| Synopsis: |
Entertaining and provocative in equal measure, Allen Jones RA was at the forefront of the British Pop Art movement in the early 1960s, alongside Royal College of Art contemporaries David Hockney RA, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips. Despite, somewhat extraordinarily, being expelled from the RCA after a year, as 'an example' to similarly independent-minded students, Jones has been hugely influential, not just in the art world but across fashion, graphic design, film and music. This book explores the range of Jones's 50-year career, focusing not just on his sculptures but also on his works in watercolour, lithography and painting. While best-known for his highly sexualised imagery, particularly his 'women as furniture' series, this volume reveals an artist deeply influenced by European Modernism, whose works possess an innate sense of humour and exuberant use of colour. Alongside engaging analyses of Jones's place in the canon of twentieth-century art, this volume seeks to reappraise feminist reactions to Jones from a contemporary perspective, exploring his continuous preoccupation with androgynous and transgender forms. |