Artist

Eduardo Paolozzi

Eduardo
Photograph by Nicholas Sinclair

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was a Scottish sculptor, collagist, printmaker, filmmaker and writer. His collage work, combining surrealism with elements of popular culture and technology led him to be credited as the inventor of Pop Art. A term he neither liked nor acknowledged for his own work, his art captured the breadth of the modern world.

Born in Leith, Scotland. Paolozzi went on to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London between 1944 and 1947. He moved to Paris in 1947, meeting with many prominent Surrealists and Cubists during this time. He returned to London in 1949, and over the following decades enjoyed global success. He is regarded as one of the most important British artists of the late twentieth century.

A founding member of DACS, Paolozzi was appointed numerous honours such as a CBE, election to a Royal Academician, a knighthood and promotion to the office of Her Majesty’s Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland. His works are now held in a number of national and international prominent collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Arts Council Collection and the National Galleries of Scotland among many others.