It has just come to my notice that this year the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi was born in Edinburgh a hundred years ago on 7th March 1924; he died in April 2005 at the age of 81.
Paolozzi’s Italian parents ran an ice cream shop and he was brought up bi-lingual, whilst spending his school holidays in Italy with his grandparents. In 1943 he gained a place at Edinburgh School of Art and went on to the Slade and Saint Martins. After the Second World War, he went to live in Paris where he came under the influence of the Surrealists of the day, some of whom used found objects placed together or decorating weird constructions. Think of Dali’s Lobster telephone created in 1938! Paolozzi had been an avid collector since childhood so naturally, he became part of this movement, making sculptures which included various objects welded together or adding different geometric forms to his work.
He carried this theme through, particularly in his graphic works which show a different side of his output with weird juxtapositions of shapes and objects, figures, patterns and mechanical forms.
Those of us who live in London will be familiar with some of Paolozzi’s graphic works. The most striking are the glass mosaics at Tottenham Court Road Underground Station where they have adorned the walls of the Northern and Central lines since the 1980s ; some of the originals had to be moved more recently and then restored and relocated when the Elizabeth Line was built. These are illustrated in a very good booklet available as a TTL pdf.
As far as his London-sited sculpture is concerned, probably the next most well-known is the monumental figure of Sir Isaac Newton in the Piazza of the British Library. Entitled ‘Master of the Universe’, this was based on a rare print of the polymath by William Blake which is owned by the Library. This depicts Newton sitting on a rock and holding dividers on the ground before him; the sculpture closely follows the style and form of the figure with the rock substituted with a geometric plinth.
Other London sculptures for which Paolozzi is well-known are a group of three abstract works in the Economist plaza in St James’, London, a disguised Pimlico Underground ventilation shaft and The Head of Invention which lies at the Design Museum in Kensington.
Edinburgh, the city of his birth has not been neglectful of its famous son and you can see his Manuscript of Monte Cassino which has been replaced in front of St Mary’s Cathedral after it was temporarily removed due to building works of the area.
Indeed, Paolozzi remains one of our most viewed sculptors, whose work is rightly enjoyed by commuters and art lovers alike. I have long been admirer of his sculpture.
https://art.tfl.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Paolozzi-Map-Download-small.pdf