Obituary: Richard Hamilton, leading figure in pop art

Richard Hamilton was one of the most influential British artist of the postwar years. Never so well known as Lucian Freud or David Hockney, Hamilton created several works that epitomised the changing relationship of society and art.

Often dubbed the Father of Pop Art (much to his annoyance) his 1956 collage featuring a bodybuilder and an array of household goods – entitled Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? – is perhaps the first work of Pop Art to achieve iconic status. Hamilton, however, explained his work in a typically direct manner: “I use popular images and symbols as fodder to explore an interior realm.”

Hamilton brought a sharp and discerning intellect to the development of modernism. He was a member of the Independent Group (one of whose founders was the Leith-born Eduardo Paolozzi) which brought together Hamilton’s love of unconventional art (he was a champion of Duchamp), literature (he avidly supported James Joyce) and his love of technology (Hamilton trained as an engineering draftsman). For Hamilton, there were never any preconceptions.

His works have been exhibited in Scotland. Four Self Portraits – 05.3.81 is part of the National Galleries of Scotland’s Artist Rooms schemes. The NGS also own several prints (notably Interior, I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas, Portrait of the Artist by Francis Bacon, Release, Reaper (i) and The Critic Laughs) and a painting entitled Desk. Of particular note was Portrait of Hugh Gaitskell as a Famous Monster of Filmland (1964) which was exhibited at Inverleith House in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens in 2008. A typically forthright work – the former Labour leader is depicted in decidedly unflattering terms. That was not surprising as Hamilton was a strong supporter of CND and had little respect for politicians.

Richard Hamilton was the son of a lorry driver and brought up in Pimlico, west London. Despite minimal schooling, he was apprenticed to an electrical firm and took art courses at St Martin’s and the Royal Academy Schools in London. He was doing his National Service when he first read Joyce’s Ulysses and became entranced by technology. In the Fifties, he taught art at Newcastle University where one of his pupils was Bryan Ferry, later of Roxy Music, whom Hamilton once described as “my greatest creation”.

Hamilton was also involved in curating exhibitions especially at London’s ICA and it was during the Fifties that he joined the Independent Group which set out to explore art beyond convention. Hamilton wanted to bring together advertisements, consumer products, brash magazine covers and unconnected everyday items. These ideas were brought together in the famous Just What Is It…? collage that reflected the emerging consumer culture and the growing importance of pop music to teenagers. In 1956 the Independent Group mounted This Is Tomorrow, an exhibition that reflected its often cutting take on society. Hamilton said the group examined “our new visual environment – cinema, the jukebox, Marilyn Monroe, and comics – all these games with sound, optical illusion and imagery”. The exhibition brought him to wider notice and he was appointed to a teaching post at the Royal College of Art where his students included David Hockney and Peter Blake. Both paid tribute this week. Hockney wrote: “Richard taught me a lot, as he did a lot of other artists.”

Hamilton’s first wife died in a car crash and he spent some time in America where he met Marcel Duchamp. On his return to the UK, Hamilton curated an exhibition of Duchamp’s works at the Tate in London. He continued to produce innovative art work and his desire to reflect contemporary society resulted in his My Marilyn (1965), a collage of photographs of the actress and Toaster (1967) depicting the electrical goods then fast becoming popular.

Although never at the centre of Swinging London, Hamilton did provide two of its iconic images. When his dealer Robert Fraser and Mick Jagger were arrested on drug charges Hamilton did a series of prints ranging from Swingeing London 67 to The Release (1972). The latter depicted Fraser and Jagger trying to shield their faces from the media in the back of a police car.

In 1968, Hamilton was asked by Paul McCartney to design the cover for what would become known as The White Album. Hamilton explained to McCartney that he wanted to create a contrast to Peter Blake’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover which had included The Beatles in flamboyant military gear and a host of famous faces. Instead, Hamilton envisaged a plain white cover with the band’s name in embossed lettering. “I suggested an album that was just white. Paul was doubtful about it being empty.” It is now a defining symbol of The Beatles’ era.

Hamilton created similar iconic images with heavy political overtones. These included a picture of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, The Citizen (1982), a two panelled picture of the IRA prisoner in a Christ-like pose, and The State (1993) a soldier wielding a rifle. His reservation about politicians was total. His depiction of Tony Blair (Shock and Awe, 2007) as a gun-touting cowboy in stetson and leather chaps was typical.

Hamilton eschewed most of the honours offered him. He turned down a CBE but, when he was given a trustee’s card to London’s National Gallery allowing him entry day or night ,he accepted. “I remember going to see a Mantegna exhibition“ he recalled. “I sat for half an hour in front of these wonderful paintings. There were no interruptions, not even a guard walking past. Now, that’s a reward.”

He was given many prestigious exhibitions (The Tate, 1970; the Guggenheim in New York in 1973 etc) and made a major contribution to the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. In 2000, he was appointed a Companion of Honour and was preparing for an exhibition in London due to open this month. A year ago, on his 88th birthday, Hamilton was asked if he would retire. “No. Absolutely not” he said in his warm and relaxed voice. “There is nothing I enjoy more than being in a studio and doing what I want to do.”

Hamilton married Terry O’Reilly in 1947; they had a son and a daughter. Rita Donagh, whom he wed in 1991, survives him with the son of his first marriage.

Alasdair Steven