1. Pop Art Painting Project

2. The term first appeared in Britain during the 1950s and referred to the interest of a number of artists in the images of mass media, advertising, comics and consumer products. The 1950s were a period of optimism in Britain following the end of war-time rationing, and a consumer boom took place. British artists aimed at broadening taste into more popular, less academic art.

3. Pop Art therefore coincided with the youth and pop music phenomenon of the 1950s and '60s, and became very much a part of the image of fashionable, 'swinging' London. Peter Blake, for example, designed album covers for Elvis Presley and the Beatles and placed film stars such as Brigitte Bardot in his pictures in the same way that Warhol was immortalizing Marilyn Monroe in the USA.

4. Peter Blake, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

5. The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has a widely recognized album cover that depicts several dozen celebrities and other images. It was created by Jann Haworth and Peter Blake, who in 1967 won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for their work on it.

6. Roy Lichtenstein

7. Roy Lichtenstein Hopeless 1963

8. Roy Lichtenstein Blam 1962

9. Roy Lichtenstein Drowning Girl 1963

10. Roy Lichtenstein Mustard on White 1963

11. Roy Lichtenstein Takka Takka 1962

12. Roy Lichtenstein Modern Room 1990

14. Andy Warhol

15. Andy Warhol Marilyn 1967

16. Andy Warhol Turquoise Marilyn 1962

17. Andy Warhol Triple Elvis 1963

18. Andy Warhol 100 cans 1962

19. James Rosenquist  

20. James Rosenquist President Elect (1960-61) Oil on masonite
Like many Pop artists, Rosenquist was fascinated by the popularization of political and cultural figures in mass media. In his painting President Elect, the artist depicts John F. Kennedy's face amidst an amalgamation of consumer items, including a yellow Chevrolet and a piece of cake.
Rosenquist created a collage with the three elements cut from their original mass media context, and then photo-realistically recreated them on a monumental scale.
As Rosenquist explains, "The face was from Kennedy's campaign poster. I was very interested at that time in people who advertised themselves. Why did they put up an advertisement of themselves? So that was his face. And his promise was half a Chevrolet and a piece of stale cake."

22. James Rosenquist Hey! Let’s Go for a Ride. 1961 oil on canvas

23. James Rosenquist Dishes 1964

24. To do for this project:
You will create a painting in the pop art style.
You can combine popular images to create a new composition.
You can create an image (like a portrait) by changing the colours and simplifying the lines.