pop art

American  

Or Pop Art

noun

1. an art movement that began in the U.S. in the 1950s and reached its peak of activity in the 1960s, chose as its subject matter the anonymous, everyday, standardized, and banal iconography in American life, as comic strips, billboards, commercial products, and celebrity images, and dealt with them typically in such forms as outsize commercially smooth paintings, mechanically reproduced silkscreens, large-scale facsimiles, and soft sculptures.

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pop art British  

noun

1. a movement in modern art that imitates the methods, styles, and themes of popular culture and mass media, such as comic strips, advertising, and science fiction

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pop art Cultural  

1. Art that uses elements of popular culture, such as magazines, movies, popular music, and even bottles and cans. (See also Andy Warhol.)

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Other Word Forms

• pop artist noun

Etymology

Origin of pop art

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

It operates at the intersections of pop art and high-ish art, of the sacred and profane, of radicalism and die-hardism.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2025

Charlotte is always tightly seamed and belted, while Lisa, a filmmaker, wears bright colors and straddles the line between adventurous pop art flair and polished affluence.

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2025

From abstract expressionism to pop art, the collection at the museum serves as a time capsule of pivotal artistic movements.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025

“I hope it’ll raise up Seattle University,” he said, sitting in his living room near a massive, collagelike painting by pop art icon Roy Lichtenstein and a lithe, limestone Max Ernst statue.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2024

It’s remarkable work, blending pop art techniques, classical Persian painting, illustration and a bold vision for criticizing not just the Shah but all kinds of ideologies.

From New York Times • Mar. 5, 2024