Richard Hamilton, British Pop Art pioneer, remembered

13 September 2011

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Swingeing London 67 (1968-69) by Richard Hamilton at London's Serpentine Gallery.

Richard Hamilton, the artist known as the "Father of Pop Art" who depicted former British prime minister Tony Blair as a cowboy and designed the cover of the Beatles’ “White Album,” died on Sept. 13. He was 89.

Since the 1950s, Hamilton created iconic and often ironic images, based on diverse subjects from pop culture to political ideology, including Mick Jagger in handcuffs after a drug raid and portraits of prison protesters in Northern Ireland.

An image of Tony Blair as a cowboy in the 2007 piece titled “Shock and Awe” reflected the artist's displeasure with the former prime minister when he aligned strongly with President George W. Bush.

His 1956 collage, "Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?" cemented his reputation early on as a Pop Art innovator.

The Gagosian Gallery said in a statement that the artist was in the midst of planning a traveling retrospective.

Read more at Washington Post

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