Pop Art, Postmodernism, and World War II

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Pop Art, Postmodernism, and World War II

Pop Art, a form of Postmodernism, describes the genre of art during and

after WW2. The question I am exploring within this topic is why did the

influence of the time period of World War II create such sexual and

abstract works of art ? The points of view I encountered delivered two

basic positions on the same issue. I studied a web site as well that

offered graphics to support and explain it’s position

(http://www.azstarnet.com/~nik/AME/time/popart/index.html )

The idea or actual creation of sexual and abstract images have been

around for centuries, Yet the idea of linking a genre of art works to

the times in which they were created doesn’t appear as a major topic of

discussion. However the perspectives of Pop Art seem to dominate

fiercely in the world of art critics.

One of the first sources I examined was a web site on Pop Art. The

site’s view point suggested Pop as a form of political expressionism.

With text and graphics to support the position, it considered Pop as

metaphoric for a bigger statement of liberation. The idea of sexual

images were considered as permissible because censorship became a thing

of the past in the 60’s. Once the photographic technique was invented

and television that soon followed, the blood shed and graphic nature of

the war was brought inside our homes live and animated. In the mean time

art works became a reflection of this.

A written argument by art critic Jean Baudrillard shares the position

of the site yet while the sites position stands behind the theory of

television and technology as a meaning of why Pop existed the way it

did, Baudrillard has another theory.

...

... middle of paper ...

...ct on the world of art

in general.

Barthes who discusses Pop Art in it’s abstract form of repetition gives

an idea of the types of images that were created during the times of

WW2. In turn Baudrillard issues explicit analysis of Pop Art as a whole

especially , what I concluded to be a very resourceful explanation of

why Pop appeared the way it did. Both written sources seem to back up

the position of the web site in terms of critiquing the works as

symbolic of the times. Yet the theory of media playing the largest part

in the concept of Pop doesn’t render as precise for all my sources.

However after reading and analyzing all three sources I concluded,

these positions all seem to accept the idea of Pop Art as a means of

liberation in the concept of metaphoric symbolism rather it be sexually

abstract or simply abstract .

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