Eduardo Paolozzi 1924-2005
Sculptor, printmaker, artist in collages, gouaches and watercolours; writer. Born in Edinburgh, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1942, and the Slade School, London, 1943-7. From 1947 to 1950 he worked in Paris, meeting with Giacometti and studying the work of Miro, Klee, the Surrealists and Dadaists. His first solo exhibition was a show of drawings at the Mayor Gallery in 1947. His interest in popular culture was stimulated by his contact with Dubuffet in France, and he was a leading figure in the Independent Group at the ICA in the 1950s. Thereafter he exhibited at leading London galleries including the Hanover Gallery, the Tate Gallery 1971, and the Serpentine Gallery 1987. He has exhibited regularly abroad and in major group exhibitions including Aspects of British Art Today, Tokyo 1982. His work was also shown in the 1952 Venice Biennale. The many public collections holding his work include the Tate Gallery and MOMA, New York. He has taught at the Central School of Art 1949-55, St Martin’s School 1955-58, and from 1968 at the RCA. He was Visiting Professor, Hochschule Fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg 1960-62, Professor of Ceramics, Fachhochschule, Koln 1977-82, Professor at the International Summer Academy, Salzburg 1981-82, and since 1981 Professor of Sculpture, Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Munich. He became RA in 1979, CBE in 1968 and in 1986 Her Majesty’s Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland. His environmental sculpture commissions include Three Fountains, Hamburg, 1953. His early sculpture used a collage technique: incorporating mechanical objects into the cast of semi-abstract, robotic figures. Later work has become more architectural and abstract, using machine-made components assembled by technicians. His writings, collages and prints explore the creation of a personal language influenced by the writing of Wittgenstein and his own interest in modern technology.
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Sculptor, printmaker, artist in collages, gouaches and watercolours; writer. Born in Edinburgh, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1942, and the Slade School, London, 1943-7. From 1947 to 1950 he worked in Paris, meeting with Giacometti and studying the work of Miro, Klee, the Surrealists and Dadaists. His first solo exhibition was a show of drawings at the Mayor Gallery in 1947. His interest in popular culture was stimulated by his contact with Dubuffet in France, and he was a leading figure in the Independent Group at the ICA in the 1950s. Thereafter he exhibited at leading London galleries including the Hanover Gallery, the Tate Gallery 1971, and the Serpentine Gallery 1987. He has exhibited regularly abroad and in major group exhibitions including Aspects of British Art Today, Tokyo 1982. His work was also shown in the 1952 Venice Biennale. The many public collections holding his work include the Tate Gallery and MOMA, New York. He has taught at the Central School of Art 1949-55, St Martin’s School 1955-58, and from 1968 at the RCA. He was Visiting Professor, Hochschule Fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg 1960-62, Professor of Ceramics, Fachhochschule, Koln 1977-82, Professor at the International Summer Academy, Salzburg 1981-82, and since 1981 Professor of Sculpture, Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Munich. He became RA in 1979, CBE in 1968 and in 1986 Her Majesty’s Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland. His environmental sculpture commissions include Three Fountains, Hamburg, 1953. His early sculpture used a collage technique: incorporating mechanical objects into the cast of semi-abstract, robotic figures. Later work has become more architectural and abstract, using machine-made components assembled by technicians. His writings, collages and prints explore the creation of a personal language influenced by the writing of Wittgenstein and his own interest in modern technology.
In 1994, Paolozzi gave the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art a large body of his works, and much of the content of his studio. In 1999 the National Galleries of Scotland opened the Dean Gallery to display this collection. The gallery displays include a recreation of Paolozzi’s studio.
In 2013, Pallant House Gallery in Chichester held a major retrospective Eduardo Paolozzi: Collaging Culture (6 July −13 October 2013), featuring more than 100 of the artist’s works, including sculpture, drawings, textile, film, ceramics and paper collage. Pallant House Gallery has an extensive collection of Paolozzi’s work given and loaned by the architect Colin St John Wilson, who commissioned Paolozzi’s sculpture Newton After Blake for the British Library.
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Recent Exhibition Catalogue
