The role of popular culture in the arts in the UK and Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century

The thesis seeks to compare the role of pop art and popular culture in art in Great Britain and Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s of the 20th Century. We shall focus on the relationship of popular culture and art in both countries with regards to their different social and political backgrounds. In the beginning of the thesis we shall delimit some of the theoretical concepts such as popular culture or popular art. We shall also try to define the concept of art itself. The thesis will not omit to characterize the basic features of British and American pop art. The work will introduce quintessential representatives (individuals as well as groups) of pop art from the British and Czechoslovakian art scene of the selected time period. On those particular examples, we shall look for identical attributes or differences in their art works which should be conditioned by the specific cultural and social settings of the society. We should also take into consideration some of the art techniques or technologies used within pop art and also at least in general the relations to popular music, architecture and literature