This is how is known Richard Hamilton. Born in London in 1922, he is enshrined as the “Father of Pop” in 1956 with the collage titled “Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?”. In those years, Hamilton founded the Independent Group (1952) at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, with Eduardo Paolozzi, Lawrence Alloway and other architects, that started to develop the Pop Art in England. He declared, however, that he didn’t feel completely aligned with the term.

The Independent Group was interested in science, subjective perceptions, and mass culture. They assumed that capitalism and post-war consumerism were definitely changing societies in front of their eyes. For Hamilton, the 50’s were a “momentous moment for humanity”. His reflection about Pop phenomenon was made being inside of it, living the paradox.

Marcel Duchamp was the focus of his researches and the inspiration to his philosophy of art. He translated to the notes of “The Green Box” (1934) -a verbally description of “The Large Glass” (1915-23), a work that Duchamp considered as a visual compilation of his ideas-, admiring the systematic need of contradiction, compensation, balance, of Duchamp’s work.

In fact, Hamilton finds in Duchamp’s disclosed paradigm of “ready-made significances” a new structure to feel that particular time and ask about what was happening. And he didn’t change his point of view. Less surprised, his recent work exhibited at London’s Serpentine Gallery, “Hamilton’s Modern Moral Matters” (2010) was focused on his political and protests perspectives. Richard Hamilton’s retrospective is expected for the next year in London, Philadelphia, and Madrid.This is how is known Richard Hamilton. Born in London in 1922, he is enshrined as the “Father of Pop” in 1956 with the collage titled “Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?”. In those years, Hamilton founded the Independent Group (1952) at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, with Eduardo Paolozzi, Lawrence Alloway and other architects, that started to develop the Pop Art in England. He declared, however, that he didn’t feel completely aligned with the term.

The Independent Group was interested in science, subjective perceptions, and mass culture. They assumed that capitalism and post-war consumerism were definitely changing societies in front of their eyes. For Hamilton, the 50’s were a “momentous moment for humanity”. His reflection about Pop phenomenon was made being inside of it, living the paradox.

Marcel Duchamp was the focus of his researches and the inspiration to his philosophy of art. He translated to the notes of “The Green Box” (1934) -a verbally description of “The Large Glass” (1915-23), a work that Duchamp considered as a visual compilation of his ideas-, admiring the systematic need of contradiction, compensation, balance, of Duchamp’s work.

In fact, Hamilton finds in Duchamp’s disclosed paradigm of “ready-made significances” a new structure to feel that particular time and ask about what was happening. And he didn’t change his point of view. Less surprised, his recent work exhibited at London’s Serpentine Gallery, “Hamilton’s Modern Moral Matters” (2010) was focused on his political and protests perspectives. Richard Hamilton’s retrospective is expected for the next year in London, Philadelphia, and Madrid.

No more articles