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  • Ice Cream, 1964, by Belgian artist Evelyne Axell (1935–1972) will be on of the featured works. The oil on canvas painting is from the collection of Serge Goisse in Belgium.

    Pop art has long been thought a uniquely American movement led by artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. But Pop flourished around the globe, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art has assembled an exhibit reflecting the bold, thought-provoking imagery of the period.

    The exhibition, titled “International Pop,” chronicles Pop’s emergence as a worldwide movement during an era of social and political upheaval.

    It chronicles trends from 1956 to 1972 in the United Kingdom and the United States, western and eastern Europe, Latin America and Japan, according to the museum.

    “Pop was on of the most iconic movements of the the second half of the twentieth century,” said museum director and chief executive Timothy Rub, in a statement.

    “This exhibit is an ambitious effort to explore its emergence and impact far beyond the borders of the United States and Britain,” he added.

    Works by such artists as Antônio Henrique Amaral, Evelyne Axell and Waldemar Cordeiro will be juxtaposed with works by Richard Hamilton, Jasper Johns, Yves Klein and Andy Warhol.

    Featured artists will also include Claes Oldenburg, Sigmar Polke, Martial Raysse, Gerhard Richter, Mimmo Rotella, Ed Ruscha, Niki de Saint Phalle and Ushio Shinohara.

    In all, 120 paintings, sculptures, assemblages, installations, prints and films by eighty artists will make up the exhibit to show how Pop art’s embrace of popular culture and imagery became a worldwide phenomenon.

    Factors will be examined that shaped artistic activity in the social democracies of Europe, the military regimes of Latin America, and Japan in the aftermath of U.S. occupation, according to the museum.

    It will also include sections devoted to vital hubs of Pop activity in Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain and the United States.

    Among the highlights are British artist Richard Hamilton’s work “Hers is a Lush Situation.” It’s been described as a “witty conversation” on the advertising adage that sex sells.

    It treats a Buick automobile as an “evocation of the human body” punctuated by a cut out of actress Sophia Loren’s lips. In fact, lips are a phallic obsession of pop art.

    Brazilian artist Waldemar Cordiero used Brigitte Bardot’s lips in “O Beijo” (The Kiss) as part of a mechanized image of a kinetic sculpture, fusing pop culture with emerging computer technology.

    Jasper Johns seminal work, “Flag” (1958), is only being shown in the Philadelphia exhibit. Also exclusive to the exhibit are Mimmo Rotella’s “The Hot Marilyn (1962)” and Ed Ruscha’s “Felix (1960).

    The exhibit is the first traveling presentation in the United States to present a comprehensive look at Pop art in the 1960s and 1970s. It will only be shown on the East Coast at the museum.

    The exhibit opens February 16 and runs through May 15.

    For more information, check out the museum’s Web site. And, be sure to follow IM on Twitter or subscribe to IM’s FREE newsletter to keep up with the latest museum news.


    International Pop Patrons, Supporters
    This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Prospect Creek Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Margaret and Angus Wurtele Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Judy Dayton, Lyn De Logi, Marge and Irv Weiser and Audrey and Zygi Wilf. In Philadelphia, the exhibition is supported by the Estate of Phyllis T. Ballinger, the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, The Laura and William C. Buck Endowment for Exhibitions, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. Additional donors include John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Mitchell L. and Hilarie L. Morgan, Isabel and Agustín Coppel, Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman, and Lyn M. Ross.