A study of the emergence of Pop art in the Australian social and cultural milieu of the 1960's with particular reference to the work of Sydney artist, Ken Reinhard

This investigation asserts that in the 1960's the artist Ken Reinhard was not only at the forefront of Pop art in Australia but was its leading exponent. In a virtually alien environment Reinhard sought, via a reliance upon local stimuli, to develop a style unique to him, which in retrospect is seen to embody many of the idiosyncratic elements of International Pop art. The first chapter discusses the emergence of Pop art in Great Britain and the United States. It explains the main characteristics in the context of these specific environments. The second chapter outlines the Australian cultural environment of the 1960's, highlighting links between this unique urban culture and the Australian Pop art works that were produced in this period. Chapter three analyses Sydney Pop art based on those characteristics identified in the preceding two chapters. The focus of the chapter is to provide not only a cultural link between local examples of Pop art and the 1960's Australian urban environment, but also to trace reasons behind the comparative rarity of examples of Pop art in Australia. Both theoretical and experiential reasoning is adopted in a dialectic which at times reinforces and at times disregards some of the documented examples of what was called 'Pop art' in Australia. In the fourth chapter the main argument is expanded with a comprehensive chronological investigation of Ken Reinhard's 1960's exhibitions. Both primary and secondary evidence is used to support the hypothesis that Reinhard was the major exponent of 'Pop' at that time, in this country. The final chapter, provides an overview of Ken Reinhard's 1960's artworks from a retrospective viewpoint using writings from the following decade.