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Pop Art

POP ART STYLE

Perhaps one of the most influential contemporary art movements, Pop art emerged in the 1950s. In stark contrast to traditional artistic practice, its practitioners drew on imagery from popular culture — comic books, advertising, product packaging and other commercial media — to create original Pop art paintings, prints and sculptures that celebrated ordinary life in the most literal way.

ORIGINS OF POP ART

CHARACTERISTICS OF POP ART 

  • Bold imagery
  • Bright, vivid colors
  • Straightforward concepts
  • Engagement with popular culture 
  • Incorporation of everyday objects from advertisements, cartoons, comic books and other popular mass media

POP ARTISTS TO KNOW

ORIGINAL POP ART ON 1STDIBS

The Pop art movement started in the United Kingdom as a reaction, both positive and critical, to the period’s consumerism. Its goal was to put popular culture on the same level as so-called high culture.

Richard Hamilton’s 1956 collage Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? is widely believed to have kickstarted this unconventional new style.

Pop art works are distinguished by their bold imagery, bright colors and seemingly commonplace subject matter. Practitioners sought to challenge the status quo, breaking with the perceived elitism of the previously dominant Abstract Expressionism and making statements about current events. Other key characteristics of Pop art include appropriation of imagery and techniques from popular and commercial culture; use of different media and formats; repetition in imagery and iconography; incorporation of mundane objects from advertisements, cartoons and other popular media; hard edges; and ironic and witty treatment of subject matter.

Although British artists launched the movement, they were soon overshadowed by their American counterparts. Pop art is perhaps most closely identified with American Pop artist Andy Warhol, whose clever appropriation of motifs and images helped to transform the artistic style into a lifestyle. Most of the best-known American artists associated with Pop art started in commercial art (Warhol made whimsical drawings as a hobby during his early years as a commercial illustrator), a background that helped them in merging high and popular culture.

Roy Lichtenstein was another prominent Pop artist that was active in the United States. Much like Warhol, Lichtenstein drew his subjects from print media, particularly comic strips, producing paintings and sculptures characterized by primary colors, bold outlines and halftone dots, elements appropriated from commercial printing. Recontextualizing a lowbrow image by importing it into a fine-art context was a trademark of his style. Neo-Pop artists like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami further blurred the line between art and popular culture.

Pop art rose to prominence largely through the work of a handful of men creating works that were unemotional and distanced — in other words, stereotypically masculine. However, there were many important female Pop artists, such as Rosalyn Drexler, whose significant contributions to the movement are recognized today. Best known for her work as a playwright and novelist, Drexler also created paintings and collages embodying Pop art themes and stylistic features.

Read more about the history of Pop art and the style’s famous artists, and browse the collection of original Pop art paintings, prints, photography and other works for sale on 1stDibs.

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Style: Pop Art
Luxury Spa Day in Tokyo - Colorful Figurative Acrylic Pop Artwork by Gary John
Luxury Spa Day in Tokyo - Colorful Figurative Acrylic Pop Artwork by Gary John

Luxury Spa Day in Tokyo - Colorful Figurative Acrylic Pop Artwork by Gary John

By Gary John

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles street artist Gary John exploded onto the international art scene first during Art Basel Miami in 2013. John’s playfully bold work quickly gained attention and he was nam...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Newsprint

Red Bottle Anthem - Original Abstract Quirky Ketchup Still Life Art by Gary John
Red Bottle Anthem - Original Abstract Quirky Ketchup Still Life Art by Gary John

Red Bottle Anthem - Original Abstract Quirky Ketchup Still Life Art by Gary John

By Gary John

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles street artist Gary John exploded onto the international art scene first during Art Basel Miami in 2013. John’s playfully bold work quickly gained attention and he was nam...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art

Materials

Acrylic, Illustration Board

Galaxy Lady, Peter Max
Galaxy Lady, Peter Max

Galaxy Lady, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Galaxy Lady Year: 1972 Edition: T.P.; 300, plus proofs Medium: Silkscreen on wove paper Size: 16 x 18.5 inches Condition: Good Inscription: Signed by ...

Category

1970s Pop Art

Materials

Screen

Flowerball (3D) Inside the Soul
Flowerball (3D) Inside the Soul

Flowerball (3D) Inside the Soul

By Takashi Murakami

Located in Östermalm, Stockholms län

The print is Diasec® framed. This mean the print is mounted between acrylic glass (UV-resistant) and a dibond (aluminum) backside, with an attached frame for easy hanging. Depth of t...

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Offset

Flower Lady, Peter Max
Flower Lady, Peter Max

Flower Lady, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Flower Lady Year: 1989 Edition: 6/150, plus proofs Medium: Silkscreen on Arches paper Size: 31.5 x 40.5 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signe...

Category

1980s Pop Art

Materials

Screen

Vibrant Pop Art Flower Original Simon Bull Floral Giclee Canvas Painting Edition
Vibrant Pop Art Flower Original Simon Bull Floral Giclee Canvas Painting Edition

Vibrant Pop Art Flower Original Simon Bull Floral Giclee Canvas Painting Edition

By Simon Bull

Located in Surfside, FL

Simon Bull, British (Born 1958) Hand Embellished Giclee on Canvas "Whisper" (white flower) Hand signed Lower Left, Numbered 283/350 on Obverse side. Measures 16" x 16" image, frame measures 24-1/8" x 24-1/8" Simon Bull (born in March 1958) is an English-born artist living in America. Early years and education. Simon Bull was born in Bedfordshire, England. The second of four children. His father, Ian Bull served as an officer in the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department of the British Army. Ian’s extensive military postings stationed the family around the world in Guyana, Hong Kong, Germany, and Northern Ireland. Simon went to boarding school in Yorkshire, attending Ripon Cathedral Choir School from 1965 to 1969 and in Surrey, at the Royal Russell School from 1969 to 1976. In 1976 he took a one-year Foundation course at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design and went on to graduate in 1980 from Leeds Polytechnic with a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art. He studied printmaking and Fine Art under Norman Webster and Norman Ackroyd RA. His time at Leeds was marked by his interest in and study of the masters, such as Henri Fantin-Latour, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, and Rembrandt; he wrote his dissertation on watercolorist John Sell Cotman. In his graduating year he exhibited his etching Jackie at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and his works were acquired by Leeds City Art Gallery. His art is currently represented exclusively, by his own company Simon Bull Studios of Carmel CA and MEUSE gallery on Carmel’s Ocean Avenue. Simon Bull Studios contracts with and supplies a network of fine art galleries around the world including Cutter & Cutter Fine Art, Park West Gallery and others. He has been represented in the UK by, London Contemporary Art and DeMontfort Fine Art; as well as in the USA with Media Arts Group. His worldwide licensing agent is Art Brands Group. In 2007 he was invited to create a series of paintings that celebrated the life of Muhammad Ali. Many of these works are now on permanent display in the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. He has spoken on behalf of the Muhammad Ali Center at the Vancouver Film Festival for the premiere of the movie Facing Ali. In 2009 he was commissioned to paint US President Barack Obama by boxing legend Muhammad Ali. His two joint portraits of Barack Obama and Muhammad Ali were unveiled at the Kentucky Bluegrass...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art

Materials

Canvas, Giclée

Flag with Heart on Blue, Peter Max

Flag with Heart on Blue, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Flag with Heart on Blue Year: 2002 Edition: 476/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 4.87 x 4.5 inches Condition: Excellen...

Category

Early 2000s Pop Art

Materials

Lithograph

Cosmic Jumper, Detail III, Peter Max

Cosmic Jumper, Detail III, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Cosmic Jumper, Detail III Year: 2002 Edition: 451/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 4.87 x 4.5 inches Condition: Excell...

Category

Early 2000s Pop Art

Materials

Lithograph

Geometric Profile & Sailboats, Peter Max
Geometric Profile & Sailboats, Peter Max

Geometric Profile & Sailboats, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Geometric Profile & Sailboats Year: 2001 Edition: 455/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 4.5 x 5.5 inches Condition: Exc...

Category

Early 2000s Pop Art

Materials

Lithograph

Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Ronald Darden
Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Ronald Darden

Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Ronald Darden

By Jack Mitchell

Located in Senoia, GA

11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Ronald Darden, photographed in New York City, 1975. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with a...

Category

1970s Pop Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Italian-American tenor & actor Sergio Franchi
Italian-American tenor & actor Sergio Franchi

Italian-American tenor & actor Sergio Franchi

By Jack Mitchell

Located in Senoia, GA

11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of Italian-American tenor/actor Sergio Franchi photographed for a feature article, 1973. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives wi...

Category

1970s Pop Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Still Life with Hans Maler Pop Art Serigraph Hand Signed
Still Life with Hans Maler Pop Art Serigraph Hand Signed

Still Life with Hans Maler Pop Art Serigraph Hand Signed

By Josef Levi

Located in Surfside, FL

On deckle edged watermarked Arches French paper. hand signed in pencil, dated and numbered. the edition size is 175. there are three states of the same image image each with increasing detail and color. This is just for the one in the photo. Josef Alan Levi (1938) is an American artist whose works range over a number of different styles, but which are unified by certain themes consistently present among them. Josef Levi began his artistic career in the 1960s and early '70s, producing highly abstract and very modernist pieces: these employing exotic materials such as light fixtures and metallic parts. By 1975, Levy had transitioned to painting and drawing still lifes. At first these were, traditionally, of mundane subjects. Later, he would depict images from art history, including figures originally created by the Old Masters. Around 1980, he made another important shift, this time toward creating highly precise, though subtly altered reproductions of pairs of female faces which were originally produced by other artists. It is perhaps this work for which he is most well known. Since around 2000, Josef Levi has changed the style of his work yet again: now he works entirely with computers, using digital techniques to abstract greatly from art history, and also from other sources. Levi's works of art in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, the National Gallery of Art, and the Albright-Knox Museum, among many others. Levi's art has been featured on the cover of Harper's Magazine twice, once in June 1987, and once in May 1997. Josef Levi received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 from the University of Connecticut, where he majored in fine arts and minored in literature. From 1959 to 1960, he served to a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and from 1960 through 1967 he was in the U.S. Army Reserves. In 1966, he received the Purchase Award from the University of Illinois in 1966, and he was featured in New Talent U.S.A. by Art in America. He was an artist in residence at Appalachian State University in 1969, taught at Farleigh Dickenson University in 1971 and was a visiting professor of art at Pennsylvania State University in 1977. From 1975 to 2007, Levi resided in New York City. He now lives in an apartment in Rome, where he is able to paint with natural light as he was unable in New York. From 1959 to 1960, Josef took some courses of Howard McParlin Davis and Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University which initiated him into the techniques of reproducing the works of the Old Masters. His first works, created in the 1960s, were wood and stone sculptures of women. His first mature works were abstract pieces, constructed of electric lights and steel. In 1970, Levi's materials included fluorescent light bulbs, Rust-Oleum and perforated metal in addition to paint and canvas. By 1980, Josef Levi's art had transformed into a very specific form: a combination of reproductions of female faces which were originally depicted by other artists. The faces which he reproduces may be derived from either portraits or from small portions of much larger works; they are taken from paintings of the Old Masters, Japanese ukiyo-e, and 20th-century art. Artists from whom he has borrowed include: Vermeer, Rembrandt, Piero della Francesca, Botero, Matisse, Utamaro, Correggio, Da Vinci, Picasso, Chuck Close, Max Beckmann, Pisanello, Lichtenstein. The creation of these works is informed by Levi's knowledge and study of art history. Josef Levi's paintings from this period are drawn, then painted on fine linen canvas on wooden stretchers. The canvas is coated with twenty-five layers of gesso in order to produce a smooth surface on which to work. The drawing phase takes at least one month. Levi seals the drawing with acrylic varnish, and then he may apply layers of transparent acrylic in order to approximate the look of old paintings. After the last paint is applied, another layer of acrylic varnish is sprayed on to protect the work. Most of the figures in his contemporary pieces are not paired with any others. SELECTED COLLECTIONS MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, NY ALBRIGHT- KNOX GALLERY, BUFFALO, NY ALDRICH MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, RIDGEFIELD, CT NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, BROOKLYN, NY SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, WASHINGTON, DC CORCORAN GALLERY, WASHINGTON, DC UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME ART...

Category

1970s Pop Art

Materials

Lithograph, Screen

“The Missing Suitors” by SHAG aka Josh Agle
“The Missing Suitors” by SHAG aka Josh Agle

“The Missing Suitors” by SHAG aka Josh Agle

By Josh Agle

Located in Hudson, NY

The Missing Suitors is a limited edition 13 color hand-pulled Serigraph by artist Josh Agle aka SHAG. Hand signed and numbered 214/300 by the artist. Comes with a Certificate of authenticity (C.O.A.). Shag is an American born painter, designer and illustrator working in Southern California. His distinctive artistic style draws from commercial illustration and has an attitude and sly sense of humor which is unmistakably of our time. His paintings celebrate consumerism and consumption on vividly colored sharply rendered panels; the characters drink, smoke and eat in lavish, stylish surroundings. Shag's work is categorized as lowbrow art...

Category

Early 2000s Pop Art

Materials

Screen

I Dream Of You
I Dream Of You

I Dream Of You

By John Randall Nelson

Located in Los Angeles, CA

John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconsciou...

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel

Big Daddy
Big Daddy

Big Daddy

By Keith Carrington

Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL

Big Daddy Ink on archival paper White frame under plexiglass. Keith Carrington’s experiences have led him to express his talents through the fluid & exactin...

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Flying Doves, Peter Max

Flying Doves, Peter Max

By Peter Max

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Flying Doves Year: 2002 Edition: 451/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 4.87 x 4.5 inches Condition: Excellent Inscripti...

Category

Early 2000s Pop Art

Materials

Lithograph

POP SHOP II (1)

POP SHOP II (1)

By Keith Haring

Located in Aventura, FL

Hand signed, numbered, and dated by Keith Haring. Screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, Image size 10.5 x 13.375 inches.. Sheet size 12 x 15 inches. Littmann p. ...

Category

1980s Pop Art

Materials

Paper, Screen

Bookish Magic
Bookish Magic

Bookish Magic

Located in Zofingen, AG

This painting is about the quiet magic of stories. A girl traveling from Orwell to The Little Prince without ever leaving her book throne. Books change us!

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The dreamer's home
The dreamer's home

The dreamer's home

Located in Edinburgh, GB

The painting is permeated with memories of childhood and early dawns, the smell of grass, earth, sunlight, long walks and fresh coffee. A story about how to be free, light, brave. Be...

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

R2D2 Red Cars Resin Sculpture Pop Art Star Wars
R2D2 Red Cars Resin Sculpture Pop Art Star Wars

R2D2 Red Cars Resin Sculpture Pop Art Star Wars

By Alben

Located in New York, NY

Cheeky references to pop culture and the societal context. Grounded in a postmodern vernacular, Alben’s paintings and sculptures are a pastiche of art historical moments including ...

Category

2010s Pop Art

Materials

Epoxy Resin, Mixed Media

Pop Art art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Pop art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, red, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Jack Mitchell, Andy Warhol, Peter Max, and Heidler & Heeps. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Pop Art, so small editions measuring 0.4 inches across are also available.