Eduardo Paolozzi: Collaging Culture
Biography
duardo Paolozzi was born to Italian parents
in Edinburgh in 1924. Growing up in the
interwar period during the 1920s and 1930s
Paolozzi lived in a household and society where
everything was utilised and nothing was wasted.
As a young boy Paolozzi would draw onto
recycled pieces of paper and produce scrapbooks
out of cuttings from comic books and magazines.
This early focus on collage, interest in popular
culture and the reuse of materials are evident in
much of the artist’s later work.
E
Initially training to become a commercial artist
Paolozzi studied at Edinburgh College of Art. He
then went on to attend St. Martin’s School of Art
in London in 1944 and studied sculpture at Slade
School of Art between 1945 and 1947. After his
studies Paolozzi lived in Paris from 1947 to 1949
where he experienced the work of the Surrealists
and Dadaists, along with meeting contemporary
artists such as Alberto Giacometti and Jean
Dubuffet. Paolozzi was particularly influenced by
Giacometti’s handling of the human form and the
art brut of Dubuffet.
Lord Snowdon (b.1930), Eduardo Paolozzi in his Studio,
Chelsea (from The Sunday Times Magazine), 1963, Digital
photographic print, scanned from original negative, Pallant
House Gallery (Presented by the artist, 2007)
During the 1960s Paolozzi revisited the process
of screenprinting and started using curved
and contoured forms in his sculptures, painting
them with bright and unnatural colours. In
1971 the artist had a major retrospective at
the Tate Gallery where he focused on the notion
of man as an expendable object with direct
references to the Vietnam War. Paolozzi received
numerous public commissions throughout the
1970s and 1980s including the decoration for
Tottenham Court Road station. Paolozzi also
produced a bronze sculpture of Newton for the
British Library, unveiled in 1997. Paolozzi died
in London in 2005 aged 81. The artist gained
international acclaim and success during his long
and productive career.
After Paris from 1949 to 1955 Paolozzi taught
at the Central School of Art and Design. In 1952
he became a founder of the Independent Group
to whom he delivered his famous Bunk lecture at
the ICA. In this lecture he presented the group
with a series of images drawn from various
sources of popular culture, advocating it for
serious study. Many herald this moment as the
birth of British Pop Art.
Away from the Pop Art aesthetic of the 1950s
Paolozzi began exploring the anguish and pain
of the human condition through sculpture and
drawing, reacting to the horrors of war and
post-war society. In the sculptures from this
period the artist started using biomorphic
forms in combination with mechanical
impressions, exploring the relationship between
man and technology.
Working Method
Throughout his career Paolozzi worked across
a variety of media including painting, sculpture,
filmmaking, ceramics, textile design and collage.
1
Focusing on various themes and drawing on many
sources of inspiration Paolozzi’s work largely
explores and blurs the distinction between high
art and popular culture, the human condition,
man’s relationship to technology, along with
issues of production, consumption and waste.
Themes and ideas are frequently revisited by
Paolozzi, explored across media and style. For
example Paolozzi’s interest in the fragmented
human head is evident in his collage and sculpture
from the 1950s and is adopted again in different
styles during the 1970s and 1980s. The
head sculptures produced in the 1980s blend
geometric and natural forms, a style which is also
evident in his ‘machine idols’ of the 1950s and
screenprints from the 1960s.
Collage, 1957 (amended 1962), Ink, paper and card
collage laid on paper, 33 x 55.9cm, Private collection
As a result of Paolozzi’s wide-ranging interest
in media, artistic sources and styles, the
artist’s body of work is highly diverse yet richly
interlinked.
The Exhibition
The exhibition provides a cohesive survey of
Paolozzi’s work and its development from the
1940s onwards, exploring the central importance
of collage as both a working process and an
approach to bringing together disparate sources
of inspiration. It features over 150 works from
across his career, including early sculptures
influenced by continental Surrealism, his textiles
for Hammer Prints Ltd. and Horrockses Fashions
in the 1950s, his innovative screenprints that
made an important contribution to British Pop
Art, ceramics designed for Wedgwood and
Rosenthal, and maquettes for his later public
commissions.
Words in this pack which are underlined refer
to the References and Connection sections on
pages 32 and 33.
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1: Renewing Surrealism:
The Early Work of Eduardo Paolozzi
Two Forms on a Rod, 1948-9, Bronze, 48.2 x 58.4 x 21.5cm, Private Collection, London
B
orn in Leith, Scotland in 1924, Eduardo
Paolozzi was the son of Italian immigrants
who ran an ice-cream and confectionary shop.
As a young man he developed a passion for going
to the movies, collecting cigarette cards and
ephemera, and creating scrapbooks: activities
that contributed to his lifelong interest in popular
culture. At the outbreak of World War II his father
and grandfather were interned and subsequently
died when the ship the S.S. Arandora Star was
torpedoed, and Paolozzi was enlisted to serve in
the Pioneer Corps. After his discharge in 1944 he
was accepted to study art at the Ruskin School
in Oxford, and subsequently the Slade School of
Art, where he made lifelong artist friends such
as Nigel Henderson and William Turnbull. Inspired
by the work of Pablo Picasso he created earthy
and vigorous sculptures such as ‘Bull’ which did
not conform to traditional concepts of refined
sculpture then being taught at the Slade.
Paolozzi began collaging found imagery of
machine parts and classical statuary having seen
the Surrealist collages of Max Ernst and Kurt
Schwitters. In 1947, he moved to Paris with
the proceeds of his first one-man exhibition at
the Mayor Gallery. He met avant-garde artists
including Jean Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Fernand
Léger, and Tristan Tzara, and was influenced
by the development of ‘Art Brut’ characterised
by the work of Jean Dubuffet. Using American
magazines given to him by former G.I.s Paolozzi
began a series of collages entitled Bunk which
were created from the glamorous advertisements
of models, domestic appliances and cars that he
described as an ‘extension of radical Surrealism.’
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1: Renewing Surrealism:
The Early Work of Eduardo Paolozzi
Fisherman and Wife, 1946
Indian ink, paper collage and watercolour on paper, 76.8 x 61 cm
Tate: Purchased 1959
Produced the year before Paolozzi travelled to Paris, this work reflects the artist’s early interests in
collage, non-Western art and the European avant-garde. In 1945 the artist visited the V&A exhibition
of Matisse and Picasso, which influenced Paolozzi to produce works with ‘primitive’ iconography and
explore the medium of collage. Whilst studying at Slade School of Art in Oxford between 1945 and
1947 Paolozzi studied the ethnographic collection of the Pitts Rivers Museum, where he produced
drawings of the art from non-Western cultures including tribal masks. In Fisherman and Wife Paolozzi
draws on his own personal experiences in combination with the non-Western and avant-garde art that
he encountered during the 1940s. The depiction of the fisherman is a reference to the artist’s visits to
Newhaven harbour in Edinburgh, drawn in a reductive and ‘primitive’ manner.
A Mask-like faces demonstrate Paolozzi’s
engagement with non-Western artefacts
during his stay in Oxford.
B Cockerels – These spiky, elongated creatures
were informed by Picasso’s paintings of
cockerels created at the beginning of the
twentieth century and again at the end of the
Second World War.
C Pasted elements – Rather than mirroring the
more natural forms of the figures and fish
these rectangular pieces of pasted paper
are entirely abstract. Paolozzi is making the
viewer explicitly aware that he has used the
collage technique, showing his influence from
Dadaist Kurt Schwitters.
D Fish – Provide a personal element, revealing
the artist’s own experience of harbours in
Edinburgh.
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1: Renewing Surrealism:
The Early Work of Eduardo Paolozzi
Dr Pepper, 1948
Collage on paper, signed in ink lower centre, 35.8 x 23.8 cm
Tate: Presented by the artists 1995
Dr Pepper is part of a series of collages entitled ‘Bunk’ which Paolozzi presented during a lecture
he delivered at the ICA in 1952. He drew his imagery from various sources of popular culture and
by presenting them in this academic context, stated them worthy of serious analysis. In Dr Pepper
Paolozzi takes images from American magazine advertisements which he recognised as having an
‘exotic’ appeal. These vibrant images of American consumerism would have been a stark contrast to
Britain’s current economic and social situation. In the late 1940s Britain was still under strict rationing,
where products and images like those included in this collage would have been seen as alien as most
were not yet available in the country. Paolozzi was also interested in the aesthetic properties of these
advertisements, engaging with their use of colour and form in particular.
A Female figures – These images were lifted
from American magazines that Paolozzi had
collected from GI’s stationed in Paris after
the war. These representations of actual and
cartoon women reflect gender roles in postwar American advertisements and how they
were used to sell consumer products.
B Oven – Reinforces the domestic role of
women during the 1940s and potentially
mocks the allure of consumer products which
could be considered as banal.
C Dr Pepper – Title of the piece is included in
the collage itself, in the form of the product’s
logo. Paolozzi used soft drink advertisements
as his subject in Refreshing and Delicious and
Real Gold both of which are part of the Bunk
series.
D Car – Acts as a symbol of America’s booming
post-war economy and industry, contrasting
to the depravation experienced in Britain.
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7
2. Collage, Textiles and The Independent
Group in the 1950s
A
fter his return to London from Paris in
1949 Paolozzi started teaching in the
textile design department of the Central School
of Art and Design. He produced screenprints
that were often inspired by organic forms, and
paper collages that reveal his interest in the
unconscious imagery of abstract expressionism
and the torn papers of Kurt Schwitters and
Jean Arp. Paolozzi developed textile designs
from his collages, which were translated into
fabrics by companies such as Horrockses and
David Whitehead Ltd. In 1954 he and Nigel
Henderson set up Hammer Prints Ltd. to publish
screenprinted textiles, ceramics and wallpapers.
Paolozzi and Henderson were key figures in the
Independent Group of artists, architects and
critics that met at the Institute of Contemporary
Arts in London from 1952 to 1955 and
discussed topics such as science fiction, fashion,
American advertising, car design, popular
music, western films, architecture and art. He
collaborated with Henderson and the Smithsons
on influential exhibitions associated with the
Independent Group such as Parallel of Life
and Art in 1953 and This is Tomorrow at the
Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1956. These featured
extraordinary installations of disparate imagery
proposing new ways of looking and questioning
notions of what was worthy of inclusion in an art
gallery. The work presented typified a movement
known as ‘New Brutalism’ that was associated
with art and architecture at this time.
Eduardo Paolozzi for Horrockses Fashions, Dress designed
by John Tullis, 1953, Printed cotton, On loan from the Fine
Art Society
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2. Collage, Textiles and The Independent
Group in the 1950s
Large Frog (New Version), 1958
Bronze, 73 x 83 x 83 cm
British Council Collection
In his sculptural work of the late 1950s Paolozzi focused predominantly on the human figure, however he
did produce some works depicting various animals. In Large Frog Paolozzi has metamorphosed the physical
form of the frog, which confronts the viewer with its mouth wide open. Paolozzi’s method of building rich
layers of pattern and imagery in his earlier paper collages was now manifested in these sculptural works.
The artist achieved his unique effect by pressing found objects into clay to produce a negative mould and
then poured molten wax into the imprint to create the desired surface. The plastic and malleable qualities
of wax allowed Paolozzi to manipulate the surface until the piece was cast in bronze. In this sculpture
Paolozzi uses biomorphic and mechanical styles to represent the amphibian, referencing his surrealist
inspired sculpture from the late 1940s and interest in industrial and mass produced aesthetics. The raw
style and animalistic subject matter also reflects the influence of art brut on Paolozzi after he was exposed
to the work of Dubuffet during his stay in Paris between 1947 and 1949.
C Mouth of the frog – Paolozzi imprinted part
of a piano keyboard into clay to create this
impression on the sculpture.
D Legs – Trumpet-like forms function as legs,
reflecting the interplay between natural and
manmade forms in Paolozzi’s sculptures and
his interest in metamorphosing organic figures.
A Encrusted surface – The building up of found
objects and materials on the sculpture’s
surface is reminiscent of the collages that
Paolozzi made during the 1940s and 1950s.
In both examples the artist has appropriated
mass produced objects, highlighting his
interest in popular culture.
B The development of Large Frog can be seen in
a preparatory collage (right). The distinctive
open mouth and richly patterned body was
retained in his finished sculpture.
Credit for this image
9
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3. Metamorphosis of Rubbish
Head. Mr Cruikshank, 1950, Bronze with a brown patina, 27.9cm high
The Ingram Collection of Modern and Contemporary British Art
T
he image of man was the predominant
concern in Paolozzi’s sculpture of the 1950s.
The artist was drawn to the qualities of the
human head and produced a series of segmented
heads collaged from portraits on the covers of
‘Time’ magazine. At this time he also produced
sculptures such as Shattered Head, Bandaged
Head and Mr Cruikshank, which convey both
man’s vulnerability and resilience. Against the
cultural background of the Cold War and the
atomic age the artist’s focus on the enduring
qualities of the individual man took on an
existential resonance.
bronze. Paolozzi observed that: ‘I use a collage
technique in a plastic medium’ and described his
approach as ‘the metamorphosis of rubbish’. He
was fascinated with man’s relationship with the
machine, and created totemic forms that suggest
tribal fetishes, the detritus of modern industrial
society and science fiction imagery. His approach
to constructing forms from assemblage relates
closely to his concurrent screenprints in which
collaged images of machine parts are combined
to create robotic human heads.
In 1953 Paolozzi began casting bronze sculptures
using the lost-wax technique. He developed
a technique of pressing found objects such as
machine parts and toys into a bed of clay which
would then be cast in wax, before being cast into
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3. Metamorphosis of Rubbish
Standing Figure, 1958
Bronze, height: 88 cm
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Loan, 2006)
This work is a part of a series of figurative sculptures that Paolozzi produced between 1955 and 1960. As
with Large Frog the artist used the lost wax technique to create this sculpture, a method that originated in
Ancient Egypt. In this work Paolozzi is exploring existential fear and the distorted human figure that Francis
Bacon and Giacometti also engaged with during this period. On the sculpture’s encrusted surfaces there
are identifiable traces of object trouvés drawn from mass culture. Through the mechanical visual language
of this sculpture, man’s relationship with modern technology is communicated. This representation of
a distorted natural form, using mechanical elements and where the subject is dehumanised, is a theme
explored in the later work of Paolozzi. The artist also produced drawings and screenprints during this
period which should be viewed in parallel to his sculptural work. This bronze piece can be viewed as a
three-dimensional manifestation of such works.
A Small punctures that run through the depth
of the sculpture revealing its hollow core and
Paolozzi’s working method.
B Legs and torso are identifiably anatomical.
C The thin legs of the sculpture demonstrate the
influence of Giacometti’s existential work from
the 1940s and 1950s on Paolozzi.
D Arms and head, which are visible in the
preparatory drawing (below), have been
eliminated in the finished sculpture, reinforcing
the idea that this is an incomplete, anguished and
disturbed human form.
12
13
4: The History of Nothing
Blick auf Monte S. Angelo, still from The History of Nothing, 1960, Collage on paper, 19.5 x 27.6cm, Pallant House Gallery
(Wilson Loan, 2006)
F
to Max Ernst’s 1934 graphic novel Une Semaine
de Bonté (A Week of Kindness), which was
created from 182 images collaged from cut-up
Victorian encyclopaedias and novels.
rom 1960 to 1962 Paolozzi was teaching
at the Hochscule für bildende Künste in
Hamburg, where he used Surrealist methods
to teach a course entitled ‘The Translation of
Experience’. This approach fed into Paolozzi’s 12
minute black and white film called ‘The History
of Nothing’ which he described as an ‘homage
to Surrealism’. The film was an assemblage of
still images, made with single-frame animation
by shooting a series of collages created from
pages of German photography books illustrating
interior decoration, architecture and machinery.
These incongruous images flash across the screen
accompanied by primitive, exotic music to create
‘a peculiar reality in the perceiver’s mind from a
sequence of unlike images.’ It makes a playful nod
The non-linear sequence of disparate images in
the film confounds any attempt by the viewer
to make any logical connections or create a
narrative, and instead the viewer is forced to rely
on intuitive connections. The ideas and images in
the film relate closely to Paolozzi’s artist’s book
Metafiskal Translations (1962) which is a textual
collage of poetic and fragmentary descriptive
images and ideas, and informed some of his early
screenprints such as Metallization of a Dream
(1963).
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4: The History of Nothing
James Joyce and Dancer: Monument to Trieste
still from The History of Nothing, 1960-62
Collage on paper, 18.3 x 13.3cm
Pallant House (Wilson Loan, 2006)
This image is part of the film The History of Nothing that Paolozzi produced with Denis Postle between
1960 and 1962. The film is comprised of a succession of collages with their images taken from older
books and magazines, generating a sense of nostalgia. In the film Paolozzi intended to convey what he
considered to be the ‘schizophrenic quality of life’. The viewer is invited to construct a narrative from a
series of disparate images, engaging with the subconscious cognitive process and the human condition
in a modern world. This was similar to the way that Dadaists and Surrealists also engaged with the
subconscious in their work. The title of the work is intended as a philosophical joke, demonstrating
the element of wit which is evident across much of Paolozzi’s work. The artist described the film as an
‘homage to Surrealism’, containing particular references to the work of Max Ernst.
A A collaged photo of the modernist writer
James Joyce, it contrasts to the brightly
coloured American images that Paolozzi used
in his Bunk series.
B James Joyce is faced by the mechanical and
robotic silhouette of a dancing woman. By
depicting only these two figures in this collage,
Paolozzi establishes a tension between man
and machine.
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5: Language Games:
Prints and Sculpture in the 1960s
Credit for this image
Artificial Sun, 1964, Aluminium, 241 x 142 x 116.8cm,
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Loan, 2006)
such as the example shown here.
In his print portfolios such as Moonstrips
Empire News and General Dynamic Fun
Paolozzi drew on a wide range of popular
and technological cultural sources to create
a free association between image and text.
Paolozzi was interested in the way that
technology is harnessed to satisfy popular
taste and its psychological effect on society.
The science fiction writings of his friend J.G.
Ballard were also an important influence on
the development of sculptures such as Crash
Head and his prints based on car safety test
dummies. In the late 1960s Paolozzi grew
increasingly disillusioned with the American
dream, due to his opposition to the Vietnam
War, and sought to distance himself from the
Pop artist label.
D
uring the 1960s Paolozzi was seen as a
leading British Pop artist. His sculptures
of the decade display a much sleeker machine
aesthetic and instead of relying on found
objects the artist bought new machine parts
from engineering supply shops and mail-order
catalogues. He created machine idols such as
Artificial Sun using prefabricated geometric
forms in aluminium that would be fabricated
by technicians under the artist’s supervision.
This sculpture relates closely to his innovative
As is When screenprints based on the life
and work of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig
Wittgenstein who had developed a theory
of language games in his writings. The prints
were created from preparatory collages using
a kit of weaving diagrams and engineering
patterns, which made them particularly
suitable for translation into woven tapestries,
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5: Language Games:
Prints and Sculpture in the 1960s
The Silken World of Michelangelo from Moonstrips Empire News 1967
Image and paper, 38 x 24.5 cm
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Loan)
Paolozzi began exploring screenprinting in greater depth during the 1960s after focusing on traditional
collage techniques since the 1940s. The artist preferred the mechanical nature of this process and its
links to commercial art such as advertising, reflecting his anti-elitist standpoint. This folio was produced
as part of an unbound book entitled Moonstrips Empire News which contained an assortment of
text and images drawn from various sources, rendered in vividly bright colours. The image contains a
juxtaposition of two iconic images; Mickey Mouse and a negative of Michelangelo’s David facing away
from each other. Paolozzi uses these figurative images in combination with various geometric patterns
and designs, a style that is adopted throughout the portfolio.
B Three figures at the top - Each have reductive
yet recognisable human faces but with bodies
that are comprised of brightly coloured spots.
Here the artist is exploring the relationship
between man, mass production and
technology. This theme was also explored in
Paolozzi’s bronze sculptures of the 1950s.
C Michelangelo’s David –Often viewed as
the quintessential sculpture of the Italian
Renaissance and a defining image in art
history, Michelangelo’s David has been chosen
to represent the epitome of high art culture.
By depicting the sculpture as a negative the
artist may be asking the viewer to question
the distinctions between high art and popular
culture.
D Title of the work – The text appears to
have been lifted directly from a magazine
or another kind of publication, a frequent
occurrence in Moonstrips Empire News. This
provides the screenprint with a collage like
appearance.
A Mickey Mouse – The viewer is asked to
compare David to a representation of Mickey
Mouse, an iconic symbol of American popular
culture. This links back to Paolozzi’s famous
Bunk lecture from 1952 where the artist
advocated a serious study of popular culture
as artefacts.
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19
6: Public Monuments and Late Works
Apicella Relief, 1981, Wood and resin construction, 152.4
x 122cm, Private collection, London
P
aolozzi developed a new abstract
vocabulary in the 1970s that was inspired
by a reproduction of a 1920s German abstract
painting representing organ music. He created
a series of sculptural assemblage reliefs for
restaurants and public spaces, such as the
Apicella Relief, and related screenprints including
the Calcium Light Night portfolio, which was
based on the ‘collage’ approach of the music of
the American composer Charles Ives.
Calcium Light Night Four German Songs, 1974-6,
screenprint on paper, 990 x 690, Pallant House Gallery ,
Wilson Loan (2004)
Much of Paolozzi’s later output was focussed
on public commissions, ranging from a
monumental steel sculpture for the 1970 World
Expo in Osaka, Japan, to street sculptures in
London, Edinburgh and Munich, and the vibrant
mosaic decorations for Tottenham Court Road
Underground station. Several of these sculptures,
such as the Euston Head, revisit earlier themes
in the artist’s work: man’s relationship with
technology and the fragmented head. Many of
his ideas were brought together in his sculpture
of Newton after Blake commissioned by the
architect Colin St John Wilson for the forecourt
of the British Library, which was unveiled in
1997.
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6: Public Monuments and Late Works
Newton after Blake 1993-4
Plaster on wood base, 46.5 x 63.2 cm,
inscribed on the left hand side ‘For Sandy & MJ Eduardo Paolozzi 1993-4’
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Gift through The Art Fund, 2006)
Newton after Blake is a maquette that served as the basis for the monumental bronze sculpture of
the same subject that now stands in the forecourt of the British Museum, unveiled in 1997. The
piece demonstrates Paolozzi’s fearless pursuit to look into the past for artistic inspiration, as well as
drawing on modern ideas. The figure of Newton has been mechanised and partially fragmented, a style
which the artist adopted frequently throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This maquette closely follows
William Blake’s 1795 watercolour more so than the bronze piece which has been given the eyes of
Michelangelo’s David and has a thicker and more rounded appearance. In Newton after Blake there is a
witty interplay between Blake’s condemning of Newton’s wish to order the universe and the celebration
of the scientist’s intellectual discoveries.
A The geometric forms evident on Newton’s
chair and parts of his body highlight Paolozzi’s
interest in mechanising and metamorphosing
the human form. This geometric style may also
been a reference to Newton’s mathematical
approach to the universe.
C Newton’s face is cast downwards, fully
immersed in his own work and oblivious to the
world around him. In the 1989 piece Master
of the Universe of the same subject, Paolozzi
has covered Newton’s eyes to emphasise this
metaphorical blindness.
B On the floor Newton attempts to map out
the universe, reducing it to mathematical
proportions. It is this reductive thought of
Newton’s that Blake was particularly critical of.
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22
7: Paolozzi and Ceramics
Plates from Variations on a Geometric Theme, c.1972, Transfer printed bone-china plates
P
aolozzi once stated that ‘as an artist it is
sometimes difficult to draw a line between
‘art’ and ‘craft.’ Despite being best-known as a
sculptor in 1968 Paolozzi was appointed visiting
tutor in the Ceramics Department of the Royal
College of Art, a post which he held until 1989
when he was appointed Visiting Professor. He had
not been trained as a potter and so his approach
to teaching ceramics was to encourage his
students to develop the ideas that underpinned
their work, rather than concentrating on purely
technical concerns. He taught many of the most
significant potters and ceramic artists of the last
40 years, including Glenys Barton, Magdelene
Odundo, Stephen Dixon and Carol McNichol.
Paolozzi designed several ceramic ranges for
companies such as Wedgwood Ltd. and the
German manufacturer Rosenthal. For the
Variations on a Geometric Theme, a dinner
service of plates, he used his collage approach to
design geometric patterns that could be printed
mechanically onto the bone china plates, rather
than the traditional approach to painting by
hand. The process of casting objects in plaster,
which he frequently employed in later years, was
a significant outcome of his understanding of
ceramic casting methods.
23
Paolozzi in Context
P
aolozzi’s diverse style and frequent
exploration into different media has
resulted in an eclectic body of work that can be
contextualised and compared to a wide range
of artists and movements. During the artist’s
crucial stay in Paris during the late 1940s he
was exposed to many European avant-garde
artists, who held a lasting influence on the work
of Paolozzi. It was during this period that Paolozzi
produced his first collages, influenced particularly
by the absurdist collages of Dada artist Max
Ernst. In Paris Paolozzi also produced his first
Surrealist work, in the form of biomorphic bronze
sculptures. This Surrealist influence permeates
much of the artist’s later work including his As is
When series from the 1960s.
Contemporary European philosophy also proved
to be a crucial influence on the work of Paolozzi.
The artist was particularly interested in the
existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and the work
of Ludwig Wittgenstein who inspired his As is
When series.
Andy Warhol, From Marilyn, Screenprint on paper, 1967,
910 x 910 mm
iconic Marilyn images. Paolozzi revisited this
technique again in the late 1960s preferring
the mechanised and detached nature of the
technique.
The genuine enthusiasm for popular culture
and exterior perspective on American mass
consumerism that Paolozzi had during the late
1940s and 1950s is often accredited with the
birth of British Pop Art. The artist along with
Richard Hamilton, Nigel Henderson and critic
Laurence Alloway founded the Independent
Group in 1952, who met at the ICA between
1952 and 1955. In the 1956 exhibition, This
Is Tomorrow, for which Hamilton produced the
iconic poster Just What is it that makes today’s
homes so different, so appealing?, Paolozzi
contributed a l’art brut aesthetic to the Pop Art
movement. Here Paolozzi represented human
figures in anguished and tormented states,
reacting to knowledge of the holocaust and
Hiroshima. Similar expressions of the post war
human condition were explored in the sculpture
of Henry Moore and Giacometti during this
period of uncertainty.
Due to Paolozzi’s interest in blurring the
distinction between high art and popular culture
the artist draws on a wide range of sources
for inspiration, often making direct references
to art and artists. The sources that Paolozzi
draws upon throughout his career include Piet
Mondrian, Michelangelo, ancient Greek and
Roman sculpture, Disney cartoons, American
advertisements and science fiction.
It proves difficult to establish a linear
development in the work of Paolozzi, where
styles, motifs and themes are revisited and
altered frequently by the artist. For example
the mosaic murals that the artist produced for
Tottenham Court Road Underground Station
clearly owes a lot to the Pop Art aesthetic that
he developed in the 1950s and revisited in the
1970s.
In the late 1950s Paolozzi began to explore
the screenprinting process, four years before
American Pop Artist Andy Warhol used it for his
24
Paolozzi in Context
Nigel Henderson and Eduardo Paolozzi for
Hammer Prints Ltd.
Textile Barkcloth, c. 1954
Hand screen-printed on cotton twill by
Hammer Prints Ltd. Target Gallery, London
Marino Marini
Cavallo (Horse), c. 1959
Silk textile, produced by Edinburgh Weavers
Hussey Bequest, Chichester District
Council (1985)
Paolozzi founded Hammer Prints Ltd in 1954 along with Nigel Henderson, whom he met while teaching
at the Central School of Art and Design in London. Together the artists collectively produced eleven
designs that could be printed onto wallpaper, ceramics or textiles. The monochromatic textile Barkcloth
depicts various images of manmade objects including bicycles, glasses and keys. These are shown in
combination with geometric designs of spirals, rough lines and dots. Through this crowded composition
Paolozzi sought to convey what he considered to be the frantic and all-consuming nature of modern
life.
Like Paolozzi, Marino Marini worked predominantly in sculpture throughout his career, although he
did occasionally produce paintings and screenprints including Cavallo. This silk textile depicts two
tiers of stylised black horses in dynamic movement upon a red background. The themes of horses and
horsemen were frequently explored by Marini throughout his career, drawing on ancient Roman and
Etruscan sculpture. The use of brighter colours and dynamism here is typical of Marini’s work from the
1950s where he began to engage with darker and more sinister themes.
25
Paolozzi in Context
•
Paolozzi’s work has been described as an
example of ‘a-focalism’ in art where there is
no singular focal point to the work and each
area is treated with equal attention. Similarly
in Marini’s Cavallo the same horse is repeated
five times without any being more significant
than any other.
•
Paolozzi and Marini are both engaging with
and reacting to contemporary life, to very
different effects. Marini used the archetypal
symbols of the horse and horseman to
question the notion of heroism in the
aftermath of the Second World War, whereas
Paolozzi draws upon more mechanical
iconography in order to depict a frenzied
modern world.
•
The two images both display a reductive and
minimal style, where the artists have chosen
to use only two or three colours on their
two-dimensional designs. Paolozzi may have
chosen this approach due to the fact that
Barkcloth was designed to be reproducible,
whereas Marini’s work is direct in its
expression due to its stylistic simplicity.
•
Throughout his career Paolozzi referenced
iconic ancient sculptures such as Laocoön to
engage with relationship between high art
and popular culture. Marini explores ancient
art in his work by referencing the tradition
of equestrian portraiture in order to discuss
contemporary issues, along with themes of
war and humanity.
26
Paolozzi in Context
Eduardo Paolozzi, Shattered Head, 1956
Bronze on stone base
Private collection, London
Henry Moore, Helmet Head, 1952
Bronze, Hussey Bequest, Chichester District
Council (1985)
In this work Paolozzi has depicted a fragmented and damaged human head, created using the lost wax
technique which was also used to create Large Frog (New Version) and Standing Figure. The sculpture
reflects Paolozzi’s recurring interest in human anguish and existence in the period after the Second
World War. Henry Moore produced a series of Helmet Heads during the early 1950s that dealt with
similar themes. Moore also sought to express his personal anxieties along with wider concerns as a
result of the Second World War and the nuclear threat of the Korean War.
The artists, who here are both working in bronze, approach their subject matter very differently, yet
evoke similar key thoughts and themes. Helmet Head reflects Moore’s distinct working method, where
he believed that ‘truth to material’ was paramount. This approach is also evident in Moore’s earlier
sculptures in wood and stone, where he recognised and utilised the qualities that make a material
unique. In contrast Paolozzi adds to the texture of the bronze by including imprints from found objects
creating a rough and textured final appearance. As a result of Paolozzi’s distinct approach the viewer is
presented with a head that appears distressed and tormented, whereas Moore’s piece has a calm, eerie
and sinister effect. Both works are examples of the artists returning to themes that they had addressed
earlier on in their careers. Paolozzi had fragmented the human head in his Time collages from the early
1950s, while Moore had produced his first Helmet Head a decade earlier, between 1939 and 1940.
Paolozzi and Moore both use the image of the head to represent the concept of human existence,
whilst dealing with contemporary issues. The artists choose depict the motif as a vulnerable shell like
structure, with Paolozzi’s being particularly susceptible to attack.
27
•
The curving organic completeness of Moore’s
work encourages the viewer to engage with
it from multiple perspectives, something that
is true of most of the artist’s Helmet Head
sculptures. The pierced holes in Paolozzi’s
piece make the viewer aware that they are
viewing a hollow structure and even allowing
them to look all the way through the sculpture
to the other side.
•
Both pieces are identifiably human yet are
highly stylised and reduced in form. With
Paolozzi’s work there is minimal detailing in
order to convey wider themes of the human
condition rather than a specific person. Moore
uses a similar approach, reducing the facial
features to their bare minimum. The eyes are
seemingly suggested by two simplistic dots,
although it is unclear to the viewer whether
these part of the helmet, the head or the two
combined.
•
The use of texturing on the right of Moore’s
work generates a shell-like appearance,
emphasising the protective function of the
helmet or head, with the concentric lines
suggestive of organic forms. In Shattered
Head the layering of textures and materials
creates the impression of scarring, reiterating
the anguished nature of the piece.
28
Paolozzi in Context
Eduardo Paolozzi, Jazz, Design for
Underground Mural in Tottenham
Court Road, 1982
Gouache on paper, 41.9 x 29.6 cm,
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Gift through
the Art Fund, 2006)
Howard Hodgkin, Grantchester Road,
1975
Oil on wood panel, 124.5 x 145 cm,
Pallant House Gallery (Wilson Gift through
the Art Fund, 2006)
In 1979 Paolozzi was granted a major commission to create a series of decorative murals for Tottenham
Court Road Underground Station. Through this commission Paolozzi was able to revisit the theme of
man’s relationship with technology, which he had explored in his sculptural works and drawings from
the 1950s. The design here showcases the brightly coloured geometric and linear patterns that were
embodied in the final mosaic decorations of the underground station.
Grantchester Road by Hodgkin demonstrates the artist’s interest in producing emotive and expressive
paintings that engaged with human responses and sensations. The painting reflects a shift in Hodgkin’s
working method during the 1970s, where the artist would produce his work on wooden boards rather
than canvases, in order for them to be more assertive and considered as physical objects. In this
work Hodgkin is depicting Colin St John Wilson’s house in Cambridge using flat geometric motifs in
combination with actual spatial depth.
29
Paolozzi in Context
•
Concentric lines are used in both pieces by
Paolozzi and Hodgkin, generating a level of
flatness upon the picture space. Hodgkin
renders these circular forms with basic shades
of black and white, whereas Paolozzi chooses
a wide range of vibrant colours that cohere to
the design’s overall tone.
•
Both artists use the visual language of
architectural plans focusing predominantly
on two-dimensional circular and rectangular
forms. The works however differ stylistically,
with Paolozzi adopting a more linear and
restrained approach and Hodgkins using an
expressive painterly style.
•
Where Paolozzi’s piece is entirely abstract,
although some designs for the station
were figurative, Hodgkin depicts a partial
human figure in the bottom right corner in
a three-dimensional space. This figure is a
representation of Hogkin himself and provides
a level of scale and human interest into a piece
that could have been entierly abstract.
•
The two pieces are closely asociated with
specific architectural locations, with Paolozzi’s
piece commissioned to decorate a busy,
yet unpersonal public space and Hodgkin’s
representing a private home in Cambridge.
30
Some Important dates in Eduardo Paolozzi’s Life
1924 Born in Edinburgh, Scotland
1940-3 Attends evening classes at Edinburgh Collage of Art, training to become a
commercial artist
1944 Briefly studied at St Martin’s School of Art
1945-7 Studied sculpture at Slade School of Art, then at Oxford
1947-9 Travels to Paris and meets artists such as Georges Braque, Alberto Giacometti and
Tristan Tzara
1949 Begins teaching Textile Design at Central School of Art and Design
1951 Marries Freda Elliot
1952 Delivers his seminal Bunk lecture at the ICA
1953 Starts producing small scale sculptures using the lost wax technique
1955 Collaborates with Nigel Henderson on Hammer Prints and produces textiles, wallpaper and ceramics
1956 Helps to produce a section for the exhibition This is Tomorrow at the Whitechapel Gallery, London
1956 Incorporates found objects into the surfaces of his bronze sculptures
1960 Twenty-two bronze sculptures of Paolozzi’s are exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and receives the award for Best Sculptor
1962-4 Produces a 12 minute film entitled A History of Nothing with filmmaker Denis Postle
1971 Has a major retrospective at Tate Gallery, London
1979 Granted a commission to decorate Tottenham Court Road Underground station
1979-80 Becomes a Royal Academician and is awarded Honorary Doctorates at the Royal College of Art and University of Glasgow
1988 Receives a knighthood from the Queen in the New Years Honours
1997 Unveiling of the bronze sculpture of Sir Isaac Newton that he produced for the
British Library
2005 Dies in London, after a period of illness, aged 81.
31
References and Connections
Biography
went on to flourish in America up until the 1970s
with notable artists such as Andy Warhol and
Roy Lichtenstein being closely associated with
it. The movement generally sought to blur the
distinctions between ‘high art’ and popular
culture, drawing on non-conventional sources for
subject matter, based on everyday iconography.
Surrealism was a radical and intellectual artistic
movement that emerged in Paris during the
1920s and 1930s. Influenced particularly by
the psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud
the group aimed to access the subconscious and
translate it into art.
Biomorphic is a term used to describe abstract
art that is based on natural or organic forms
instead of being geometric.
Dada was a European anarchistic movement
that challenged the conventional traditions
of art, particularly focusing on the notions of
aesthetics, form and beauty. Moving away from
traditional media of painting and sculpture, the
group produced collages, ready-mades and other
unorthodox forms of art.
1. Renewing Surrealism: The Early Work of
Eduardo Paolozzi
Bunk is the name of the lecture that Paolozzi
delivered at the ICA in 1952. It also refers to a
series of collages that the artist produced during
the 1940s and 1950s. The term itself connotes
throwaway and ‘worthless’ culture.
Alberto Giacometti (1901–66) a Swiss artist
who eventually settled in Paris and worked
predominantly in sculpture. After the Second
World War he was closely associated with the
existentialist movement, here he produced
bronze sculptures of tall and thin figures.
Avant-Garde literally translates to ‘advanced
guard’ refers to the 20th century pioneers in the
arts who challenged norms and assumptions.
Art Brut in French literally translates to ‘Raw
Art’. It was a term used by artist Jean Dubuffet
to describe to work of artists who were not
part of the recognised art world. Dubuffet was
influenced by this kind of art which he perceived
as being pure and reflective of the subconscious.
Primitivism is the interest in ‘primitive’ art
largely from Africa and the Pacific Islands. This
style was adopted particularly the Fauvists and
Cubists including Picasso and Matisse.
Independent Group was an informal group of
artists, architects, writers active in the 1950s
who critiqued approaches to modernism and
focused on popular culture in their work.
Iconography is the grouping of symbols or
images that are closely associated to a particular
person, idea or movement.
ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts, London is an
artistic and cultural centre set up to encourage
native contemporary arts.
3. Metamorphosis of Rubbish
Lost wax technique is a process in making
metal sculpture that is thought to have emerged
as early as the 5th century B.C. The process
involves the artist making a wax model of the
desired work, encasing it in clay, and then melting
the wax allowing it to pour out of the clay mould.
A molten metal would then be poured into this
clay mould. After the metal is cooled the clay is
removed to reveal the complete metal sculpture.
Popular Culture is a broad term that refers to
cultural activities or objects aimed to appeal to
large masses of people.
Pop Art The term was first used by Independent
Group member Laurence Alloway in 1958 to
describe the style of work that emerged in
Britain during the early 1950s. The movement
32
Existentialism is a philosophy that focuses
primarily on ideas of human experience and
personal existence. It was most popular and
influential in artistic circles during the first half of
the twentieth century.
Paolozzi in Context
Francis Bacon (1909-92) was an internationally
renowned English painter. He is perhaps best
known for his depictions of trapped and
anguished human figures, which referenced Old
Master paintings and were stylistically influenced
by Expressionism and Surrealism.
This is Tomorrow was an exhibition held at the
Whitechapel Gallery in 1956 led by members of
the Independent Group. The show focused on
modern life and drew on contemporary popular
culture.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was
an Austrian philosopher who was interested
relationships between language, art and the world.
Henry Moore (1898-1986) was an
English artist and arguably the best known
British sculptor of the twentieth century. He
experimented with various materials throughout
his career, focusing particularly on interpretations
of the human figure.
4. The History of Nothing
Max Ernst (1891-1976) a German born
artist who later became a leading member of
the Surrealist movement. The artist produced
collages during his career and paintings of dreamlike and irrational scenarios.
5. Language Games: Prints and Sculpture in
the 1960s
Screenprinting is a type of printmaking
that grew popular as the result of British and
American Pop Artists using the method during
the 1960s. The process involves pressing ink
through a screen on which stencils are laid over,
in order to create an image.
6. Public Monuments and Late Works
William Blake (1757-1827) was a
nonconformist English painter and poet who
is now widely regarded as a visionary genius.
Blake believed that the arts could provide a new
perspective onto the world, which he felt had
become ridden with doubt and uncertainty.
33
Compiled and written by:
Katy Norris, Curatorial Assistant
Louise Bristow, Freelance Designer
Natalie Franklin, Learning Programme Coordinator
n.franklin@pallant.org.uk, 01243 770839
Telephone 01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1TJ