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The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the Sixties and Pop! The Permanent Collection

 

The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami will present two exhibitions February 10 though April 2, 2000 featuring artwork by some of the world's most prominent Pop artists from the 1960s.

"The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the Sixties" highlights more than 100 pop objects created by artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Allan D'Arcangelo, Jim Dine, Robert Indiana,, and Jasper Johns.

In the Sixties, Pop art multiples were modestly priced accoutrements of the lifestyle of many young adults that was equally hip to Happenings, Courreges boots, and Warhol film parties. The mood was upbeat and so were the object's. The pop art multiples were often served utilitarian purposes as well. Claes Oldenburg's cake was the cake at a friend's wedding. Dinner arrived on Roy Lichenstein's dishes. Andy Warhol placed his signature Campbell's Soup Can on a shopping bag. These pop artists set the stage for later artists who would design everything from dinnerware and carpets to Swatch watches and table lamps. (right: Andy Warhol, Brillo, 1964, oil and stencil on wood, 17 x 17 x 14 inches, ©1999 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Now 30 years after its pinnacle, there is an entire generation that has little familiarity with these objects that heralded a new attitude toward the inherent originality of limited and unlimited editions. The Great American Pop Art Store re-examines an art form that profoundly influenced America's attitude toward the nature of art today. (left: Edward Ruscha reclining under some of his publications, 1970)

The second exhibition, "Pop! The Permanent Collection" features sculptures, paintings and works on paper selected from the Lowe's own collection. This exhibition was specially designed to complement The Great American Pop Art Store show.

The history of collecting Pop art at the Lowe dates to the 1960s, the decade that full-blown Pop set the art world on its ear. Since that time a succession of Lowe directors have evidenced enthusiasm for and commitment to one of the most important post-World War II art movements, by expanding the Lowe's Pop holdings and organizing exciting exhibitions by important Pop masters. (left: Jasper Johns handpainting Bread at Gemini G. E. L., 1969)

The Lowe was in Miami's visual arts vanguard throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s, presenting this region's first one-man exhibitions of Pop superstars Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, George Segal, and Larry Rivers, and Red Grooms all of whom visited the Lowe.

During the 90s, the Lowe rotated its Pop holdings within broader thematic contexts drawn from the permanent collection, such as photography, printmaking, history, and narrative. Most recently, Roy Lichtenstein's stellar Modular Painting in Four Panels, no. 5, a gift from the Jay I. Kislak Mortgage Corporation, was installed permanently in the Lowe's Tobin Galleries.

For almost forty years the Lowe has also attracted visionary collectors, some of whom, recognizing the museum's unique position as Miami-Dade County's first and pre-eminent art collecting institution, have enthusiastically responded to its institutional goals by making significant donations of Pop art to the permanent collection.

 

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Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami in Resource Library Magazine.

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

rev. 12/27/10

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