This article discusses how the generation who became young adults after the World War in Europe after 1945, changed the direction of Art which became known as Popular Art and what was behind the cultural change in society. The Pop Art trend that artists followed seemingly faded after the death of Andy Warhol
The 1950’s witnessed a change in the culture of the UK and the USA. After the end of world war two, the younger generation were coming of-age. The former traditional life of getting a steady job, marrying and starting a family was seen by then as passé (too old fashioned). The accepted early twentieth century morals and attitudes to creating music, and the repression of sexual expression were being turned from following the past rules and accepted behaviour to forging another way to live one's life. The world of Art felt the change in society first and foremost and began to demonstrate the freedom they believed signalled the beginning of a new wave of thinking and behaving.
It was in 1953 that Rauschenberg exhibited his “Erased De Kooning Drawings” in New York and created an outcry in the art world. Although this nihilistic artwork left ‘nothing to see’ it was regarded as not only the precursor of conceptual art (tongue in cheek) but also seen as grasping at straws to be different, an example of the mindset of the ‘NYC art-in crowd’ of the time. Rauschenberg along with his gang of like minded fellows would carry on being different through the 1960’s and into the 1970’s.
The radical change in youthful thinking could be seen in a more visceral way with the ideas of young people like Hugh Hefner. His launch of a Men’s Mag (1953 USA) included a whole array of articles of ways of looking and thinking about life, it was accompanied by advice on how to ‘treat’ a woman, dress like a film star, and look and behave ‘cool’ in a highly public way.
Hefner, a journalist (of sorts) developed the idea of starting his own magazine after acquiring a well paid but boring job in journalism. The first issue of his own magazine was constructed to appeal to a male audience.
To garnish the response he needed (financially) he managed to acquire the rights to a nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe which was originally posed for a Calendar company.
(This was used in several global company calendar's from and beyond 1952)
This photograph,
