BURLINGTON, VT.- The Fleming Museum of Art announces a blockbuster exhibition of Pop Art prints on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, featuring a selection of thirty-seven celebrated prints by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Indiana, and Andy Warhol, among others. The installation is enhanced by select additions from the Fleming’s permanent collection that recognize the contributions of women Pop artists Marisol, Chryssa, and Corita Kent. The exhibition opens in the Museum’s East Gallery on Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

Pop Art emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s, offering a stark contrast to Abstract Expressionism, then the dominant movement in American art. The distinction between high art and popular culture was assumed until artists like Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and others of their generation challenged a whole range of assumptions about what fine art should be. Pop Art was eagerly embraced by an enthusiastic audience. The artists became celebrities and demand for their work was high. One reason they turned to prints was to satisfy this demand. They favored commercial techniques such as screenprinting and lithography with which they could produce bright colors and impersonal, flat surfaces. As editioned multiples, prints were more widely available and affordable than unique works of art, and Pop Art imagery was readily reproduced in the popular press.

“We are delighted to present this superb selection of Pop Art prints from one of the nation’s most important collections of American Art, and to augment it with works by women Pop artists from the Fleming’s own collection,” said Fleming Museum Director Janie Cohen, who added, “some of the iconic images on view may be familiar to visitors; experiencing the works together in historical context is an exciting and eye-opening opportunity.”

The exhibition will be complemented by a documentary on view in the Museum’s Media Niche, Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968.

Pop Art Prints is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.