Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

What Makes Richard Hamilton So Different, So Appealing?

February 16, 2010 by Marion Maneker

The Guardian hangs around with Richard Hamilton as he spouts off and prepares for a new show at the Serpentine, one of nearly a dozen being mounted this year. But not even Richard Hamilton knows why his work remains so little known, and yet so well known:

Despite his huge influence, Hamilton is not famous in the way that, say, David Hockney is famous. No one is going to ask Richard Hamilton to edit the Today programme. But you will recognise his most famous work even if you can’t quite put a name to its creator: his 1956 collage, Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? in which a naked woman sits on a G-Plan sofa wearing a lampshade; his paintings of Mick Jagger, and the art dealer Robert Fraser, in handcuffs following a drug raid (the Swingeing London series, completed between 1967 and 1972); his images of an IRA hunger striker (The Citizen series of 1981-3); his 2007 inkjet print, Shock and Awe, in which Tony Blair is done up as a cowboy, with double holster and boots. Or perhaps you own a copy of the Beatles’ White Album, the sleeve of which he designed.

Part of the difficulty is that he is so hard to categorise. A lot of his work could easily be described as pop art – the bright colours, the iconic images, the found objects – but he is also much more political than, say, Warhol, and he is a brilliant draughtsman, one who spent 50 years illustrating Joyce’s Ulysses (these enthralling prints were shown at the British Museum in 2002, and will probably never be bettered; he is to Joyce what Tenniel is to Alice in Wonderland).

Richard Hamilton:A masterclass from the father of pop art (Guardian)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Australia’s Leading Art Couple Split their PropertyAustralia’s Leading Art Couple Split their Property
  • Richard Prince Gives Up His Day JobRichard Prince Gives Up His Day Job
  • Poly Auction Sells $30m Wu Guanzhong, Most Expensive Chinese Oil PaintingPoly Auction Sells $30m Wu Guanzhong, Most Expensive Chinese Oil Painting
  • It's OK to Spend on ArtIt's OK to Spend on Art
  • Takashi Murakami, with a Retrospective Opening in Russia, Still Wants Recognition in His Homeland Takashi Murakami, with a Retrospective Opening in Russia, Still Wants Recognition in His Homeland 
  • Bonhams NY Asia Week Sale = $4.66mBonhams NY Asia Week Sale = $4.66m

Filed Under: Artists

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Rare Photo Album by Dutch Street Photographer Bought at Auction by Rijksmuseum
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Re-discovered John Constable Painting at Sotheby's in December
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor