Art and Context : The '50s and '60s

Prior to the 1960s, art objects were viewed as wholly distinct from non-art.

But by mid-decade, that perspective was being challenged by artists such as Andy Warhol, whose Brillo Boxes looked exactly like the real ones; Roy Lichtenstein, whose paintings imitated comic book pages; and Carl Andre, whose floor sculptures were, in fact, slabs of industrial metal.

Art and Context examines how these pieces and others like them relate to a society bombarded by advertising while also in the midst of a cultural revolution--as evidenced by the growing acceptance of civil rights, feminism, drug use, and sexual freedom--and offers a solid basis for understanding the art of the past half century.