Richard Hamilton (1922-2011), Painter

Sitter in 11 portraits
Artist of 2 portraits
Born in London, Hamilton studied at Westminster Technical College, St Martin's School of Art, the Royal Academy Schools and the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1950, he had his first solo show at Gimpel Fils Gallery. One of the first exponents of Pop Art in Britain, Hamilton's collage What is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? (1956) ushered in the artistic era whose inspiration was mass-produced, cheap, expendable popular culture. An artist of international acclaim who worked in a variety of unusual media, Hamilton was a disciple of Marcel Duchamp whose Large Glass he reconstructed in the mid-1960s. A major retrospective of Hamilton's art was held at the Tate Gallery in 1992.