ingenuity EXHIBITION
Pauline Boty: female pioneer pops into Sussex
She pioneered pop art, had an active engagement in politics and was a female icon for upcoming artists, so why is her work not as well known as her male competitors? Pallant House is to show her greatest, and some unseen work.
T
he work and career of Pauline Boty goes on show at Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex, from the 30th November until 9th February. The exhibition, curated by Simon Martin, will fittingly place Boty’s work alongside Pallant House Gallery’s extensive collection of Pop Art. Key works in the exhibition include ‘The Only Blonde in the World’ (1963), ‘My Colouring Book’ (1963), ‘It’s a Man’s World II’ (1965-6), BUM (1966) and ‘Untitled’ (Self Portrait) (c.1955). One of the few female artists associated with the British Pop Art movement of the 1960s alongside Peter Blake, Derek Boshier and David Hockney, Boty has been largely overshadowed by her male Pop counterparts since her untimely death aged just 28. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was pregnant with her daughter, Katy. This exhibition, which comes to Chichester from Wolverhampton Art Gallery, reinstates Boty at the forefront of the movement, featuring paintings, collages and ephemera from public and
private collections including rarely seen pieces that have not been exhibited for 40 years. Born in South London in 1938, Boty first studied at Wimbledon School of Art and then the Royal College where she met David Hockney, Sir Peter Blake, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips. Sociable, charismatic and popular, Boty was a striking figure, dubbed the ‘Wimbledon Bardot’ on account of her extreme good looks. Yet her glamorous appearance often meant that she struggled to be taken seriously, despite her passionate engagement with politics and the intellectual life of the college. She was also an active participant in Anti-Ugly Action, a group of students who protested against new British architecture that they considered offensive and of poor quality. Unlike many female artists, Boty was not afraid to embrace her sexuality in her life and work. One of the exhibition’s highlights is Colour Her Gone (1962), a painting based on a photograph of Pop culture icon Marilyn Monroe. In 1961, Boty exhibited in what has
since been described as the first ever Pop Art exhibition, ‘Blake, Boty, Porter, Reeve’, at the AIA Gallery, receiving positive attention in the national press for the Pop sensibility of her collages, and the following year she was one of the four artists profiled in Ken Russell’s landmark 1962 documentary on English Pop Art, Pop Goes The Easel. While her glamorous persona and highprofile connections such as her marriage to the actor and literary agent Clive Goodwin have endured, until recently, her work has been largely overlooked, lost in the limelight cast on her male Pop Art counterparts. The exhibition will also feature contextualising material with rare items on loan from Boty’s family including theatre programmes designed for the Royal Court and archive materials from contemporary magazines, newspapers cuttings and photographs. More information, including addresses and opening times can be found at www. pallant.org.uk. For admission details contact Contact Helen Martin on 01243 770838, or h.martin@pallant.org.uk.
Images courtesy of Pallant House: Left - Colour Her Gone (1962), oil on canvas. Above - Pauline Boty painting Derek Marlowe.
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09/12/2013 14:34