Eduardo Paolozzi

Eduardo Paolozzi, the “father of Pop Art” was born in the U.K. of Italian parents in 1924 . He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1944 to 1947.

Paolozzi's early influences include his fascination with machinery, surrealism and art brut. In Paris, after the war, Paolozzi collected material from American magazines (e.g. war images, superheroes, fizzy drinks, glamorous people and fitted kitchens) to assemble in scrapbooks. Collages and cut-outs from magazines featured in his first exhibition in 1947. These “Bunk” collages were an important stage in the development of the Pop Art movement, and influenced much of Paolozzi's later work.

Richard Hamilton and Paolozzi were founding members of the Independent Group. This was a group of artists and intellectuals who developed a form of modernism. They were interested in contemporary culture, including the popular visual culture of America with its more sophisticated advertising, glamour and luxury products. In 1952, Paolozzi projected a rapid succession of his collages in an event at the Institute for Contemporary Art which was seen as the first meeting for the Independent Group. This exhibition was the first of many for the Independent Group who met to discuss topics as varied as cybernetics, mass media, industrial design, pop music, violence in the cinema and automobile styling.

The term “Pop” was initially used by the Independent Group to signify popular culture at large not a particular type of art. In the later 1950s and early 1960s the term came to signify a particular style of art that drew on popular imagery such as advertisements. It was first used in this way to apply to former Independent Group artists such as Paolozzi and Hamilton. Later, it was applied to artists at the Royal College of Art such as Peter Blake, and the American artists in New York such as Lichtenstein and Warhol.

Paolozzi taught textile design at the Central School of Art, London (1947-50) and sculpture at St Martin 's School of Art , London (1955-58). From 1968, Paolozzi was visiting professor at University of California , Berkeley , and lecturer in ceramics at the Royal College of Art, London . From 1977, he was Professor in Ceramics at Fachhochschule, Cologne , Germany . In 1952, Paolozzi showed at the Venice Biennale and in 1956 he exhibited at the “This is Tomorrow” exhibition at White Chapel Gallery.

Also a prodigious sculptor, Paolozzi won an important commission as early as 1951 for a fountain for the Festival of Britain. Today, people can see his work in many public places such as his mosaic at Tottenham Court Road tube station and his statue at Birmingham University . Paolozzi even designed the cover of Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway album! Paolozzi's importance to modern British art was acknowledged in 1988 when he was knighted. His works continue to be displayed in private as well as public exhibitions worldwide.