Abstract Expressionism

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Discuss the artistic and cultural shift from Abstract Expressionism to Pop art with reference to particular artists and artworks. For example you might want to compare the work of an Abstract Expressionist with that of a Pop Artist.

Since World War Two, few movements have affected the course of art history as profoundly as the emergence of the two, namely Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. While the search for new artistic inspiration persisted throughout the post-war period, artists in these two movements sometimes chose divergent methods of representing their artistic passion. Motivation for the change from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art (from late 1940s to 1960s) was essentially a product of the political, cultural and artistic environment in that period. The artistic and cultural shift after World War Two forced artists to relocate their means of artistic expression.

To examine the transitional phase bridging these two movements, we must first define what cultural and artistic shifts are. According to T.S Eliot, culture "includes all the characteristic activities of a people: Derby Day...the pin table...nineteenth-century Gothic churches and the music of Elgar...what is part of our culture is also a part of our lived religion." 1