own time, I m always looking back at the sources of the idiom and trying to find the technical forms that will best recapture the authentic feel of folk pop. Interview by Mervyn Levy, for Studio International, November 1963.Taken from the Royal Academy Pop Art catalogue, 1991.

15 The Toy Shop Art and Memory Blake had collected all of the items which he put in the window of the toyshop as part of his interest in British popular culture and toys. The artwork therefore also serves as an archive of Blake s collection reflecting his personal interests. In some ways, this shop window could also be read as a sort of self portrait. Would you agree?

BUT they may also be a subtle reference to the work of early American Pop painter Jasper Johns.

16 The Toy Shop Art in Art In the window of the toyshop can be seen a number of targets linked to different games.the repetition of these items shows their prevalence in children's toys. BUT they may also be a subtle reference to the work of early American Pop painter Jasper Johns. Johns work utilised motifs of flags, targets and maps to pose conceptual questions about perception and looking: Jasper Johns, Target with four faces, Museum of Modern Art, New York. John s notes on flags and targets that: They re both things which are seen and not looked at, not examined, and they both have clearly defined areas which could be measured and transferred to canvas.

The Toy Shop Pop Youth Although The Toy Shop is nostalgic, it nevertheless connects the viewer to childhood and youth - Not only displaying toys, but also, being in miniature, the work itself looks

17 The Toy Shop Pop Youth Although The Toy Shop is nostalgic, it nevertheless connects the viewer to childhood and youth - Not only displaying toys, but also, being in miniature, the work itself looks life a kind of dollhouse. The Pop culture of the 1960 s was very much seen as being youth-focused and produced. Whatever teenagers were listening to, eating or wearing was considered Pop and cool. This shop could therefore also represent a kind of history of youth a monument to the time just before denim, Elvis and soda pop.

Ready-made's The use of real life objects in Pop works, such as those by Blake and Wesselmann, was not a new phenomenon. In 1917 the French Dadaist Marcel Duchamp signed a urinal R.

18 Ready-made's The use of real life objects in Pop works, such as those by Blake and Wesselmann, was not a new phenomenon. In 1917 the French Dadaist Marcel Duchamp signed a urinal R. Mutt (a reference to the manufacturers) and displayed it as art. With this, he instigated a new conceptual framework for how art might be produced and consumed by its viewers. Duchamp s readymades were real-life objects presented as his own work. This was a challenge to traditional criteria and expectations for art. Also, the hand or brushstroke of the artist was no longer visibly evident. Peter Blake has said of Duchamp that: He opened the door that so many of us went through, the door of possibility, by saying anything an artist makes is art.

1962 In the year that Wesselmann s Still Life #20 and Blake s Toy Shop were produced 14 th Feb: Jackie Onassis conducts a televised tour of the White House

Rolling Stones debut at London s Marquee Club 18 th August : Marvel Comic releases Amazing Fantasy No.

19 1962 In the year that Wesselmann s Still Life #20 and Blake s Toy Shop were produced 14 th Feb: Jackie Onassis conducts a televised tour of the White House 9 th April: West Side Story wins best picture at the 34 th Academy Awards 2 nd July : The First ever Wal-Mart store opens in Arkansas 12 th July: The Rolling Stones debut at London s Marquee Club 18 th August : Marvel Comic releases Amazing Fantasy No.15 which introduced the character Spiderman for the first time. 5 th October : The Beatles release their first single Love me Do 14 th October: Cuban Missile Crisis begins 20 th November: Cuban Missile Crisis ends

The Illinois State Museum presents. Marvelous Modern Art Super Saturday January 10, 2009

The Illinois State Museum presents Marvelous Modern Art Super Saturday January 10, 2009 Henri Matisse s Goldfish (1912) Although Henri Matisse was a French artist, he was still very important and influential