Richard Hamilton

Considered the first major artist of the British Pop Art movement, Richard Hamilton was born in London in 1922. At age 14 he began taking evening art classes at Westminster Technical College and studied at the Royal Academy School from 1938 until its wartime closure in 1940. Though he returned to the Royal Academy School in 1946, he was expelled and forced to undertake 18 months military service. Upon completion, Hamilton studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. His brief collaboration with Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics in 1975 is represented in the National Gallery’s collection of four prints.

The colour lithographs entitled Flower-piece B were originally conceived as a triptych. Taking as their focal point a precisely rendered roll of Andrex toilet paper set against an ornate floral background, the Flower-piece B prints are characteristic of Hamilton’s  work, which consistently draws upon consumer culture and the juxtaposition of disparate styles typically seen in advertising.

Emilie Owens

Black and white photograph of Richard Hamilton in his studio

Richard Hamilton sitting in front of 'Flower- piece B' series at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York, 1976
Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002
Photographer: Kenneth Tyler

Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Browse all works by Richard Hamilton

Chronology

1922 Born in London, England

1936 Attends evening classes at Westminster Technical College and St. Martin’s School of Art, London

1937 Works in display department of Reinmann Studios School, London

1938-40 Studies painting at Royal Academy of Art, London and printmaking at Central School of Arts and Crafts, London

1939 Completes first print, Figure composition, drypoint on celluloid, at Central School of Arts and Crafts, London

1940 Studies engineering draftsmanship at Government Training Centre

1941-45 Works as jig and tool draftsman

1948-51 Studies at Slade School of Fine Art, London

1950 Solo exhibition, Variations on the theme of Reaper, Gimpel Fils, London

1952 Teaches at Central School of Arts and Crafts, London

1953-66 Teaches at King’s College, University of Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

1956 Included in exhibition, This is tomorrow, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

1957-61 Teaches at Royal College of Art, London

1960 Receives William and Norma Copley Foundation Award for painting

1962 Completes first screenprint, Adonis in Y fronts, Kelpra Studio, London

1963 Travels to United States of America

1964 Included in exhibition, Carnegie international, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

1967 Solo exhibitions: Paintings 1964-67, Galerie Alexandre Iolas, New York; Richard Hamilton: Collagen, Zeichnungen und Seriegraphien, Galerie Ricke, Kassel, West Germany; Richard Hamilton: dipinti e disegni 1957-68, Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy

1968 Included in Documenta 4, Kassel, West Germany Begins first collaboration with Dieter Roth; begins first portraits using Polaroid camera

1969 Collaborates with James Scott on film Richard Hamilton

1970 Receives Talens Prize International, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Travelling solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton, organised by the Tate Gallery, London

1971 Solo exhibitions, Richard Hamilton: prints, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Prints and multiples, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

1973 Travelling solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton, organised by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Completes, Picasso’s Meninas at Atelier Crommelynck, Paris, published by Propylaën Verlag, Berlin

1976 Completes editions of lithographs Flower-piece B; Flower-piece B, Cyan separation; Flowerpiece B, Crayon study and Sunset, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York

1977 Included in exhibitions: Art off the picture press, Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, New York; Documenta 6, Kassel, West Germany

1978 Solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton: graphics, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada; moves to Oxfordshire, England

1980 First use of large format Polaroid camera in Amsterdam to make an edition of ‘Instant painting’; makes The critic laughs for the BBC television series ‘Shock of the New’

1981 Makes first self-portraits with Polaroid camera

1982 Publishes Collected words 1953-1982 (London: Thames and Hudson)

1983 Travelling solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton: image and process 1952-1982, organised by Tate Gallery, London

1984 Included in exhibition, Prints from Tyler Graphics, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; begins design of the OHIO computer for the Swedish company Isotron

1985 Included in exhibition, Pop art 1955-70, organised by International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, travelled to Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

1987 Makes Painting with light film for the BBC on Quantel computer graphics ‘Paintbox’

1988 Included in exhibition, Richard Hamilton and Tom Phillips: a question of style, Australian National Gallery (now National Gallery of Australia), Canberra

1989 Completes Diab computer, exhibited at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm Included in Biennial of São-Paulo, Brazil

1990 Included The readymade boomerang: certain relations in 20th century art, Sydney Biennale, Australia

1991 Delivers the William Townsend Memorial Lecture at University College, London, entitled The hard copy problem. Included in exhibitions, Pop art, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Carnegie international, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

1992 Travelling solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton, originating at Tate Gallery, London

1993 Included in Venice biennale, Italy

1996 Solo exhibition, Site referential paintings, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California

1997 Included in Seven Rooms and Typosophic Pavillion, Documenta 10, Kassel, Germany

1998 Solo exhibition, Subject to an impression, Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany

1999 Included in exhibition, Circa 1968, Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal; travelling solo exhibition, New technology and printmaking, originating at Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

2002 Solo exhibition, Richard Hamilton drückgraphic und multiples 1939-2002, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland; included in exhibition, Richard Hamilton/Dieter Roth: Collaborations, relations, confrontations, Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal

2005 Included in travelling exhibition, Self portraits: Renaissance to contemporary, originating National Portrait Gallery, London, travelled to Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

2011 Richard Hamilton died in London, England

Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd., revised Kate Buckingham, 2006
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.

Further Reading

EXHIBITIONS

  • Print by print, step by step: artists’ prints in series, 9 March – 16 June 1985

NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS

  • Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015

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