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Cartridge Music
A primary person in post-war avant-garde, American composer John Cage was also a music theorist, writer, and artist. In his 1960 piece "Cartridge Music," he amplified small household objects in a live performance. Influenced by Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism, Cage based his art on found sounds, noise, and alternative instruments. -
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1960’s Art Virtual Timeline
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Three Times
"Times Three" by American author Phyllis McGinley contains seventy new poems plus a selection from three decades of published work. People consider her intelligent, an expert craftsman, and easy to read. She writes about the necessary acceptance of the larger and smaller inconveniences of life. -
Child With a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park
American photographer Diane Arbus took this photograph in New York City in 1962. She is famous for her portraits of what society considered "marginal individuals" such as street people, transvestites, and nudists. Her controversial and psychological work inspires compassion as well as confusion. She did not choose the subject in the photo because of what it meant to her, but instead, she chose the subject to photograph and what it meant to her came about later. -
Ragazza Che Ride
Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto created "Ragazza Che Ride" in 1962 from serigraphy on stainless steel. Michelangelo Pistoletto started the "Arte Povera” movement in 1967 that made fun of how absurd life was. He also was a front runner for conceptual art. He is most well known for his "mirror paintings." These life-size, photo-silkscreened images of people being reflected bring both the environment and viewer into his work. -
Flower in the Wind
Canadian-American artist Agnes Martin created "Flower in the Wind" in 1963 from oil and pencil on canvas. In an attempt to find serenity and beauty, she created her minimalistic art. She used fine-lined grids, bands, and square blocks of light color. This technique correlated with the emotional in Abstract Expressionism along with Minimalism. -
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
The Beatles were an extremely influential band in the 1960s. Their song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" released in 1963 on their album "Meet the Beatles." English artists John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song. Anti-war themes and protest influenced much of their music. -
Persimmon
Rejection of the angst of the Abstract Expressionists inspired this 1964 painting entitled "Persimmon" by American artist Robert Rauschenberg. He used unconventional art materials like dirt, house paint, umbrellas, and car tires to create his art. In 1964, he was the first American to win the International Grand Prize in Painting at the Venice Biennal. -
Mary Poppins
"Mary Poppins" is a 1964 American film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney. Julie Roberts plays Mary Poppins. This film is based on P. L. Travers's book series Mary Poppins and uses live-action and animation. In this film, a magical nanny uses music and adventure to help two children become closer to their father. -
The Department of Water and Power's "John Ferraro Building"
The Department of Water and Power's "John Ferraro Building" opened in 1961 in downtown L.A. on what was once a Victorian-studded neighborhood on Bunker Hill. This, along with a great deal of other architecture of the 1960s, focused on renewing old buildings. -
The Times They Are a-Changin'
American singer/songwriter Bob Dylan wrote the song "The Times They Are a-Changin'" in 1964. It appears as the title track on the album of the same name. He wrote it as an anthem to inspire change in society. Irish and Scottish ballads inspired the song, giving it the lilting 6/8 time signature feel. The lyrics show his opinions on social injustices and the government’s attitude towards change. -
Chess Players
French American artist Marcel Duchamp created "Chess Players" in 1965 by making an etching on paper. People consider him the leading member of the international avant-garde movement as he brings found objects into his art. He placed high importance on the artistic concept over craftsmanship or aesthetics. This idea became an influential principle to 20th-century artistic practice. -
One and Three Chairs
American artist Joseph Kosuth created "One and Three Charis" in 1965. Sigmund Freud and Ludwig Wittgenstein's seminal theories influenced his art. "One and Three Chairs" is one of his most famous pieces and it is a visual expression of Plato’s Theory of Forms. His piece of art includes a wooden chair, a photograph of the chair, and a dictionary definition of the word “chair.” -
The Sound of Music
"The Sound of Music" is a popular and historic American 1965 musical directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Roberts. It tells the true story of a convent postulant who becomes a governess and stepmother to seven children. They create a choir and escape from the Nazis in Austria. -
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is a play by Edward Albee first brought to the stage in 1962. It shows the complicated marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George, who wind up bringing a young couple into their home and bitter relationship. This play won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–63 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. It has been redone on the stage on many occasions and the film version was released in 1966. -
U.S.A Surpasses All the Genocide Records
American and Lithuanian born artist George Maciunas created the political piece "U.S.A Surpasses All the Genocide Records" in 1966 as an offset lithograph in colors on woven paper. A collaboration with Yoko Ono and John Lennon published his work. He wrote for a movement called “Neo-Dada,” in which he advocated both for the blending of art styles and for the using of time and space to create art. The movement wanted to break down the barrier between art and life. -
Bandaged Hands, Muhammad Ali
American photographer Gordon Parks photographed "Bandaged Hands, Muhammad Ali" in 1966. Another photographer sent Parks to photograph boxer Muhammad Ali during training in Miami. At this time, Muhammad Ali was a controversial public figure because he changed his name from Cassius Clay and said he was a conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam for religious reasons. Parks photographed a private, introspective moment to show Ali’s status as a fighter who refused to fight. -
Marilyn
American based pop artist Andy Warhol was a very influential artist in the 1960s. He focused on celebrities, consumer culture, and mechanical reproduction in his art, creating some of the most iconic art of the 1960s. He found inspiration for his art in popular culture and everyday subject matter. Warhol made "Marilyn" from silk-screen printmaking to achieve his famous hard edges and flat areas of color. -
Kill for Peace
American artist Carol Summers created "Kill for Peace" in 1967. Artist Jack Sonenberg created the portfolio "Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Viet Nam" as a way to raise funds for "Artists and Writers, Protest, Inc.," a group that created anti-war demonstrations throughout the late 1960s. Sixteen artists, including Carol Summers, contributed to the portfolio. They used many aesthetic strategies ranging from graphic bodies to abstractions that showed war in symbolic ways. -
Yayoi Kusama Self Obliteration (1960s announcement)
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama painted "Yayoi Kusama Self Obliteration (1960s announcement)" in 1968. She was an Avant-garde Japanese artist and was an influential figure in the postwar New York art scene. She also influenced Andy Warhol as well as pop art to follow. -
Dublin
Polish artist Sigmar Polke created "Dublin" in 1968 as an oil on canvas. His love for science and alchemy inspired his art. He created his paintings and photographs by manipulating chemical processes. Post-war Germany inspired his Capitalist Realism style. He also used images of popular culture and advertising in his art. -
Untitled #4
First-generation Abstract Expressionist from the Netherlands, Willem De Kooning, created his "Untitled #4" sculpture in 1969. One of the most important artists in the 20th century, he remained loyal to figurative tradition and developed a unique style that used vivid color and dynamic paint to create deconstructed images of the female body. These became known as his “women” paintings. -
Warhol, Flowers.
"Warhol, Flowers" is an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas painted by American artist Elaine Sturtevant in 1969. People knew her for recreating works by iconic 20th-century artists as a means to explore authenticity and artistic celebrities. She called this method “repetition" and started creating inexact copies of preexisting artists in 1964. She recreated pieces by artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Marcel Duchamp. -
The Rose and the Rose Stalk
UK artist David Hockney created his etching on vellum called "The Rose and the Rose Stalk" in 1969. As one of the first artists of the British Pop Art movement in the early 1960s, people knew David Hockney for his semi-abstract paintings of homosexual love before the government decriminalized it in England in 1967. Hockney produced work in almost every medium using full-scale opera set designs, prints, and drawings using fax machines, laser photocopiers, and computers. -
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
American author Maya Angelou wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in 1969 as an autobiography. It is a story that shows how one's strength of character can combat racism and trauma. Following the Civil Rights Movement, many African American women wrote autobiographies that covered topics similar to this, such as motherhood, racism, family, independence, and self-dignity. -
Fortunate Son
In the 1969 song "Fortunate Son" by American band Clearance Clearwater Revival, songwriter John Fogerty protested the idea that Richard Nixon gave preferential treatment to certain men by allowing them to avoid the draft. Dwight Eisenhower's grandson, David, who ended up marrying Richard Nixon's daughter, Julie, inspired the lyrics. This protest song opposes the war but supports troops. The song appears on the album entitled "Willie and the Poor Boys."
