From the late 1950s to the late 1960s the word Pop described any example of art, film, photography and architectural design which engaged with the new realities of mass production and the mass media. Unlike compilations of pop art in isolation, this is a uniquely comprehensive survey of Pop in all of its forms across America, Britain and Europe - edited by an internationally recognized expert on pop art and culture.
In addition to the key artworks by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, Richard Hamilton, Sigmar Polke, Martial Raysse and many others, the book includes works of photography and avant-garde film, as well as what the critic Reyner Banham defined as Pop architecture - ranging from Alison and Peter Smithson’s House of the Future to Archigram’s Walking City and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s Learning from Las Vegas.
This volume is an extensive and eclectic assimilation of original statements and interviews from established artists (often from rare or sources that are out of print); crucial writings by critics such as Reyner Banham, Donald Judd and Jonas Mekas; and succinct extracts from key contextual writings - from Beat poetry to academic articles on Pop culture.
Pop adopts an analogous aesthetic in its composition to the subject covered, to form a visual and intellectual journey through the art and thought of the crucial decades of the pop phenomenon - one that has stigmatised twenty-first century art and culture.