Hair

Joseph Konopka (1932–)

1970

Acrylic on canvas

Gift of Casimera Konopka: 2004.505

Joseph Konopka demonstrates Pop Artists’ veneration of advertising art and other ordinary objects to the level of fine art. In this portrait of the artist’s wife, the artist emphasizes wallpaper patterns and the arrangement of beauty products on the vanity. Born in Philadelphia and a student of the Cooper Union and Columbia University, Konopka paints his large compositions from studying a series of photographs he takes of his subject. The artist is represented in dozens of art museums in America and Europe, including the National Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York, the Newark Museum and the National Museum in Warsaw.