‘I Was a Rich Man’s Plaything’: Pop Art in Britain

Clear online lecture from the London Art History Society looking at British Pop Art.

Ben Street guided us clearly through the British Pop Art movement and how it differed from its American counterpart. He started by looking at the definition of Pop Art as laid out in a 1957 letter by Richard Hamilton. He also looked at how art before this in this country had been quite sombre and austere.

He told us about the 1956 Whitechapel Gallery exhibition “This is Tomorrow” which included art, architecture, fashion and more and then led us through some of the main British Pop Art works often comparing it with American pieces. He looked in particular at work by two women in the movement, Pauline Boty and Jann Haworth.

He concluded that British Pop Art had more of a sense of the hand crafted whereas America looked to the mass and mechanically produced.