Stamps Students Research 1963 Pop Art Exhibitions at UMMA

Stamps students in the class ​“History of Art/​American Culture 244: Art of the American Century” recently launched a website to document the first two Pop Art exhibitions hosted by the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in 1963: Six Painters and the Object, an exhibition organized by the Guggenheim Museum, and A New Realist Supplement. Six Painters and the Object presented the work of Warhol, Rauschenberg, and other up-and-coming pop artists of the time, while A New Realist Supplement featured work from younger artists in a variety of media.

Stamps students Bonnie Jiang (BFA ​’19), Courtney Ignace (BFA ​’19), Yiyi Gao (BFA ​’19), Katie Spak (BFA ​’19) and Kate Johnson (BA ​‘19) were among the content creators for the site. The website includes newspaper reviews, first-person reactions from exhibition visitors, and contextual information about life at the University during a period when student activists were questioning the myths of the ​“good life” in America. As part of their research for this project, the students also interviewed Stamps alumni who were students at the time of the exhibitions, including the artists Michele Oka Doner (BSDes ​’66) and Dr. Nancy House (BSDes ​’65).

Learn more about this project and explore the website here.