Two Different Art Periods, Pop Art And Harlem Renaissance, And Their Differences

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc379618436 h 1Pop art period PAGEREF _Toc379618437 h 1Harlem renaissance art period PAGEREF _Toc379618438 h 2Comparison between Harlem Renaissance art and pop art PAGEREF _Toc379618439 h 4Historical significance of Harlem Renaissance PAGEREF _Toc379618440 h 4Chris, B.(20016).Harlem Renaissance. Issues & controversies in American History. Retrieved July 3, 2013 from http://www.ndhs.org/s/1012/images/editor_documents/library/harlem_renaissance.pdf PAGEREF _Toc379618441 h 5Seneca, P.R. (2010). The Harlem Renaissance’s Effect on Modern Culture. Retrieved July 3, 2013 from http://teenink.com/nonfiction/travel_culture/article/27043/The-Harlem-Renaissances-Effect-on-Modern-Culture/ PAGEREF _Toc379618442 h 5

IntroductionSince the human race began, human beings have made attempts to demonstrate how they feel about life, religion and other topics through artwork creations. This has been achieved through paintings, architecture, and sculpture or cave drawings. this artwork has acted like a time capsule and has made it possible for people to see the views artists had on the world during their time.as technology and time progressed there was also progression in the world of art. The art of Europe comprises visual art history in Europe. Art history has been classified into time period on the basis of the techniques used and the common trends. European art has been organized into different stylistic periods which overlap each other historically as the different styles emerged in the different areas. These periods can be broadly named as classical, Middle ages, Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post impressionism, Cubism, Dadaism, Geometric abstraction, pop art ,Surrealism , and Harlem renaissance

The paper will focus on two different art periods; Pop Art and Harlem Renaissance.it will look at the relationship between these two art periods .the discussion will be mainly on how one period continued or revived the style and characteristics of the other period or how one period originated in reaction to the other period.

Pop art periodPop art was a movement that started in the mid 1950 in Britain while in the United States it began in the late 1950s.pop art had some major characteristics which distinguished it from the other periods. This art is first of all realistic and figurative something that had not been seen since realism began. Artists who created pop art in America claimed that pop art looks out into the outside world. Pop art was created in London and New York and the world which it looks out on is thus a very special world of mid 20th century metropolis which was a great period. Pop art has its roots in the urban environments. Pop art also looks at special aspects that are found in the environments these aspects due to their association and level from a cultural perspective initially had seemed impossible art subjects. These include comics, advertisements, picture magazines and other packaging of all kinds such as world of entertainment which was popular which includes pop music, Hollywood movies, amusement arcades, automobiles, tabloid newspapers and so on. Po art was therefore basically imagery that could be recognized which was drawn from popular products and media. It comprised of colors which were very bright. Another characteristic of pop art is the fact that pop artists normally deal with the subject matter in a very special way. On one hand they emphasize on the fact that the comic strip is just a mere motif that they use as an excuse for their painting. While on the other hand in pop art motif is not traditional, it is of a kind that had not been used initially as an art basis and thus led to a strong engagement of the attention of spectators.

Pop art emerged as a sense of optimism during the post war period.it was influenced by the globalization of youth culture as well as pop music. It came up as a way of celebrating post world war tow consumerism as well as expressing rejection to abstract expression. Pop actually means popular culture which was the subject matter in these works. Pop art was basically young and fun and considered to be hostile to artistic establishment.

Harlem renaissance art period

The Harlem renaissance is a cultural movement that began in the 1920s.it was initially known as new Negro movement .even though it was mainly centered in Harlem neighborhood within New York City, French speaking black writers from Caribbean and African colonies based in Paris also got influenced by Harlem renaissance. There were several characteristics of Harlem renaissance and they include racial pride.in all theatre, political writings, music, art and literature which was produced during this period comprised of pride for African Americans as well as the new Negro. Those involved in the art movement ensured that they produced pieces which were though provoking which they created as a challenge and way of uplifting the African American race (Chris, 2006).

During this period there was also an outpouring of creativity by the artists in all fields like literature, visual arts, music, poetry and dance which was a representation of African Americans and even gave them a voice. There was also intellectualism in this art period. Harlem renaissance was seen as a spiritual emancipation for African Americans as well as an opportunity of reshaping African American heritage as being intellectually equal to whites. This intellectual thought was aimed at acting as a challenge to stereotypes of African Americans and at the same time develops greater appreciation for folk culture and roots as well as the past spiritualism.

Several factors had led to the emergence of Harlem Renaissance including the 13th amendment which saw slavery being abolished, ,14th amendment that comprised of citizens rights and 15th amendment whereby one could not be denied their right to vote on the basis of their race. Another factor was the great migration since even after amendments in the constitution were made African Americans were still facing some racial hardships and brutality, due to these the African American families moved from the south to cities in the northern region. First World War was also another factor which led to this art period since the U.S army was initially reluctant to enlisting African Americans (Chris, 2006).

Comparison between Harlem Renaissance art and pop artHarlem renaissance was termed as Avant garden during this period of time. Most artists depicted night life as well as the everyday life in Harlem. There were also attempts to separate Harlem renaissance from what white Americans accepted as art up until that period. Most of the artists made statements about racism, slavery and great migration. They were making attempts to bring forth their emotions as they wanted whoever viewed their painting to feel what the artists felt. This movement was marked by extreme attempts by artists to publicize their work despite of the existence of racism. Just like the Harlem Renaissance art, pop art movement was a platform used to express the African American culture and social thought. Pop artists expressed their optimism after going through much hardships in a visual language which was youthful which is through the magazines, news paper photographs, and fictional characters in comic books while Harlem Renaissance was an expression of ideas the blacks (Chris, 2006).

When it comes to dance Harlem renaissance can be described as displaying physically Harlem culture. There was the creation of new dance moves by blacks which was to go together with Harlem Renaissance .the music expressed sadness, anger, frustrations, joy and many other things. Pop art gave rise to the pop culture and music. The pop music became popular and there were dance moves such as break dancing that came up.

Historical significance of Harlem RenaissanceSince the mergence of Harlem renaissance anybody could become an artist. This period had a great influence on artists since they saw that they could easily express their thoughts through artwork. Pop artists therefore got their inspiration from this movement as they used art to recognize the pervasive presence of material culture as a natural fact. This is because Harlem renaissance had made abstract expression gain a lot of popularity .Therefore pop art reintroduced imagery which could be identified just as those in Harlem Renaissance which was a major shift towards modernism (Seneca, 2010).

References

Chris, B.(20016).Harlem Renaissance. Issues & controversies in American History. Retrieved July 3, 2013 from http://www.ndhs.org/s/1012/images/editor_documents/library/harlem_renaissance.pdfSeneca, P.R. (2010). The Harlem Renaissance’s Effect on Modern Culture. Retrieved July 3, 2013 from http://teenink.com/nonfiction/travel_culture/article/27043/The-Harlem-Renaissances-Effect-on-Modern-Culture/