RICHARD HAMILTON

Study for a Fashion Plate (B)

1969

Courtesy :

Pop Art came to the fore in Britain between 1952 and 1953, when the Independent Group, a movement made up of artists (Hamilton, Paolozzi), architects (Alison, P. Smithson),
photographers (N. Hendersen) and critics (Alloway) began to look at popular culture and its new icons. Hamilton’s art has always followed two guidelines: irony and formal elegance. All his works contain new and grotesque interpretations of contemporary culture, which skilfully alternate and unite different expressive techniques ranging from collages to oil paintings. The Cosmetic Studies series began in 1969. Fragments of photographs taken from fashion magazines were recomposed on canvas to form the picture of a face, and the work was finished off by using cosmetics. The collage preserves its aesthetic refinement, mindful of Picasso’s example, but the introduction of the everyday element takes place on various levels. What goes into the picture is not the phenomenal world but a degree of reality which has already been filtered by the media: the make-up he uses represents the last, sumptuous touch of fiction. In Fashion Plate we can see the face of Sophia Loren, an icon of the international film world. The faces of Warhol’s stars were repeated again and again, whereas Hamilton’s are ready under the floodlights to make a sole, triumphant entry into the world of art.

Pop Art came to the fore in Britain between 1952 and 1953, when the Independent Group, a movement made up of artists (Hamilton, Paolozzi), architects (Alison, P. Smithson), photographers (N. Hendersen) and critics (Alloway) began to look at popular culture and its new icons. Hamilton’s art has always followed two guidelines: irony and formal elegance. All his works contain new and grotesque interpretations of contemporary culture, which skilfully alternate and unite different expressive techniques ranging from collages to oil paintings. The Cosmetic Studies series began in 1969. Fragments of photographs taken from fashion magazines were recomposed on canvas to form the picture of a face, and the work was finished off by using cosmetics. The collage preserves its aesthetic refinement, mindful of Picasso’s example, but the introduction of the everyday element takes place on various levels. What goes into the picture is not the phenomenal world but a degree of reality which has already been filtered by the media: the make-up he uses represents the last, sumptuous touch of fiction, as Study for a Fashion Plate (B) shows. In Fashion Plate, instead, we can see the face of Sophia Loren, an icon of the international film world. The faces of Warhol’s stars were repeated again and again, whereas Hamilton’s are ready under the floodlights to make a sole, triumphant entry into the world of art.

Fashion Plate (Cosmetic Study XI)

1969

Londra 1922
Born in London on February 24, 1922. In 1936 he discovered his talents as a designer while working for a firm turning out electric components. He attended evening classes at ...
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