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Pop Art in the U.S. and Europe: Allen Jones (British, b. 1937)
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Allen Jones was born in Southampton in 1937. He studied at the Hornsey College of Art in London (1995-99 and 1960-61) and at the Royal College of Art in 1959-60, where he studied painting, ssculpture, and printmaking and was associated with the rise of Pop Art: while in the U.S. in 1965 he contributed to the to the first Pop Art publishing event, the 3 portfollios (large, very large, and really, really large) of 11 Pop Artists (along with Dine, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Wesselman, Rosenquist, Ramos, Alan D'Arcangelo, John Wesley, Peter Phillips, and Gerald Laing), 6 Americans and 3 Brits, testifying to Anglo-American originas of POP) each of which included one of his works. Like Hockney and Kitaj, he mixed conflicting styles, but he drew less from contemporary culture than from the color abstraction of Kandinsky and Robert Delaunay. As Marco Livingstone notes, "In 1964-65), he discovered a rich fund of imagery in sexually motivated illustrations of the 1940s and 1950s. Henceforth he made explicit the previously subdued eroticism, adopting a a precise linear style as a means of emphasising tactility, "especially in his larger-than-life and life-size sexually provocative fiberglass sculptures" of women as furniture.
Jones established his reputation in the 1960s as a Pop artist. Since then he has remained true to his these roots, developing a rich vein of imagery and exploring the boundaries between commercial and fine art. In addition to his fine art, he was also active in designing settings for the theater, ballet, and film (Jones's work has been featured in Blow Up and A Clockwork Orange), and reveals an artist who, having been influenced by the world of fashion, has seen his work appropriated by the fashion world. High-heeled, fetishistic women parade through a world of Matissean color. Allen Jones's use of these apparent stereotypes has made him a controversial figure in the art world. His work frequently tackles issues of gender and power.
Among other accomplishments, Allen Jones was awarded the Prix des Jeunes Artistes at the Paris Biennale; he was also awarded a Tamarind Lithography Fellowship, Los Angeles; he was a Guest Professor, Department of Painting, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; a Guest Teacher, University of Los Angeles, Irvine; a Guest Teacher, Painting Department, University of California at Los Angeles; Summer: a Visiting Tutor in Painting and Drawing, Banff Centre of Fine Arts, Alberta, Canada; he is an Elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts, London; he was Guest Professor, Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, Germany; he was commissioned to make a sculpture for the International Garden Festival, Liverpool, England; he was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Frederik R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles; Installation of his sculpture The Worker at Perseverance Works, Hackney, London. He was elected a full member of the Royal Academy of Arts; He was commissioned by St Martin's Property Corporation to produce a large painted sculpture for Cottons Atrium, London Bridge City; He was commissioned by Richard Alston of Ballet Rambert to design sets and costumes for Cinema, with music by Eric Satie; he Received an Art & Work Award from Wapping Arts Trust, London, for the sculpture at London Bridge City; he made a large interior steel sculpture for Heathrow Hotel, Terminal 4, Heathrow Airport; He was elected a Trustee of the British Museum; he received the Heitland Foundation Award, Celle, Germany. He lives and works in London. HIs work has been shown in galleries and museums in Europe, America, and Japan.
Selected Bibliography: C. Jencks, V. Arnos, and B. Robertson, Allen Jones (London, 1973); Andrew Lambreth, Allen Jones Works (London: Royal Academy Books, 2006); Otto Letze, Allen Jones - Off the Wall (Hatje Cantz, 2012); Marco Livingstone, Allen Jones (Grove Dictionary of Art, 17:631); Marco Livingstone, Allen Jones Prints (Munich: Presel, 1995); Marco Livingstone, Allen Jones: Retrospective of Paintings 1957-1978 (NY: 1979); Marco Livingstone, Allen Jones: Sheer Magic (NY: Congreve Publishing, 1979); Fiona MacCarthy, Allen Jones: Showtime (London: Marlborough Publications, 2008); Waddington and Tooth Graphics, Allen Jones: Work on Paper (London: 1976); Walker Art Gallery, Allen Jones Retrospective of Paintings 1957-1978 (Liverpool, 1979)
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