# Pop Art Graphics

> Pop turned the commercial imagery of post-war consumer culture (comics, packaging, celebrity photographs and advertising) into both its subject and its method. Images are appropriated, enlarged, flattened and repeated; colour is bright and unmodulated; and the printing process itself, from Ben-Day dots to off-register silkscreen, is left visible as a sign of mass production.

- Period: 1955–1975
- Where: North America, Western Europe
- Origin: London (Independent Group) and New York
- Branch: Counterculture
- Also known as: Pop, British Pop, American Pop Art
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-art/

## How it works

- Appropriate imagery from comics, packaging, advertising and press photographs rather than inventing it.
- Enlarge the mechanics of reproduction until Ben-Day dots, halftone screens and heavy outlines become the style.
- Fill shapes with flat, saturated primaries bounded by bold black contours.
- Repeat a single image in a serial grid, varying only its colour or registration.
- Isolate an everyday object or celebrity face as an icon on a plain field.
- Treat lettering as a found sign: comic sound effects, brand names and slogans at billboard scale.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Primary triad](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/primary-triad/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (occasional)
- [Fluorescent & neon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/fluorescent-and-neon/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (defining)
- [Hard offset shadow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/) (characteristic)
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (characteristic)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)
- [Treated photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/treated-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (defining)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Ironic & self-aware](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ironic-and-self-aware/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (occasional)

Avoids: Non-representational, Painterly brushwork, Earth & mineral, Floral & vegetal, Brush & pen calligraphy, Calm & contemplative, Spiritual & sacred

Palette: #e10600, #ffd400, #0057b8, #111111, #fbf8f0, #ff5fa2

Typefaces: Comic-book hand lettering, Franklin Gothic, Cooper Black, Brass-stencil commercial lettering (Robert Indiana)

Known for: Richard Hamilton (Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, 1956); Eduardo Paolozzi (Bunk! collages); Andy Warhol (Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962; Marilyn Diptych, 1962); Roy Lichtenstein (Whaam!, 1963); Robert Indiana (LOVE, 1964–66); Peter Blake & Jann Haworth (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sleeve, 1967); Corita Kent (serigraphs)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Dada](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dada.md) (1916–1924)
- Influenced by: [American Mid-Century Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/american-modernism.md) (1940–1970)
- Influenced by: [American Four-Colour Comic Book (Golden to Bronze Age)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/american-comic-book.md) (1934–1993)
- Led to: [Tropicália Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/tropicalia-graphics.md) (1964–1975)
- Led to: [Angura Theatre Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/angura-poster.md) (1965–1985)
- Led to: [Pop Achorado (Peruvian Agrarian Reform Posters)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-achorado.md) (1969–1975)
- Led to: [Memphis Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/memphis.md) (1981–1988)
- Led to: [Superflat](https://stylogeny.com/styles/superflat.md) (1993–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Chicano Screenprint Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chicano-poster.md) (1965–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster.md) (1960–1990), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Indian Pop-Kitsch Design (Desi Kitsch)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/indian-kitsch.md) (1997–present), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Black Panther Party Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/black-panther-graphics.md) (1967–1980), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Australian Poster Collective Screenprints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/australian-poster-collectives.md) (1971–1994), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/screenprint-gig-poster.md) (1991–present), 52% alike

## Real works

- [Shipboard Girl](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1034308/): Roy Lichtenstein (published by Leo Castelli; printed by Graphic Industries, Inc.), 1965, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (CIRC.649-1967)
- [Crak! Now, Mes Petits... Pour La France! (exhibition poster, Leo Castelli Gallery)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74122/): Roy Lichtenstein, 1963, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.229-1985)
- [Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), from the portfolio of ten screenprints](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72303/): Andy Warhol (published by Factory Additions; printed by Aetna Silkscreen Products), 1967, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (CIRC.121-1968)
- [This Is Tomorrow (exhibition poster, Whitechapel Art Gallery)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75267/): Richard Hamilton, 1956, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.176-1994)
- [Real Gold (from the Bunk! collages)](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/paolozzi-real-gold-t01460): Eduardo Paolozzi, 1950, Tate, London (T01460)

## Sources

- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design
- Lucy R. Lippard, Pop Art (Thames & Hudson, 1966)
- https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/pop-art

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Pop Art Graphics”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-art/