This Day in Pop: Pop Art and the American Tradition

In conjunction with the exhibition International Pop we’re presenting a regular feature that will highlight events in Pop art history. Look forward to curated posts featuring archival images, exhibition installation views, excerpts from catalogs, artist ephemera, and behind the scenes stories.

On April 9, 1965 the Milwaukee Art Center opened Pop art and the American tradition, a month-long exhibition that contextualized artists such as  Rosalyn Drexler, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, and Ed Ruscha within the history of “American artists’ interest in the common and the banal.” Eighty-six artists were included in the exhibition, which also featured late 19th- and early 20th-century painters including Paul Cadmus, Marsden Hartley, and Reginald Marsh. Although the exhibition focused exclusively on American art, the curatorial premise of Pop having an ancestry in sign painting, commercial art, and Dada correlates with contemporary perspectives on international influences on Pop artists.

Also this week:

• On April 4, 1966 the Walker opened the first U.S. exhibition of the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto.  This short film shows footage of Michelangelo Pistoletto: Reflected World, which was curated by former Walker Art Center Director Martin Friedman.
• On April 6, 1967 Nova Objetividade Brasiliera (New Brazilian Objectivity) opened at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. The exhibition featured artists including Lygia Pape, Nelson Leirner, Rubens Gerchman, Lygia Clark, and Hélio Oiticica. Oiticica’s contribution, the environment Tropicália, was particularly influential and gave its name to the emerging Tropicalia movement.