EDUARDO PAOLOZZI

Eduardo Paolozzi Biography

 

 

Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, CBE, FRA, (1924-2005)

Sphinx by Eduardo Paolozzi is an example of the artist's fascination with both non-Western cultures and the industrialized world.

The son of Italian immigrants, Eduardo Paolozzi was born in Edinburgh and studied at the Edinburgh College of Art in 1943, then briefly at the St Martin's School of Art in 1944, followed by the Slade School of Art in London from 1944 to 1947, after which he worked in Paris.

His early collage works which take images from US popular culture have been described as precursors to the Pop Art movement of the 60's and were groundbreaking for post-war Britain. Paolozzi was also strongly associated with the Surrealists. However, his experiments with geometric abstraction and cubism extend his artistic vocabulary well beyond Surrealism.

Paolozzi obsessively collected objects of all kinds including works of art from non-Western cultures. Like Picasso, he often used objets trouvés to construct his sculptures. He would either incorporate bits of machinery into his work of press the metal parts into wax maquettes, leaving an impression which would then be cast in bronze. These objects helped him explore his fascination with industrialism and the relationship between humanity and machines.

In 1994 Paolozzi gave the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art a large collection of his works and the contents of his studio. The Dean Gallery displays this collection with a recreation of Paolozzi's studio.

During the 1980s Paolozzi produced a considerable number of public sculptures, such as the portrait of the Expressionist theatre director Erwin Piscator (1980-81) in Euston Square, London. Others include the mosaic decorations (1980-83) for Tottenham Court Road underground station in London.

Paolozzi was awarded the Order of British Empire in 1968 and in 1979 he was elected to the Royal Acadeym. He became Her Majesty's Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland in 1986, holding the office until his death. He became Sir Eduardo upon his knighthood in 1989

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Drawings and Sculptures, Mayor Gallery, 1947
Sculpture, Hanover Gallery, London, 1958
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1960
30th Venice Biennale; retrospective in British Pavilion, then touring to Belgrade, Paris, Bochum, Brussels, Oslo, Denmark, Amsterdam, Baden-Baden and Tübingen
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1962
Waddington Galleries, London, 1963
Recent Sculpture and Collage, Robert Fraser Gallery, London, 1964
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1965
Sculptures, Collages, Graphics, Chelsea School of Art, London
As is When, Editions Alecto, London
Recent Sculpture, Pace Gallery, New York, 1966
Robert Fraser Gallery, London
Scottish National Gallery of Art, Edinburgh
Hanover Gallery, London, 1967
Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo, Holland
Universal Electronic Vacuum, Alecto Gallery, London
Pace Gallery, New York
Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, 1968
Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf
Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 1969
Galerie Mikro, West Berlin
Goeteborgs Konstmuseum
Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 1970
Tate Gallery, London (Retrospective), 1971
The Conditional Probability Machine, St Katharine's Gallery, 1972
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and touring, 1973
Galerie Wentzel, Hamburg, 1974
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, 1975
Nationalgalerie, West Berlin (retrospective)
Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
Ausstellung Kunsthalle, Bremen
Arts Council of Great Britain, touring exhibition
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (Scottish Arts Council), 1976
Marlborough Fine Art, London
Galerie Renate Fassbender, München, 1977
Victoria and Albert Musuem, London (print retrospective)
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel, 1978
The Development of an Idea, Glasgow League of Artists, Glasgow, Scotland and touring to Crawford Centre, University of St Andrews, Scotland; Talbot Rice Arts Centre, University of Edinburgh, 1979
Works in Progress, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln
Eduardo Paolozzi: Private Vision - Public Art, The Architectural Organisation, London, 1984
Eduardo Paolozzi Underground, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1986
Paolozzi Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1988
Artificial Horizons and Eccentric Ladders, The British Council, 1996
Bunk! Flowers Central, London, 2004
Works on Paper and Collage, Flowers, New York
Paolozzi at 80, Dean Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

Major Awards

British Critics Prize, 1953
David E.Bright Foundation award for best sculptor under 45, 30th Venice Bienalle, 1960
Purchase Prize at International Sculpture Exhibition, Solomon R.Gugenheim Museum, New York, 1967
First prize for Sculpture at Carneige International Exhibition for Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Pittsburgh
Saltire Society award for ceiling panels and window tapestries, at Cleish Castle, Scotland, Mayor Gallery, 1975
Commission award in closed competition of sculpture for European Patent Office, Munich, 1978
First Prize in closed competition for development of Rhinegarten, Cologne, 1980
Saltire Society award for cast aluminium doors, Hunterian Gallery, University of Glasgow, 1981
Grand Prix d'Honneur, 15th International Biennale, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, at the Mayor Gallery, 1983

Notable Works:

The mosaic patterned walls of the Tottenham Court Road tube station
The cover of Paul McCartney's album Red Rose Speedway
The ceiling panels and window tapestry at Cleish Castle
The "Piscator" sculpture outside Euston Station London
Relief aluminium doors for the University of Glasgow's Hunterian Gallery
Display cases in the Museum of Scotland
The bronze sculpture Newton, after William Black, 1955m, 1995, in the piazza of the British Library


Selected Public Collections

Art Gallery of Ontario
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Bolton Museums and Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
Peggy Giggenheim Collection
Royal College of Art
Roche Court - New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish Arts Council
Sotheby's Institute of Art
Steinberg Collection
Tate Gallery
The Aldrich Collection
The Arts Council England
The British Library
The London Transport Art Collection
The Royal Academy of Arts
University at Albany-State University of New York
University of Birmingham
University of Dundee
Whitworth Art Gallery
Worcester Art Gallery