[O]pening on Friday 14 July, the award-winning Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, presents Painting Pop. This must-see summer exhibition celebrates British Pop Art from the early 1960s, including work by Sir Peter Blake, Pauline Boty, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney and Allen Jones borrowed from major collections such as Tate, National Portrait Gallery and Government Art Collection.
The exhibition is a colourful and striking celebration of British Pop painting. It focuses on the period around 1962, a pivotal year for Pop Art in Britain, with a number of important solo and group shows taking place in London, including Four Young Artists at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Image in Progress at the Grabowski Gallery.
This was a crucial time for the general public’s awareness of Pop, as well as a more rooted and growing interest in popular culture. In the UK, the end of all food rationing in 1954 resulted in the start of consumer culture and brand marketing.
Post-war Britain experienced a burgeoning freedom of expression in young adults following the austerity of the immediate period after WW2, and mainstream media were picking up on the current trends in painting as much as the rise in celebrity and the phenomena of fanaticism emerging in teenage behaviour.
1962 was also the year that The Beatles released their debut single ‘Love Me Do’, and when Ken Russell’s film ‘Pop Goes the Easel’, commissioned from for BBC’s Monitor arts’ strand, was broadcast on television first in March 1962. About the lives of four hip and swinging painters, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty and Peter Philips, the film was aired mere months before Abbot Hall Art Gallery opened its doors to the public for the first time – at the start of the decade that would later bring televised footage of the moon landings and England’s World Cup winning moment transmitted into people’s homes.
Painting Pop enquires about just what it was that made paint as a medium so appealing for the young artists emerging from art school in the 1960s. This seeming contradiction between modern, disposable pop culture and a traditional ‘high art’ painting medium is one of several themes explored in this show. Additional topics examined include, ‘History in the Making’, looking at political and historical events depicted in paintings by artists such as Allen Jones and Patrick Caulfield and ‘Product Displacement’ with paintings by Richard Smith, Peter Blake and Derek Boshier, that take prominent brands and logos as a source of inspiration both to celebrate and critique contemporary culture. Paintings by Peter Blake and RB Kitaj incorporate collage and real objects. Where Blake’s work evolves towards the three-dimensional, so does Richard Smith’s Alpine – a form made of painted canvas that expands from the wall.
The exhibition presents works by leading artists in British Pop Art who have made a significant contribution to the development of twentieth century and contemporary art practice. The show presents loans from the Tate collection by Allen Jones and David Hockney, as well as Richard Hamilton’s Towards a definitive statement on the coming trends in menswear and accessories (a) Together let us explore the stars, featuring John F Kennedy peering from behind a space helmet. Significant loans are also borrowed from the National Portrait Gallery, Arts Council Collection, and the Royal College of Art – a crucible for Pop painting during this time, as many of the artists in the exhibition met whilst studying there. Another RCA graduate included in the show is Pauline Boty, a largely forgotten artist, represented by her painting Colour Her Gone. This portrait of Marilyn Monroe is shown alongside other important works from public and private collections.
While Peter Blake is renowned for his concept and design work on The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heartsclub Band record sleeve, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Richard Hamilton receives perhaps less recognition for the artwork he created for The Beatles’ White Album in 1968. Hamilton was also a major influence on 1970s glam rock band Roxy Music, through teaching Brian Ferry in Modern Art at Newcastle University in the mid 1960s. This exhibition traces back the work of these artists, and their contemporaries, to a time in the earlier 60s before they became known by The Beatles. For many people, Pop Art means Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns, this bold, witty and thought-provoking show proves that painting in Britain in the 1960s could be just as inspirational and iconic as that of the Americans.
Painting Pop continues Abbot Hall’s long-standing reputation for bringing artworks rarely seen before in the North West. To complement Painting Pop Abbot Hall will be showing the complete series of A Rakes Progress developed by David Hockney, one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century.
Events
Accompanying the exhibition will be an events programme. This includes a series of talks, live music and family friendly activities to involve everyone in the electrifying world of Pop. More information about these events can be found on the Abbot Hall website.
Director of Programming at Lakeland Arts, Helen Watson commented: “Painting Pop at Abbot Hall Art Gallery is the absolute must-see show of the summer, with a selection of dynamic and thought-provoking paintings. We have also developed a 1960s style living room as part of the exhibition for visitors to immerse themselves in the swinging sixties.”
Abbot Hall Art Gallery is open Monday – Saturday from 10.30am – 5pm, Sundays in July & August from 12pm – 4pm. Entry for adults costs £7.70 (including Gift Aid) / £7, while ‘Friends’ of Abbot Hall, Under 16’s and full time students are free. For more information on Abbot Hall visit abbothall.org.uk.
