Pop Art and Design

This book offers the first in-depth analysis of the relationship between art and design, which led to the creation of 'pop'. Challenging accepted boundaries and definitions, the authors seek out various commonalities and points of connection between these two exciting areas.

Confronting the all-pervasive 'high art / low culture' divide, Pop Art and Design brings a fresh understanding of visual culture during the vibrant 1950's and 60's. This was an era when commercial art became graphic design, illustration was superseded by photography and high fashion became street fashion, all against the backdrop of a rapidly-evolving economic and political landscape, a glamorous youth scene and an effervescent popular culture. The book's central argument is that pop art relied on and drew inspiration from pop design, and vice versa. Massey and Seago assert that this relationship was articulated through the artwork, design, publications and exhibitions of a network of key practitioners. Pop Art and Design provides a case study in the broader inter-relationship between art and design, and constitutes the first interdisciplinary publication on the subject.

Anne Massey is a Professor of Design at Middlesex University, UK. She is the founding editor of the journal Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture.

Alex Seago is dean of the School of Communications, Arts and Social Sciences at The American International University, London, UK, and former lecturer in cultural History at the Royal College of Art, UK.

Introduction - Anne Massey & Alex Seago

Section 1 – Creating Pop: Origins Anne Massey
1. By accident or design? Barbara Jones and the leap from Popular to Pop - Catherine Moriarty
2. Programming Pop Art and Design - Anne Massey
3. Industrial Design, Aesthetic and Popular Art - Claudia Marfella

Section 2: Creating Pop: Practice Anne Massey
1. Edward Wright and Lawrence Alloway: 'Art for the symbol-happy tribe.' - Ann Pillar
2. ARK Magazine : the Royal College of Art and early British Art School Pop - Alex Seago
3. Pauline Boty Pop Artist/Pop Person - Sue Tate
4. Richard Hamilton: A Dedicated Follower of Fashion - Alistair O'Neill
5. This is Tomorrow - Rick Poynor

Section 3: Curating Pop - Anne Massey
1. Pop – the Dissolution of Art & Design - Mathias Schwartz-Clauss
2. Curating Pop Art Design - Catherine Ince & Sophie Persson