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.

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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)

_____________________ 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)