The Chrysler Museum of Art’s newest exhibition, the Pop Art of Al Capp, opened this week. Nine of Capp’s silkscreen prints will be on view in the McKinnon Galleries of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Capp, most famously known as the artist behind the long running “Li’l Abner” comics, was influenced by other pop artists of the time, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The prints reflect important social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, including feminism and integration.
Capp swapped political parties in his later years, shifting from liberal to conservative. This alienated much of his audience – he received hate mail for years. In this video, Capp pokes fun at his new reputation, announcing himself as a “Neanderthal facist” when he meets John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The video displays a side of John Lennon rarely seen by the public. As Capp questions his intentions of a peaceful protest-in-bed, Lennon grows flustered and angry. Two sides of the political spectrum, Capp and Lennon represent the growing frustration between the generations.
Eventually, Capp would mock the hippies of the 60’s, including a group of characters known as SWINE: Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything.
Whether you agree with Capp's politics or not, his work reflects a time in American history when nothing was black and white and everyone had an opinion.
If you are interested in learning more about Al Capp, L'il Abner, or Pop Art, stop by the Library!
- C.D.
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