Eduardo Paolozzi

Of Italian descent, Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was born in Leith near Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied in Edinburgh and London and spent two years in Paris from 1947, where he produced enigmatic, bronze sculptures reminiscent of those by Giacometti. During the same period he made a series of dada and surrealist-inspired collages in which magazine advertisements, cartoons and machine parts are combined, thus anticipating the concerns of Pop Art. Alongside teaching at various art schools he developed his printmaking and sculpture. Paolozzi was particularly interested in the mass media and in science and technology.

For full biographical notes see part 1. For earlier works, see parts 1 - 5 also.

This is part 6 of a 7-part series on the works of Eduardo Paolozzi:

1974-77 Calcium Night Light

This set of nine screenprints contains references to the life and works of Charles Ives. It was begun while Paolozzi was in Berlin in 1974 and printed at Advanced Graphics between 1974 and 1976. It was to have been published by Propyläen Verlag, Berlin, but Paolozzi took over the whole edition and published it himself.

1974-76 Aeschylus and Socrates
screenprint on paper 76 x 54.5 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 Allegro Moderato Firemans’ Parade
screenprint on paper 7.8 x 50.2 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 Calcium Night Light
screenprint on paper 67.6 x 56.1 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 Central Park in the Dark Some 40 Years Ago
screenprint on paper 78.8 x 51.1 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 From Early Italian Poets
screenprint on paper 73.7 x 53.6 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 Largo to Presto
screenprint on paper 79 x 51 cm
Tate, London

1974-76 The Children’s Hour
screenprint on paper 70 x 52.4 cm
Tate, London

1977 Nettleton
screenprint on paper 80 x 54.7 cm
Tate, London

* * * * *

1975 For the Four [ colour variant of P03144 ]
relief print on paper 40.3 x 40.3 cm
Tate, London

1975 Untitled
relief print on paper 40.6 x 40.6 cm
Tate, London

1975 Kreuzberg II
bronze
National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

1975 Maahantai
intaglio print on paper 62.5 x 42.5 cm
Tate, London

1975 Niigata-Turkoma
wooden relief 122 x 304.5 cm

1975 Omaggio a Michelangelo
intaglio print on paper 59.1 x 49.5 cm
Tate, London

1975 Relief
bronze 60 x 109.3 cm

1976-77 Door panel (detail)
wood, shellac and plaster
Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

1978-79 Camera
bronze 9 x 41 x 55 cm
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

1978-79 Portrait of Matta
bronze 13.5 x 12 x 5 cm

1980 Head
etching on paper 22.8 x 30 cm
Tate, London

1979 Head
etching and drypoint on paper 31.1 x 20.7 cm
Tate, London

1980 After Biagio di Antonio
lithograph on paper 15.2 x 25.4 cm
Tate, London

1980 Head
etching on paper 45.4 x 30.4 cm
Tate, London

1980 Parkplatz
etching on paper 34.4 x 48.9 cm
Tate, London

1980 Plaster Theatre
plaster 29 x 22 x 3.5 cm

1982-86

Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, London:

1982 Designs for the mosaics on the Central Line station platforms at Tottenham Court Road

Rotunda area

1984 DuMont Head
bronze 37 cm high

1984 Kardinal Syn
plaster and string 46 x 46 x 28 cm
Tate, London

1985 Mayan Dog
painted plaster 48 x 22.5 x 33 cm
Tate, London

1985 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
painted plaster 39 x 16 x 36 cm
Tate, London

1987 Count Basie
bronze 39 x 28.5 x 29 cm
Tate, London

1987c Michelangelo’s ‘David’
plaster, plywood and string 31 x 24 x 21 cm
Tate, London

1988 Newton & Master of the Universe:

1795 - c1805 Newton by William Blake
monotype 46 x 60 cm
Tate, London

This symbolic figure of the seventeenth century scientist Sir Isaac Newton is a remarkable tribute from one artist to another. Paolozzi's sculpture is a version of Blake's Colour Print, Newton.

In his first Newton, a small relief sculpture, Newton's body looked partly bolted together, as if the scientist who discovered the laws of nature were himself a machine. For the forecourt of the new British Library, Paolozzi designed a huge, free-standing Newton. The bronze shown here was cast from the model made to show the Library committee.