Pop Art was a 20th century art movement that utilized the imagery and techniques of consumerism and popular culture as well as mass media and advertising, often in an ironic way. Works of Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Oldenburg exemplify this style. Pop art developed in the late 1950's as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism and flourished in the sixties and early seventies. The movement raised questions between what was "good" and "bad" taste, and between fine art and commercial art techniques. Many feel that Pop was a retreat from major to minor quality. Observers and critiques today are now left questioning just whether or not the quality of art decreased, as well as the type of affect Pop Art had on society, and likewise, society upon art.

Pop Art is an art movement that appeared in the fifties as a reaction against “Abstract Expressionism”. It referred to some artists’ interest in the images of mass media, advertising, comics, and consumer products. Pop Art brough

t art back to materiality and popular culture as it eliminated the difference between good and bad taste, and fine art and commercial art techniques. Lawrence Alloway first used the term Pop Art in a 1958 issue of “Architectural Digest” to describe the paintings that celebrate post-war consumerism, defy the psychology of Abstract Expressionism, and worship the “god of materialism”. Pop Art started in the early fifties in Britain and reached its top in America, New York in particular- in the sixties.

Put simply, Pop Art made art accessible for everyone, and opened new dimensions in art. Andy Warhol said “The pop artists did images that anybody walking down Broadway could recognize…all the great modern things that the Abstract Expressionists tried so hard not to notice at all.”

The term "Abstract Expressionism" is misleading. On its first appearance, it seemed like any genuine innovative style, breaking away with the past in a radical manner. It differed in the fact that the focus was no longer on the art created, but the process of creation.

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