Andy Warhol Pop Art Movement

History Day Essay: Pop Art Movement
The Pop Art movement, from the late 1950s to the 1970s, was widely spread in the United States. It was a movement where consumerism and mass-production greatly influenced and inspired artists. Artists, such as Andy Warhol, explored and experienced the world of Pop Art that was not favored by most art critics at the time. This movement struggled to cross the boundary between what was considered low and high art forms. Over time however, Pop Art slowly became accepted in society as society encountered the works of pop artists and new art techniques were exchanged. Pop Art became a more popular form of art that was different from traditional ways. The Pop Art movement brought change to the world of art
Warhol was both an American artist and filmmaker who gained success as a commercial artist. He was one of the artists among many who focused art on ordinary and recognizable subjects that expressed the popular culture of the day during that time (Source 3). He was the first to explore the new art technique of silk screen canvas printing, where an enlarged photographic image was transferred to a silk screen which allowed him to produce a repetitive series of mass-media images with slight contrast (Source 5). Through untraditional techniques, Warhol enforced new ways to create art and helped open up new subjects to explore on. Warhol was a major impact during the Pop Art movement who paved the way for Pop Art to be more renowned to society at the time. However he was widely criticized and unaccepted, especially by traditional artists, during his time. But he never let that change him or how he wished to create art. He freely expressed himself and his homosexuality. As he collaborated with younger artists he exchanged his ideas and his works influenced other pop artists to be more open with their lives and sexual orientation just like he was (Source 5). As one of the most influential pop artists, Warhol captured an authentic American outlook based on packaged products and people (Source
Due to these factors, Pop Art expressed a form of art different from traditional arts in terms of the process and materials used to produce the art, the subject that is drawn, and the different messages that are conveyed from the different art styles. Pop Art crossed the boundaries between “high” and “low” art forms and distinguished that not only certain art styles can be considered “fine” pieces of artworks. Pop Artists, such as Andy Warhol, experimented with new ways to create art and they helped pave the way for Pop Art to become popular. Pop Art based on and inspired by consumerism and mass-production captured the every day lifestyle of the people of America influenced by the mass media, making art more understandable and personal to the common people. Even though Pop Art was unaccepted and criticized by people at first, Pop Art is now and still is a popular art style used today in the designs of printed shirts using the mass-production