In Full Colour 1960–1970

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash  1967

David Hockney moved to Los Angeles from London in 1964. This is one of several paintings he made of swimming pools there. It would become a defining image of sun-lit, clean-contoured southern California. Hockney was interested in using paint to capture fleeting moments. He explained: ‘When you photograph a splash, you’re freezing a moment and it becomes something else. I realise that a splash could never be seen this way in real life, it happens too quickly. And I was amused by this, so I painted it in a very, very slow way.’

Gallery label, September 2023

Bridget Riley, Hesitate  1964

Riley’s paintings of the 1960s were the best-known works of what became called op art. This referred to the optical effects that dominate the viewer’s experience of the painting. Sometimes such works have an almost physical effect, destabilising the viewer. In this case, however, the gradual changes in the shape of the grey forms seem to suggest two abutting cylinders receding into the picture frame. The fame of such works not only epitomised the way in which art reached a wider audience in the 1960s,but also influenced fashion and a wider visual culture.

Gallery label, September 2016

Peter Blake, Self-Portrait with Badges  1961

In traditional portraits, props and clothing often communicate the interests and status of the sitter. Peter Blake plays with this convention in this self-portrait. His jeans, denim jacket (rare in Britain at the time), badges and magazine featuring Elvis Presley all demonstrate his fascination with North American culture. Blake’s work often involves collage and imagery borrowed from popular culture. At this time this connected him with younger painters at the Royal College of Art, where he had studied. This included Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Frank Bowling and David Hockney, all featured in this gallery.

Gallery label, September 2023

Sir Frank Bowling OBE RA, Dog Daze  1971

Dog Daze 1971 is a large painting, nearly five metres in width, executed in acrylic and spray paint over two canvases that are stretched separately and displayed abutting each other. The canvas to the left is wider than that on the right. The dominant colours are hues of red, yellow and orange, while a darker, irregular stripe in browns dominates the right-hand edge of the work. The composition is loosely divided into two horizontal bands, the top part being predominantly painted in reds, and the bottom half in yellows and oranges. The left-hand side of the work, across these two halves, is dominated by the outline of the continent of Africa. This continental form is contained and framed by a rectangular shape, its perimeter outlined with spray paint. In the right hand-side of the composition, the outline of Australia is also visible, the continental form being painted in slightly darker yellows than the surrounding area, in the bottom part of the canvas. Other forms suggest aerial views of coastal areas but are not readily recognisable as the outlines of any specific continent or country. Heavily diluted paint is applied in layers across the canvas, in a non-uniform manner. In many areas, red paint poured on the top half of the work has been allowed to run down the canvas in rivulets. Green spray paint has also been used to highlight the bottom part of the outline of Africa and the outline of another irregular form on the right-hand side.

Pauline Boty, The Only Blonde in the World  1963

Pauline Boty painted the film star Marilyn Monroe from a photograph. The actor occupies a thin strip of this canvas, squeezed between green sections. Monroe had died a year earlier. Boty spoke about her ‘nostalgia for the things that are now... it’s almost like painting mythology, only a present-day mythology.’ She identified with the challenges Monroe had faced. Boty wanted to be taken seriously intellectually and be free to embody her sexuality at a time when the two were seen as mutually exclusive.

Gallery label, September 2023

Rasheed Araeen, Rang Baranga  1969

After relocating to London from Karachi, Pakistan, in 1964, Araeen was struck by the work of the British sculptor Anthony Caro and decided to devote himself full-time to sculpture. Rather than following Caro’s example of a compositionally driven practice, Araeen decided that symmetrical configuration should form the basis of a new kind of sculpture. Formally Rang Baranga resembles the structures of Sol Lewitt’s open minimalist sculptures, but unlike the American artist’s, Araeen’s forms incorporate diagonal and orthogonal elements which refer in part to Islamic art but more importantly point to his training and practice as an engineer.

Gallery label, September 2016

Sandra Blow, Green and White  1969

Sandra Blow made her impactful abstract compositions using both traditional and unusual materials. For Green and White she incorporated blended ash made from burning nuts in her studio stove. While the painting was still unfinished, someone entered Blow’s studio and slashed the canvas with a knife. Determined not to ‘lose the painting’, she sewed the edges together and stuck a strip of canvas on the back and front, then painted over it. ‘Miraculously... it was a perfect conclusion to the whole painting,’ she said.

Gallery label, September 2023

Derek Boshier, The Identi-Kit Man  1962

The man in this painting seems to be part toothpaste, part jigsaw piece. The figure merges into mass consumer product, reflecting the commodification Derek Boshier thought was transforming society. He was also interested in the effects of Americanisation on British life. The work’s title references police identikits. Invented in the USA, these sets of pre-drawn facial features helped investigators create images of suspects. Boshier said the figure in the painting ‘represents me (us), the spectator, participant, player, or cog in the wheel – the amorphous “us”... being manipulated.’

Gallery label, September 2023

Sir Anthony Caro, Lock  1962

Anthony Caro developed a new sculptural language which emphasised the physical relationship between sculpture and viewer. The abstract painting and sculpture he saw during a 1959 visit to the USA had a strong influence. When he returned, Caro began welding and bolting industrial steel sheets and bars. He also started applying bold, flat colour finishes to his sculptures. Teaching at St Martin’s School of Art in London, Caro encouraged his students ‘to push sculpture where it never has been.’

Gallery label, September 2023

Anwar Jalal Shemza, Composition in Red and Green, Squares and Circles  1963

Anwar Jalal Shemza began his artistic career in Pakistan and moved to the UK to study. Feeling displaced, he stopped making figurative paintings. Instead, he began studying Islamic art from different periods, in search of what he called his ‘own identity’. His new compositions fused calligraphy and aspects of Mughal architecture with European abstract art. He commented: ‘I am much more aware of my own art heritage now than I ever was in Pakistan. You only become aware of the things you lose.’

Gallery label, September 2023

Richard Smith, Gift Wrap  1963

The size and the landscape orientation of Gift Wrap suggest a billboard. At the time Richard Smith was fascinated with product packaging and advertising. The inspiration for the work was a popular brand of cigarettes from the USA. Above all, Smith was interested in creating illusions in painting, giving the work a three-dimensional, sculptural quality. The composition combines abstract and pop art elements. Smith made it during a period of time when he was living between the USA and the UK.

Gallery label, September 2023