Alastair Sooke

pop-art

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A Second Life

Henri Matisse

How Modern Art Was Saved by Donald Duck

Roy Lichtenstein

Pop Art

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A clear and lively outline of the history of pop art ... full of interesting facts and anecdotes that make the book (unlike so much art criticism) ... a pleasure to read.

Sooke is an immensely engaging character. He has none of the weighty self-regard that often afflicts art experts and critics; rather he approaches his subjects with a questioning, open, exploratory attitude

As befits its title, Alastair Sooke's introduction to pop art is a colourful little book that should appeal to aficionados and casual admirers alike ... a well-researched and authoritative introduction to the movement ... a hugely engaging read.

A great introduction to what reveals itself to be a shifting and elusive 'movement'

A brilliant account . . . So poetically precise in its evocations of the cut-outs . . . so tender in its sympathy

Peter Conrad on 'Henri Matisse: A Second Life'

A Colourful History

Pop Art is the most important 20th-century art movement. A shift from the archetype to the stereotype, from the exalted to the everyday, it brought Modernism to the masses, making art sexy and fun with Coke cans and comics. Today, in our age of selfies and social networking, we are still living in a world defined by Pop. 
 
Full of brand new interviews with the most important living Pop Artists, Sooke's book traces the movement's surprising origins and describes the great works by Warhol, Lichtenstein and other key figures, revealing Pop's often overlooked global story, forgotten female artists, and afterlife today.

Pop Art by the BBC's Alastair Sooke - an essential but snappy new guide to our favourite art movement 
 
Pop Art is the most important 20th-century art movement. It brought Modernism to the masses, making art sexy and fun with coke cans and comics. Today, in our age of selfies and social networking, we are still living in a world defined by Pop. 
 
Full of brand new interviews and research, Sooke describes the great works by Warhol, Lichtenstein and other key figures, but also re-examines the movement for the 21st century and asks if it is still art? He reveals a global story, tracing Pop's surprising origins in 19th-century Paris to uncovering the forgotten female artists of the 1960s. 
 
"A clear and lively outline of the history of pop art ... a pleasure to read" - Sunday Times

Pop Art was arguably the most important art movement of the twentieth century. By shifting attention from the exalted to the everyday, it brought Modernism to the masses, and made art sexy, glamorous and fun by focusing upon Coke cans, film stars and comics. And today, in our age of selfies and social networking, its influence is visible all around us. 
 
Drawing upon brand new interviews with the most important living Pop artists, widely acclaimed art historian Alastair Sooke not only explores the great works by Warhol, Lichtenstein and their familiar contemporaries; he also reveals the artists who were crucial at the time yet are now often forgotten, including Marisol Escobar, who once attracted more publicity even than Warhol, and Rosalyn Drexler, a former professional wrestler. 
 
And Pop Art wasn't just about New York: it was invented in London, and had important centres on the West Coast of America and in Europe. Sooke tells the overlooked global story of Pop, and examines its afterlife around the world today, through the work of contemporary artists such as Christian Marclay and Ryan Trecartin. 
 
Full of fascinating details about the artists' lives, and recreating the world they inhabited, this succinct yet all-encompassing new history will make you see the world of the Pop artists - our everyday world - with fresh eyes.

Alastair Sooke is the author of the biographies Henri Matisse: A Second Life and Roy Lichtenstein: How Modern Art was Saved by Donald Duck, both published by Penguin. He is art critic for the Daily Telegraph and is a popular BBC broadcaster. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Pop Art

A Colourful History

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A clear and lively outline of the history of pop art ... full of interesting facts and anecdotes that make the book (unlike so much art criticism) ... a pleasure to read.

Sooke is an immensely engaging character. He has none of the weighty self-regard that often afflicts art experts and critics; rather he approaches his subjects with a questioning, open, exploratory attitude

As befits its title, Alastair Sooke's introduction to pop art is a colourful little book that should appeal to aficionados and casual admirers alike ... a well-researched and authoritative introduction to the movement ... a hugely engaging read.

A great introduction to what reveals itself to be a shifting and elusive 'movement'

A brilliant account . . . So poetically precise in its evocations of the cut-outs . . . so tender in its sympathy

About Alastair Sooke

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