Contextualise This!-1950’s and 1700s’s

Lyndsey Makrigannis

Fashion and Clothing Technology Level 3

1950’s Pop Art

What was happening in the 1950’s?

Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were the main leaders in the pop art movement.

Elvis was the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

The cold war developed in the 1940’s and clashes were present in the 1950’s between the US and the Soviet Union over communism and capitalism and later started in the early 1960’s.

Elizabeth the 2nd became queen after her father died in 1952.

The Korean war took place.

The 2nd World War was over and nobody needed to ration.

Views were very traditional; men went to work and women were to be the perfect housewife with all the chores done and well groomed before her husband come home.

Even though slave trade was abolished in the 1800’s racial segregation was present in the 1950’s.

And what did this change?

*Rationing was over and designers could use as much fabric as they wanted such as Christian Dior designed skirts of which he used metres upon metres of tulle.

*Through each decade; including present day views have always been traditional, even though women had rights and men would still have traditional views on what women should be like which causes a lot of conflict as women feel they’re still living in a mans world. Views are a lot more modern nowadays but conflict still arrives.

*Pop art is still popular nowadays and has an still inspiring many individuals over the years.

* Pop art was also used as a way to advertise as it was all about consumerism and turning everyday objects into bold bright pieces and making people see them like they’re new again in a whole new light, they ‘pop’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ek3eCbfqp0

The Tennessee Waltz - singer Patti Page 1950

Her biggest hit was "The Tennessee Waltz", which was also released in 1950. "The Tennessee Waltz" was #1 for thirteen weeks in 1950 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Page

How to be a Pop Art

artist?

Step one; Pick an everyday object or celebrity. Step two; Draw or create your object or celebrity using primary and/or secondary colours of your choice. Tips; You can also use large dots all over your work like Roy Lichtenstein.

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg was a American graphic artist and painter. Robert was popular and most famous for using non-traditional materials and objects were used to create combinations. He was a sculptor and a painter and the combines are a mixture of both he has also dwindled in printmaking, photography, paper making and performance.

Even though he was in awe of the Abstract Expressionist artists he disagreed with some of their principles. His early work inspired artists to be free with their work and that anything is possible something they could not find in Abstract Expressionist work. He saw beauty in everyday objects and put life into them even though other people would consider them as just rubbish that they would throw away. He made everyday objects art and leading the way for conceptual and the pop art movement.

Examples of his work.

"Robert Rauschenberg: Combines" in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNslYldmNts)

This video backs up my opinion of everything I have said about Robert

Rauschenberg.

Roy Lichtenstein was a leading figure in the pop art movement, his work was of comic book style, bright colours, Ben-Day dots and easily recognisable. His work was influenced by comic books and advertising. His work was based on consumerism and homemaking.

His work was tongue-in-cheek humour, he would copy of Disney characters and comic images but all within his perception so it wasn’t an exact copy in portrayed his mood he was having at the time of painting but he got a lot of back lash for this over copyright reasons. His most famous pop art painting was ‘Whaam!’.

‘He described pop art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting”’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lichtenstein

Examples of his work.

‘Roy Lichtenstein: the art and the artist’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1s-nAijk_g

This video backs up my opinion of everything I have said about Roy

Lichenstein..

Many designers are inspired by the Pop art movement for it’s bright, bold colours and ben-day dots. such as;

•Madonna,

•DKNY,

•Pepsi,

•Vogue,

•Vivienne Tam

•and there are also lots of pop art inspired clothing at the moment.

What did other people think about Pop Art? ‘A tin of soup, for example, (Andy Warhol) is

just a tin of soup when we see it in the kitchen but when it is seen as an isolated

object with a plain background and with no food connotations surrounding it, we will see it differently. We will see the packaging, the colors of the tin, the shape, the writing and

the overall style. The tin stops being our lunch and becomes art.’

-Anonymous http://www.blurtit.com/q3799810.html

I agree with the opinion because I believe pop art was all about making new of something old and this is a really good statement that would make everyone understand it as it’s very clear.

1700’s Baroque

Baroque art movement was the post popular movement in Europe 1700’s.

17th Century Inventor - Blaise Pascal. The science of chemistry

developed from medieval alchemy, and the 17th century science of astronomy evolved from astrology.

The use of arithmetic on paper led to the invention of decimals and calculus.

In the middle of the 17th century stagecoaches could be used to travel anywhere however they were very dangerous.

HMS Victory launched in 1765 it was famous for Lord Nelson's flagship at The Battle of Trafalgar.

Sack Back dresses were very popular.

Hips were exaggerated to make waists appear smaller.

Battle of Naseby was the first battle of the civil war.

And what did this change? Fashion was very important in the 1700’s such as it is nowadays but because of the many wars the majority were very poor so they would need to buy clothes off markets or make their own but this didn’t mean they always had money to. Because of this the rich influenced the culture, fashion and encouraged the baroque art movement much more because they were constantly after portraits and would pay a lot of money. The use of arithmetic on paper led to the invention of decimals and calculus, and by doing so it changed Maths forever as we still use it today . The science of chemistry developed from medieval alchemy, and the 17th century science of astronomy evolved from astrology. This was a huge discovery for 18th century science . Even though stagecoaches were very dangerous they were a enormous part in the invention of modern day transport.

Baroque Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vmk0TeyQkg

The birth of baroque was in Rome, Italy in 1600 and spread to the rest of Europe. The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The Baroque art style was invigorated by the Roman Catholic church, the art is all about the link between religion and emotional involvement. Baroque palaces are opulent places with reception rooms, grand staircases and built around an entrance of courts.

Baroque Style evolved from the classic forms of the Renaissance, but it differs by new details and trends: colossal buildings as proportions with dramatic appearance, pompous facades with gables modified in various means, double towers, tall and unsafely domes, annex buildings with beautiful ornaments, windows with irregular forms.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Kosmas Damian Asam

Bartolomeo Cavaceppi

Antoine Coypel

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Carlo Maratti

Wikipedia and http://www.pixel77.com/the-influence-of-art-history-on-modern-design-%E2%80%93-baroque-style/

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter who painted portraits of people made of object such as people, fruit, flowers, vegetables, books and fish. (http://www.giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/)

Arcimboldo's conventional work, on traditional religious subjects, has fallen into oblivion, but his portraits of human heads made up of vegetables, plants, fruits, sea creatures and tree roots were greatly admired by his contemporaries and remain a source of fascination today.

Examples of his work.

‘Painter Arcimboldo and His

Unique Style of Portraiture’

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLqwBf_tzWk)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Piranesi

Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and Prisons. He was also a designer and designed bizarre furniture.

His large prints depicting the buildings of classical and postclassical Rome and its vicinity contributed considerably to Rome's fame and to the growth of classical archaeology and to the Neoclassical movement in art. His unparalleled accuracy of depiction, his personal expression of the structures' dramatic and romantic grandeur, and his technical mastery made these prints some of the most original and impressive representations of architecture to be found in Western art. (http://www.all-art.org/history294-3.html)

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgw6vtcbprw

Examples of his work.

Designers are still inspired by the Baroque art movement today so you can seen it in architecture, painting styles , furniture and fashion today.

What did other people think of 1700’s Baroque?

‘…On the other side of the social spectrum, the upper classes who loved to show off their great wealth saw the ostentatious styles of Baroque art and architecture as another means for the

public to measure their success.’ http://www.artapprenticeonline.com/artstudies/apprentart/edacarthistory/eda

cclhistbar.html

I agree with this opinion because I feel not many poor people were displayed in Baroque art it was all about the rich showing off their wealth, its almost like everyone else was invisible if they were not rich.

Pop art photo experiments;

My range of photo experiments show what I believe to be a good range of artistic, creative and imaginative experiments. I wanted to

capture someone in a normal shopping environment holding shopping bags which was a reflection of consumerism which is what pop art was inspired by. I also wanted to have a girl inspired by the

ever so popular pin-up 1950’s woman. We tried out different lightings such as open wide well lighted places, more common

lighting and darker lighting to try find what we wanted.

Pop Art Experiments ;

Further developments…

I also had input into my partners work, such as we both decided it was a good idea to use the bottles I brought in, in my hair as its inspired by consumerism and home making such as the perfect wife who always wore full make up and had perfect hair ,which is what the influence for pop art was when the movement was started.

Baroque photo experiments;

Our baroque photoshoots were showing scenes we found in baroque

art styles, such as; death, pain and sorrow. We tried out various locations and wanted to stick to mostly darker

places, with some sun cracking through and churches, wood and hard

floor areas to capture baroque-est atmosphere.

Baroque photo experiments;

Further developments…

Fruit images inspired by

Showing also sorrow, hope and death. I got inspiration also from a Lana Del Rey photoshoot with the blood trickles down her mouth because of the thorns. I have also give her dark eyes so it looks like from the first picture to the last she is slowly warring down and slowly falls to death.

I think my image is a good combination of my eras; 1700’s baroque and 1950’s pop art. I used a 1700’s background with a bright pop art-like effect. I have included bottles used in her hair like rollers big bold ben-day dotted pop art lips, the pop art cardboard dress from one of our test shots and baroque make up. And quiff.

My final design has a lot of 1950’s and 1700’s details in it such the 1700’s gathered lace and the end of sleeves, lace trim, corset detail back and baroque style fabric. The 1950’s details would be the peplum, collar, tie waist and they both have fitted styles to cinch in the waist which I've incorporated and I have used dark baroque colours.

This project has been interesting, and I think it helps working with the past because the basis for ideas are already there because they’ve already happened. I chose the 1950’s and 1700’s because I was inspired by their clothing and lifestyle. I think I have done well in this project because I have provided a lot of primary and secondary research and lots of well thought out ideas. I found it quite hard at times to find a lot of information for 1700’s because it was so long ago but there was a lot of fashion available luckily. I found it easy to put this power point together even though this took a long time. I think this project was a bit more difficult then all the others because we had to do different things such as we’ve never done a power point or photo experiments in design so it was strange to get your head around because we were used to similar briefs. I did enjoy doing the photo shoots because it was fun to try out the different moods because I understood my era’s art movements better. It was also difficult to design a lot of jackets because ideas were limited because you were only supposed to interpret the past. However I enjoyed this project and it was good to be able to do something a bit different.

Final Evaluation