Sir Eduardo Paolozzi RA
Born 7 March 1924
Died 22 April 2005
Country of birth: Scotland
Country of death: England
Sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, draughtsman, designer, writer, film maker
Born 6 Crown Place, Leith, Edinburgh. Printmaker, ceramicist, draughtsman, designer, writer, film maker and sculptor. Worked in collage-assemblage idiom from 1950s, numerous public commissions since 1960s. Pioneer Corps 1943-44. Studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1943; Slade School of Fine Art 1944-47. Lived, studied, worked in Paris 1947-50. Important role in formation of Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1950s. Taught textile design at Central School of Arts and Crafts, London 1949-55; St. Martin’s School of Art 1955-58; Hochschule für Bildende Kunst, Hamburg, 1960-62; Royal College of Art from 1968. Awarded British Critics Prize 1953, William and Norma Copley Foundation Award 1956, David E. Bright Foundation prize 1960. R.A. 1979. C.B.E. 1968. Died at the Hammersmith Hospital.
Commissions include: fountains for Festival of Britain 1951; Three Fountains for new park in Hamburg 1953.
Exhibitions include: Mayor Gallery, London 1947 (solo) ; Galerie Maeght, Paris 1948; SB 1951; SPB 1951, 57, 63; VB 1952; This is Tomorrow at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1956; BC 1956; BCSP 1957; NIMOMA 59; Documenta Kassel 1959; LCC 60; AC 61; Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1960.
Collections include: Tate Gallery; Arts Council; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Dean Gallery, Edinburgh.
Further reading: U.M. Schneede, Paolozzi, (New York: Harry Abrams, 1970).
M. Middleton, Eduardo Paolozzi, (London: Methuen, 1963).
F. Whitford, Eduardo Paolozzi, Tate Gallery, London, 1971, (exh. cat., retrospective).
R. Spencer, R. Seitz and C. Frayling, Eduardo Paolozzi - Recurring Themes, Edinburgh Scottish Academy, 1984-85, (exh. cat.).
F. Pearson, Eduardo Paolozzi, (National Galleries of Scotland, 1999).
W. Konnertz, Eduardo Paolozzi, (Cologne, 1984).
Biography from Whiteley (2001) and Spencer (2009)
Wealth at death: £2,415,951 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 3 October 2005
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
21 April 1972 - 8 May 1979
Elected R.A. in 1979. See Popp and Valentine, \'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership\', (1996), p. 92.
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
9 May 1979
See Popp and Valentine, \'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership\', (1996), p. 92.
Sources
Directory of sculptors working and exhibiting in Britain in the 1950s, by Gillian Whiteley
2001
p. 26
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Robin Spencer, ‘Paolozzi, Sir Eduardo Luigi (1924–2005)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Jan 2009; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/95757, accessed 25 July 2010]
Citing this record
'Sir Eduardo Paolozzi RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1254751767, accessed 31 Jan 2023]
