Twentieth-Century Art: Marisol, Andy Warhol, and the Pop Art Movement

Administrative Announcements and Course Progress

  • Deadlines: Deadlines are upcoming for museum assignments and video responses.
  • Course Evaluations: Students were asked to use class time to fill out course evaluations on their laptops, as they are important to the professor and the university.
  • Upcoming Schedule: Next week will wrap up with a few more quick focus works and a final exam review.
  • Final Exam Description: A paragraph-length description of the final exam is available in the Canvas modules. Students are encouraged to review it over the weekend and bring questions to the next session on Tuesday for a review.

Recap of Previous Material: Abstract Expressionism and Feminist Art

  • Abstract Expressionism: The class previously discussed Jackson Pollock, whose work challenged norms regarding technique and representation. Major questions include whether paintings must depict recognizable objects/events or involve traditional technical skill.
  • Feminist Art: The movement was illustrated through the work of Judy Chicago.
        * Defining Feminist Art: It is not a single recognizable style; it is defined by the message behind the work rather than the technique.
        * The Canon: Chicago’s work, such as the 3D installation representing the Last Supper, was meant to recast the canonical history of art (specifically referencing Leonardo’s Last Supper) to raise awareness for people left out of history.
  • Mary Beth Edelson: Another artist who reimagined the Last Supper by pasting pictures of famous woman artists onto the figures. One of the figures included was Marisol Escobar.

Marisol Escobar: Background and Artistic Philosophy

  • Identity: She is a Venezuelan-American artist. She was born in Paris and had a very international upbringing, studying art in Paris, Rome, New York, and Los Angeles.
  • Wealth and Name: Born into a wealthy and affluent family, she eventually abandoned her last name, Maria Solvi, becoming just "Marisol." She did this to cast off the inheritance of privilege and address her background critically through her art.
  • Traumatic Influence: At age 11 or 12, her mother committed suicide, an event that led her toward a difficult-to-define artistic approach.
  • Artistic Connections:
        * Technique: Her work uses simpler, non-precious materials and found objects, drawing on the legacies of Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.
        * Viewer Agency: Like Manet and Mary Cassatt, Marisol is interested in repositioning the viewer. In her version of the Last Supper (made primarily of wood and stone), she included a self-portrait of herself looking at the scene, suggesting the protagonist could be the viewer rather than a wealthy male patron.

Focus Work: "The Party" by Marisol Escobar

  • Classification: The work fits under many umbrellas, including feminist art, Pop Art, and Dada.
  • Structural Form: It is described as an installation piece that is both sculptural and pictorial. It consists of multiple self-contained units that occupy a physical space.
  • Materiality and Construction:
        * 2D vs. 3D: Many figures have components that are 3D (like heads and jewelry) but bodies or dresses that are 2D paintings. The painted dresses use shadows and highlights (pictorial illusion) based on academic training.
        * Fragmentation: The bodies are boxy and blocky, appearing composite rather than seamless. This fragmentation subverts centuries of academic tradition, such as chiaroscuro, which sought to make body parts flow together.
        * Found Objects: Items attached to the figures include bows, breasts, headdresses, necklaces, jewelry, and even a small waiter figure with glasses.
  • Social Commentary:
        * Artificiality: The work criticizes the constructed nature of the female public persona and the superficiality of high society.
        * Materials as Critique: Though representing 1% affluence, the objects are fake (e.g., cheap knockoff necklaces, imitation diamond rings). This highlights the artificial nature of social standards.
        * Autobiography: Many of the faces are casts of Marisol’s own face, reflecting her position within these social structures.
        * Installation Flexibility: The way the piece is installed can vary. This detachability separates the work from fixed power structures (like specific museum presentations that standardize meaning).

Andy Warhol and the Emergence of Pop Art

  • Defining Pop Art: "Pop" is short for popular culture. The movement forces a reconsideration of the value of art and who art is for.
  • Andy Warhol’s Professional Origins: Unlike many artists who apprenticed under painters (as Pollock did with famous Americans), Warhol came from the world of advertisement, graphic design, and industrial design.
  • The Factory:
        * Warhol’s studio in New York was not a traditional workshop with apprentices. He called it "The Factory."
        * He decorated the space with industrially made materials like aluminum foil or tinfoil and utilized velvet sofas for photo opportunities.
        * The name reflects the idea that his art production was industrial and mechanical.
  • Silk-Screening Technique:
        * Most of Warhol’s works are prints created through silk-screening, a semi-industrialized copying technique.
        * This allowed for serial production—the creation of multiple copies or variations of an image. This effectively removed the "aura" or uniqueness traditionally associated with single works like the Mona Lisa or a Pollock drip painting.
        * Warhol famously stated, "I don't even make my own paintings," emphasizing that his assistants often performed the actual printing.

Major Works by Andy Warhol

  • Campbell’s Soup Cans:
        * Biographical Context: Warhol claimed he could live on two cans of Campbell’s soup a day during his time as a struggling artist in Pittsburgh.
        * Industrial Commentary: The soup cans are emblematic of industrial production. He displayed them in a row, much like they would appear in a grocery store, removing the "specialness" of the art object.
  • Brillo Boxes: These sculptures looked like common soap pads boxes, questioning whether industrial objects can be art.
  • Death and Disaster Series:
        * These works investigated how the repetition of mass media images affects the public.
        * Saturday Afternoon Disaster: Used newspaper photographs of car accidents and tragedies.
        * Lavender Disaster: A series of prints featuring the electric chair.
        * Cultural implication: Repetition desensitizes the viewer to horror and tragedy.
  • The Marilyn Diptych:
        * Format: A diptych is two paintings side by side functioning as one unit (a format used since the Middle Ages).
        * Subject: Marilyn Monroe was the ultimate 1960s Hollywood symbol of the "all-American" blonde celebrity. Her real name was Norma Jeane.
        * Critique of Celebrity: The silk-screen process creates repetitions with different impressions—some clear, some obscured. It asks whether celebrity is the person’s own agency, the viewer’s consumption, or a product of mass media artificiality.

Later Pop Artists and Influence

  • Roy Lichtenstein: Known for large paintings that mimic comic strips, complete with pixelated dots (Ben-Day dots) to simulate mechanical printing.
  • Keith Haring:
        * Started as a graffiti artist in New York subways; was frequently arrested before his work was accepted by major institutions.
        * His work used simple forms and bold lines, questioning geographical and technical boundaries of art.
        * He died of AIDS in the 1980s.
  • Jeff Koons: Known for sculptures of common, shiny objects (e.g., balloon animals) or celebrities (Michael Jackson and his monkey, Bubbles). His style is described as "Neo-Rococo"—lavish, gaudy, and intentionally chintzy/superficial.
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat: mentioned as a quasi-protege who hung out with Warhol.

Questions & Discussion

  • Question regarding The Party: The professor asked students to imagine the vibe of the party in Marisol's sculpture.
        * Student Response 1: The student expressed confusion, noting it felt like a "cocktail hour" because they are holding things (like cocktail glasses), but it also felt like they were in "boxes."
        * Student Response 2: The student stated they would not be having a good time, noting a "weird distance" and "separation" between figures. They mentioned the figures look like "wax figures" and that they seem "made and forced to be there."
        * Professor Response: The professor confirmed these observations, noting the "uncanny awkwardness" like a wax museum. The work reflects the artificial social interaction of the upper class—awkward chitchat as a social tool and the "dollhouse" nature of social standards.
  • Question regarding Warhol Labels: A student asked if Warhol would label his work to indicate which layers were mechanically painted versus hand-painted.
        * Professor Response: The professor stated he wasn't sure if Warhol would explicitly label those differences and promised to consult the resident Warhol expert to provide a definitive answer next time.