Pop Art: The Test of the Object

After the Second World War came the birth of the consumer society. The American way of life, with its emphasis on growth, quantity, consumption and fun, dominated western values. But underneath, many of the same old dark forces raged on: war - Berlin, Korea, Vietnam; racial unrest; the political intolerance of the early 1950s. Among the young, new values awoke, and protest movements sprang up. While existing abstract painting in America - notably Jackson Pollock's …

…track - for many, its real birthplace was England, where, even more than in California, the most prominent art form was always music. Richard Hamilton also took images from the everyday world, but never abandoned his sensitivity as a painter; nor, in a later period, does David Hockney. In England, Pop Art was never without its personal touch. The film also features the work of Klein, Tinguely, Cesar, Christo, Spoeri, Arman, Raysse and many others.