From Pollock to Pop Art: Postwar Art in America

Between 1945 and 1970, American artists transformed modern art. Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Lee Krasner introduced large, gestural paintings that redefined artistic expression. Their breakthroughs paved the way for Pop artists—Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and James Rosenquist—who turned consumer culture and mass media into bold imagery. Art historian Jennie Hirsh traces how these movements reshaped postwar American art and its lasting cultural impact. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)