Richard Hamilton (artist)
Richard Hamilton | |
---|---|
Slade School of Art University College London | |
Known for | Collage, painting, graphics |
Notable work | Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? |
Movement | Pop art |
Richard William Hamilton CH (24 February 1922 – 13 September 2011) was an English painter and collage artist. His 1955 exhibition Man, Machine and Motion (Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne) and his 1956 collage Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, are considered by critics and historians to be among the earliest works of pop art.[1] A major retrospective of his work was at Tate Modern in 2014.[2]
Early life
Hamilton was born in Pimlico, London on 24 February 1922.[3] Despite having left school with no formal qualifications, he managed to gain employment as an apprentice working at an electrical components firm, where he discovered an ability for draughtsmanship and began to do painting at evening classes[4] at Saint Martin's School of Art and at the Westminster School of Art.[5][6] In 1938, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts.[4]
After spending World War II working as a technical draftsman, he re-enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools
1950s–1960s
Hamilton's early work was much influenced by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's 1917 text On Growth and Form. In 1951, Hamilton staged an exhibition called Growth and Form at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. A pioneering form of installation art, it featured scientific models, diagrams and photographs presented as a unified artwork.[8] In 1952, at the first Independent Group meeting, held at the ICA, Hamilton was introduced to Eduardo Paolozzi's seminal presentation of collages produced in the late 1940s and early 1950s that are now considered to be the first standard bearers of Pop Art.[1][7] Also in 1952, he was introduced to the Green Box notes of Marcel Duchamp through Roland Penrose, whom Hamilton had met at the ICA. At the ICA, Hamilton was responsible for the design and installation of a number of exhibitions including one on James Joyce and The Wonder and the Horror of the Human Head that was curated by Penrose. It was also through Penrose that Hamilton met Victor Pasmore who gave him a teaching post in the Fine Art Department of Durham University at Newcastle upon Tyne, which lasted until 1966. Among the students Hamilton tutored at Newcastle in this period were Rita Donagh, Mark Lancaster, Tim Head, Roxy Music founder Bryan Ferry and Ferry's visual collaborator Nicholas de Ville. Hamilton's influence can be found in the visual styling and approach of Roxy Music. He described Ferry as "his greatest creation".[9] Ferry repaid the compliment, naming him in 2010 as the living person he most admired, saying "he greatly influenced my ways of seeing art and the world".[10]
Hamilton gave a 1959 lecture, "Glorious Technicolor, Breathtaking Cinemascope and Stereophonic Sound", a phrase taken from a Cole Porter lyric in the 1957 musical Silk Stockings. In that lecture, which sported a pop soundtrack and the demonstration of an early Polaroid camera, Hamilton deconstructed the technology of cinema to explain how it helped to create Hollywood’s allure. He further developed that theme in the early 1960s with a series of paintings inspired by film stills and publicity shots.[11]
The post at the ICA also afforded Hamilton the time to further his research on Duchamp, which resulted in the 1960 publication of a typographic version of Duchamp's Green Box, which comprised Duchamp's original notes for the design and construction of his famous work
The success of This Is Tomorrow secured Hamilton further teaching assignments in particular at the Royal College of Art from 1957 to 1961, where he promoted David Hockney and Peter Blake. During this period Hamilton was also very active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and produced a work parodying the then leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell for rejecting a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. In the early 1960s he received a grant from the Arts Council to investigate the condition of the Kurt Schwitters Merzbau in Cumbria. The research eventually resulted in Hamilton organising the preservation of the work by relocating it to the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle University Fine Art Department.[16]
In his works, Hamilton frequently incorporated the materials of consumer society. Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? (1956) used American magazines, brought back from the United States by John McHale and Magda Cordell. Hamilton also incorporated pieces of plastic directly into his collages. In Pin-up (1961), a mixed-media work exploring the female nude, sculpted plastic was used for the breasts of the nude figure. $he (1959–1961) incorporated a plastic holographic eye, given to Hamilton by Herbert Ohl. [4] The use of plastics has created significant challenges in conserving Hamilton's works. As early as 1964, when Pin-up and $he were loaned for a solo show of Hamilton's works at the Hanover Gallery in London, they were found to be cracked, with plastic lifting off the supporting surfaces. Hamilton experimented with materials, including plywood, acrylic glass, and plasticizers, and worked closely with conservators to repair his works and develop better techniques for incorporating and conserving plastics in artworks.[4]
In 1962 his first wife Terry was killed in a car accident. In part to recover from her loss, in 1963 Hamilton travelled for the first time to the United States for a retrospective of the works of
In 1968, Hamilton appeared in a Brian De Palma film titled Greetings where Hamilton portrays a pop artist showing a "Blow Up" image.[19] The film was Robert De Niro's first motion picture, and the first film in the United States to appeal an X rating.[20]
From the mid-1960s, Hamilton was represented by
In 1969, Hamilton appeared in a documentary by filmmaker
1970s–2011
During the 1970s, Richard Hamilton enjoyed international acclaim with a number of major exhibitions being organised of his work. Hamilton had found a new companion in painter Rita Donagh. Together they set about converting North End, a farm in the Oxfordshire countryside, into a home and studios. "By 1970, always fascinated by new technology, Hamilton was redirecting advances in product design into fine art, with the backing of xartcollection, Zurich, a young company that pioneered the production of multiples with the aim of bringing art to a wider audience."[23] Hamilton realised a series of projects that blurred the boundaries between artwork and product design including a painting that incorporated a state-of-the-art radio receiver and the casing of a Dataindustrier AB computer. During the 1980s Hamilton again voyaged into industrial design and designed two computer exteriors: OHIO computer prototype (for a Swedish firm named Isotron, 1984) and DIAB DS-101 (for Dataindustrier AB, 1986). As part of a television project, 1987 BBC series Painting with Light[24] Hamilton was introduced to the Quantel Paintbox[25] and subsequently purchased one for his studio to produce and modify his work.[26][27][28]
From the late 1970s Hamilton’s activity was concentrated largely on investigations of printmaking processes, often in unusual and complex combinations.[15] In 1977–78 Hamilton undertook a series of collaborations with the artist Dieter Roth that also blurred the definitions of the artist as sole author of their work.
In 1992, Richard Hamilton was commissioned by the BBC[29] to recreate his famous art piece, Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? but only this time, as to what he felt the average household would be like during the 1990s. Instead of the male body builder, he used an accountant working at a desk. Instead of the female icon, he used a world class female body builder.
In 1981 Hamilton began work on a trilogy of paintings based on the conflict in Northern Ireland after watching a television documentary about the "Blanket" protest organized by
From the late 1940s Richard Hamilton was engaged with a project to produce a suite of illustrations for James Joyce's
Hamilton died on 13 September 2011, at the age of 89.
Exhibitions
The first exhibition of Hamilton's paintings was shown at the Hanover Gallery, London, in 1955. In 1993 Hamilton represented Great Britain at the
In 2011
Collections
The Tate Gallery has a comprehensive collection of Hamilton's work from across his career.[38] In 1996, the Kunstmuseum Winterthur received a substantial gift of Hamilton's prints, making the museum the largest repository of the artist's prints in the world.[17]
Recognition
Hamilton was awarded the William and Noma Copley Foundation Award, 1960; the John Moores Painting Prize, 1969; the Talens Prize International, 1970; the Leone d’Oro for his exhibition in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 1993; the Arnold Bode Prize at Documenta X, Kassel, 1997; and the Max Beckmann Prize for Painting of the City of Frankfurt, 2006. He was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2000. He was presented with a special award by The Bogside Artists of Derry at the Royal College of Art in 2010. The School of Arts building at Oxford Brookes University is named in his honour.
Art market
Hamilton has been represented by The Robert Fraser Gallery. The Alan Cristea Gallery in London is the distributor of Hamilton's prints.
References
- ^ a b Livingstone, M., (1990), Pop Art: A Continuing History, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
- ^ a b "Richard Hamilton – Exhibition at Tate Modern". Tate. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ a b Lynton, Norbert (13 September 2011). "Richard Hamilton obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Filipowska, Roksana (2016). "Richard Hamilton's Plastic Problem". Distillations. 2 (3): 34–39.
- ISBN 1-85149-106-6.
- ^ a b c "Richard Hamilton". Guggenheim Collection Online. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ a b "Richard Hamilton 1922-2011". Tate. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ "University of Dundee Museum Collections".
- ^ "Tributes paid to Hamilton, the artist who 'created' Bryan Ferry". HeraldScotland. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (23 October 2010). "Q&A: Bryan Ferry". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- New York Times.
- ^ "This is tomorrow" Archived 15 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, thisistomorrow2.com (scroll to "image 027TT-1956.jpg"). Retrieved 27 August 2008.
- ^ Paul Levy (12 March 2010), Richard Hamilton, 88 and Going Strong The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Richard Hamilton Alan Christea Gallery, London.
- ^ a b Richard Hamilton Museum of Modern Art, New York.
- ^ "Kurt Schwitters and the Merz Barn Wall". Hatton Gallery. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
- ^ New York Times.
- ^ Bery, Bryony (2016). "Through The Large Glass: Richard Hamilton's Reframing of Marcel Duchamp". Tate Papers. 26 (Autumn). Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-0918432643. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-0809328888.
- New York Times.
- ^ "Richard Hamilton (1969)". BFI. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ PASSPORTS: Great Early Buys From The British Council Collection Archived 9 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine British Council.
- ^ John A. Walker, ARTS TV: A history of arts television in Britain
- ^ "The Quantel Paintbox". www.quantelpaintbox.com. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ 'Painting With Light' Episode 6: Richard Hamilton's first digital art created on a Quantel Paintbox, retrieved 17 February 2024
- ^ Tate. "'The Orangeman', Richard Hamilton, 1990". Tate. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ "Richard Hamilton | Portrait of Dieter Roth". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ QED: Art and Chips Richard Hamilton on a Quantel Paintbox 1992, retrieved 17 February 2024
- ^ "The citizen 1981-3". Tate Collection. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ Richard Hamilton, Daily Telegraph, 13 September 2011, retrieved 12 December 2011
- ^ a b Jackie Wullschlager (11 October 2012), Richard Hamilton: The Late Works, National Gallery, London Financial Times.
- ^ "Richard Hamilton - Protest Pictures". Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Pop art pioneer Richard Hamilton dies at the age of 89". BBC News. 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Safety Curtain 2001/2002", museum in progress, Vienna.
- ^ Bloomberg.com Richard Hamilton, Father of British Pop Art, Dies at Age 89 13 September 2011 (Retrieved 25 September 2011)
- ^ "Minneapolis Institute of Art". new.artsmia.org. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ Tate. "Search results". Tate. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ Richard Hamilton Alan Cristea Gallery, London.
- ^ "Contemporary art evening, Sotheby's, February 2006". Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ Todd White (18 June 2014), Artist Richard Hamilton’s Biggest Show Insured at $157 Million Bloomberg.
Bibliography
- Lucy R. Lippard, Pop Art, London, Thames and Hudson, 1985
- Richard Hamilton, Collected Words 1953-1982, New York, Thames and Hudson, 1983
- David Robbins (ed.), The Independent Group: Postwar Britain and the Aesthetics of Plenty, MIT Press, 1990
- Richard Hamilton (exhibition catalogue), London, Tate Gallery, 1992
- Etienne Lullin, Richard Hamilton, Stephen Coppel (eds.), Richard Hamilton: Prints and Multiples 1939-2002, Richter, 2004
- John Richardson, Richard Cork, Richard Hamilton, Hamilton, Dickinson, 2006
- Hal Foster and Alex Bacon (eds.), Richard Hamilton, London, The MIT Press, 2010
- Fanny Singer, Immaculate Conception: Richard Hamilton's digital prints, Cambridge University Ph.D dissertation, 2013
External links
- The Guardian: Obituary, Richard Hamilton, the original pop artist dies at 89
- Footage of Richard Hamilton who was interviewed on his 2001 Polaroid exhibition in Birmingham, UK
- Richard Hamilton: Pop Daddy, from an interview by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Tate Magazine
- Hal Foster, On the First Pop Age, New Left Review
- Richard Hamilton, Catalogue
- exhibitions with Richard Hamilton Archived 27 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- Hamilton New York 2006
- Richard Hamilton works in the Tate Collection
- Richard Hamilton's illustrations of Ulysses
- Excerpts from a 2003 conversation with Richard Hamilton (podcast)
- Richard Hamilton in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler Collection