American pop art

by Lawrence Alloway

The evolution of the pop art movement is demonstrated through the work of such artists as Warhol, Lichtenstein, Indiana, and Rauschenberg

Genres: Art

144 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Edie Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seminal book was produced as a catalogue for an exhibit that ran in the 70s. It featured the major players of Pop Art.

Author Laurence Alloway was one of the style’s friendlier critics. He credits himself as the coiner of the term, “Pop Art”, but others dispute this. Some of the book’s essays essays appeared in earlier versions as an Art Forum article, a chapter in “Figurative Art Since 1943”, and a London lecture that took place in 1969.

There’s much to glean from the text. Alloway defines, explains and makes interesting comments on those paintings the show features. Just as interesting as those artists included are those who were not. He gave valid reasons for their omissions.

So what went wrong? Portions of the book dragged and I found myself looking at my phone between paragraphs. Not a favorable sign. A good percentage of the pictures only appeared in black and white. I think the absence of color takes away a good part of what these pieces were about.

When the book succeeded it was very, very good. And when it did not it was boring.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prepared in 1974 for an exhibit at the Whitney with a section about artists, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Andy Warhol, and prints by the other artists represented

A helpful overview of pop art as response to our age of advertisement, and what technology allowed artists to do almost 40 years ago... The section on sign and object puts words to feeling human presence in objects suspended from
any sense of connection to them, yet allowing the viewer to find a new way to respond.

I like having color plates: for instance this series
Jim Dine: "Tie, Tie." Charles Demuth, "I Saw the Figre 5 in Gold"; Edward Ruscha. "Noise, Pencil, Broken Pencil, Cheap Western" and again, Jim Dine: Hatchet with Two Palettes
followed with an explanation of the works, what inspired them collaborations involved.

I skimmed this quickly for an overview and found it worthwhile for an introduction.