The re-identification of Pop Art: its reception from an Italian perspective

The Pop Art phenomenon has been a subject of discussion for art critics,gallerists, collectors and the artists themselves, since its first appearancein the ’50s. However, since the ’80s there has been a strong interest inretrospectively studying the current, trying not only to define its spreadin geographical and chronological terms, but also to identify whichartists and single pieces of artwork can be labeled as ‘Pop’. Despite theefforts made in describing the current, previous research has trivializedit, so much so that the term Pop has been misattributed, and its featuresare not precise.Within this framework, this thesis aims to investigate the artisticfortunes of Pop Art in Italy, trying to understand whether whathappened in Italy could be identified as such, especially focusing on theperiod between 1962 and 1964, and the period immediately after. Amongthe centers where Pop Art spread, Milan and Rome are the focus of thisinvestigation that works to observe their possible connections with theUS. For this reason, the research has been conducted according to alinguistic and visual philological methodology, analyzing primarymaterial (such as the archives of the so-called Italian Pop artists), as wellas critical primary and secondary sources (from the end of the Fifties tonowadays).Additionally, due to the influence of other art forms, such asmusic, cinema and theater, the topic calls for an inter-disciplinaryapproach in order to describe the socio-cultural context in which Pop Artappeared. In light of such analysis, this research provides acomprehensive overview of the Pop current based on historical data,redefining the term, the socio-cultural context and the issues to resolve,in order to re-read such a phenomenon. Finally, the thesis suggests thatthe work done here be followed as a methodological approach to reidentifyPop Art in single territories, in order to better understand thediverse iterations of either the current itself or its aesthetic characteristics.