Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

"Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, and hot-rod cultures of the street. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor – sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes impish, and sometimes it is a sarcastic comment.
Most lowbrow artworks are paintings, but there are also toys, digital art, and sculpture."===http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_%28art_movement%29

There has always been lowbrow art. Any art created by, and any art that appeals to the broad general public would probably qualify.

Think of those paintings of sad big-eyed children that were so popular in the 1960's. The decorative items that women fill their houses with. Pop music. Those old 'paint-by-numbers' paintings.

When lowbrow art is recognized and admired by art critics and turns into an artistic movement, that's a good sign that it's starting to go elite and highbrow. Next thing it will be in the galleries surrounded by stylishly-dressed people sipping wine and nibbling on cheese.

The paintings above look too calculated and cynical to my eye, to actually qualify as people's art. They express some artist's-eye view of popular culture.

There was a time when the impressionists were viewed as low-brow art. Art museums wouldn't display their works beside the classical realists. Then they caught on, and well now everybody likes a good Monet.