PAOLOZZI, SIR EDUARDO (British, 1924-2005)

After studying at the Edinburgh College of Art and later at the Slade School, London. Paolozzi went to Paris in 1947, where he met Giacometti and studied works of Miro, Klee, the Surrealist and Dadaist.
His first solo exhibition in London was held at the Mayor Gallery, 1947. By the time of his first New York exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery, 1960, he was already represented at Venice Biennale, 1952, Sao Paulo Bienal, 1957, Documenta II, Kassel, 1959.
He was an influential teacher at the Central School of Art, London, 1949-55; St Martin’s School, London, 1955-8 and from 1968 at the Royal College of Art, London.
Paolozzi by the late 1940s already embraced a wide range of mass-produced objects, scientific diagrams, science fiction illustrations and other products of modern society. His interest in popular culture was stimulated by his contact with Dubuffet in France. He was a leading figure in the Independent Group at ICA in the 1950s, and was represented in the This is Tomorrow exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in 1956 .
His sculptures of the 50s likewise contain elements that would later metamorphose into Pop. His true emergence as a Pop artist occurred only in 1962, when he began to produce imposing abstracted figures cast in various metals and also collage based screen-prints, which are among his most important contributions to the history of Pop, As is When portfolio of 1965, is loosely based on the life and work of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
His first one man exhibition of sculpture was held at the Mayor Gallery, London in 1967, followed by show at the Marlborough Gallery in 1976 showing his work of the 1970s.
He was elected RA in 1979 and knighted in 1988.

Public collections include:
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
Museum of Modern Art, New York,Tate, London