One of the most prominent problems with the industrialization that took place in the larger cities was that it appeared to devalue the very nature of what made art so important. But rather than complaining about the ways in which pop culture could be viewed as replacing art, the artists of the mid 20th century leaned into the motif and used industrialization and popular culture as fuel for their own creative vision. Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were easily recognizable as two of the most significant female figures in pop culture during the 60s, so Pop Art icon Andy Warhol immortalized them both in his famous prints. As you may recall from earlier in the site, Warhol also took everyday objects like Campbell’s soup cans and other images that called to mind the concept of big business and turned them into art. As artists during this fluctuating (and often politically and socially tense) time in history, it became their duty to catalog the essence of the Pop Art period using works of art that allowed them to comment on the blurring of lines between high and low forms of culture.

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Artists from the Expressionist period had a lot to say about some of the most prevalent forms of emotional pain… take Edward Munch’s The Scream, a self-portrait of sorts whose catalogue of anxiety and inner-turmoil are hauntingly presented. Pop artists turned instead to societal turmoil, turning their art into yet another form of social commentary. Many of the artists that were paramount to this time got their start in commercial graphic design or illustration. They were perfectly primed to achieve one of the major goals of the Pop Art movement, which was to merge the traditional media of high art with the lower brow concepts of mass production and consumption. Their commentary served as a satire of sorts on the superficiality of the society in which they were observing massive change.