Pop art was the art movement of the 1950's and 1960's. `Popular art' was concerned with the concept of commercial products and mass media being considered art. Popular culture was a major theme in the works of this time, a time in which the beat generation developed into the hippie generation, the cold war was at it's height, the Vietnam war was lost, key celebrities appeared, America became increasingly industrialised and screen printing entered the fine arts. Robert Rauschenberg was a precursor to the much recognised pop art of the 60's. In Rauschenbergs works such as `Bed' (1955, 191.1 x 80 x 20.3) he demonstrates the use of everyday objects in his artwork, much like pop art.

`Bed' is a combine painting, `combines' is a term for the technique of attatching found everyday items collected from various places. This emphasised the abstract beauty, colour and texture of everyday things, an idea like...