Campbell's Soup Cans is the title of a work of art produced in 1962 by
Andy Warhol (pictured). It consists of thirty-two canvases, each
measuring 20 inches in height x 16 inches in width (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each
of the canned soup varieties the company offered at the time. The
individual paintings were produced with a semi-mechanised silkscreen
process, using a non-painterly style. Campbell's Soup Cans' reliance
on themes from popular culture helped to usher in pop art as a major
art movement. For Warhol, a commercial illustrator who became a
successful author, painter and film director, the work was his first
one-man gallery exhibition as a fine artist. This exhibition marked
the West Coast debut of pop art. The combination of the
semi-mechanized process, the non-painterly style, and the commercial
subject initially caused offense, as the work's blatantly mundane
commercialism represented a direct affront to the technique and
philosophy of abstract expressionism. The public commotion helped
transition Warhol from being an accomplished 1950s commercial
illustrator to a notable fine artist, and it helped distinguish him
from other rising pop artists.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%27s_Soup_Cans
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1503:
Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to visit
the Cayman Islands.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands)
1857:
The Sepoy Rebellion broke out in colonial India, threatening the rule
of the British East India Company.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857)
1869:
The First Transcontinental Railroad of North America was completed
with a golden spike ceremony.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad)
1924:
J. Edgar Hoover became director of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover)
1940:
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom resigned and
formally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain)
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who
think. -- Jean de La Bruyère
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Bruy%C3%A8re)