In 1961, two noteworthy events occurred in the art world:
conceptual art.

2. Eleven young realist painters took to the rooftops of
New York to rebel against the modern art trends of their day.

Today Manzoni's canned shit enjoys a place of honor in the prestigious Tate Art Museum in London. I've been unable to locate a single work by the eleven realists at the Tate, but I'm displaying their work today on the equally prestigious IllustrationArt blog.
In an exhibition of paintings called “A Realist View” at the National Arts Club, the eleven questioned whether the new so-called freedom of modern art was an improvement. They wrote, “This freedom from obligation has resulted, very largely, in an impoverishment of the artist’s imagination, not an enrichment of it.” New York Times art critic Emily Genauer described the eleven as "the new rebels."
For a century modern artists had prided themselves on being rebels against the establishment. Post-impressionists, cubists, fauvists, futurists, surrealists, modernists, dadaists, orphists, expressionists, abstract expressionists, conceptual artists, and pop artists (quickly followed by op artists, postmodernists, neo-expressionists, minimalists, color-field artists, graffiiti artists, installationists, performance artists, earthworks artists and assorted other types) have all enjoyed their time in the headlines. By 1961, "rebellion" was commonplace. But Genauer asserted that the eleven were "the most rebellious of all the new rebel art groups around today."
The eleven artists were committed to realism, but they wanted to show how reality, when perceived through different eyes, could be original, diverse and fertile.
Artist Burt Silverman painted psychologically insightful pictures. He didn't speak in symbols or concepts. As Auden wrote, "God must be a hidden deity, veiled by His creation."

Contrast Silverman's brand of realism with Harvey Dinnerstein's allegorical mural representing the parade of the 1960s:

Dinnerstein painted it in a sharply realistic but fantastical style, very different from the work of the others.

Daniel Schwartz explored bold colors and patterns in his work:
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"Epiphany" by Schwartz |
David Levine worked very differently, with a powerful graphic style


Aaron Shikler softened realism for his elegiac tribute to President Kennedy which is hanging in the White House (unless of course the current occupant has taken it down):
The work of the eleven demonstrated different faces of realism, showing how it still offered plenty of meaningful opportunity for innovation, variety and growth.
The excitement of the new is difficult to resist. Art that surprises us with unexpected valuations of things can be titillating... at least for a while. After 1961, the role of the artist-- and the definition of art-- have expanded to the point where boundaries are almost impossible to find.
During this same period, astrophysicists discovered that the increasing speed of the expansion of the universe will eventually rob the universe of all life, heat and meaning. Unless its trajectory changes, The future universe will be one in which even subatomic particles will no longer cohere, and matter will dissipate into a formless sea of entropy.