Pop Art

The movement originated in Britain in the 1950’s with the Independent Group who met at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The term was coined by art critic Lawrence Alloway to describe the popular urban culture of the masses that was erupting at that time throughout all the media, but especially in the realms of advertising and consumer packaging. At the same time, a similar culture was developing in the USA, but mainly as a reaction against the Abstract Expressionists. In England a series of exhibitions, starting with "This is Tomorrow" held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1956, promoted the new movement.

Among the principal contributing artists of the time were Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Allen Jones, R B Kitaj, Edouardo Paolozzi and Peter Phillips. In London, the annual RBA exhibition of young talent in 1960 first showed American Pop influences. Hockney, Kitaj and Blake went on to win prizes at the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Liverpool the following year. The most celebrated of the American Pop artists was undoubtedly Andy Warhol, whose approach was closely connected with Minimalism.