Pop Art is a visual art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and the United States. It was a reaction against the mainstream art of the time, which was often seen as elitist and emotionally removed.
Pop Art sought to make art accessible to a wider audience, often through its use of popular culture imagery and bold colours.
Richard Hamilton was one of the most influential figures in the British Pop Art movement. He was inspired by Marcel Duchamp and his ‘readymades’, which included everyday objects such as urinals, bicycle wheels and bottle racks that were repurposed into works of art. Hamilton applied this concept to his own work, creating pieces from everyday items like newspapers, magazines and photographs.
In 1956, Hamilton co-authored the Manifesto for Parallelism with Lawrence Alloway. This document laid out their definition of Pop Art as ‘popular (designed for a mass audience), transient (short-term solution), expendable (easily forgotten due to its quickly changing nature), low cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky’.
Hamilton’s definition of Pop Art focused on its accessibility for a mass audience. He saw it as an opportunity to bring art into everyday life and make it more engaging for people from all walks of life.
For Hamilton, Pop Art wasn’t just about art; it was about making people think differently about their surroundings. He wanted to challenge people’s preconceived notions about what constituted good or bad art by using everyday objects in his work.
In conclusion, Richard Hamilton defined Pop Art as an accessible form of visual art that uses popular culture imagery and everyday objects to challenge people’s preconceived notions about what constitutes good or bad art. He saw it as an opportunity to bring art into everyday life and engage a wider audience.