Richard Hamilton

In 1957, in a letter to the architects Peter and Alison Smithson, outlining ideas for an exhibition, Richard Hamilton (1922-2011) listed the 'characteristic of Pop Art', "effectively inventing the term,"

Richard Hamilton, The Treatment Room, 1983-4

Pop Art is:
Popular (designed for a mass audience)
Transient (short-term solution)
Expendable (easily forgotten)
Low cost
Mass produced
Young (aimed at youth)
Witty
Sexy
Gimmicky
Glamorous
Big Business

Richard Hamilton, The citizen (oil paint on 2 canvases), 1981-3. © The estate of Richard Hamilton

Exhibition view: Richard Hamilton, Portrait of a woman as an artist (oil paint on digital print on canvas), 2007. © The estate of Richard Hamilton.

View of the installation: Richard Hamilton, Lobby (oil on canvas), 1985-7. © The estate of Richard Hamilton.

After a visit to Roy Lichtenstein, in 1968, Richard Hamilton "set about a project to ask artists and friends to photograph him, slowly acknowledging that each person's sensibility was surprisingly marked in the image they created, despite the apparent automatic nature of [the Polaroid] camera."

Richard Hamilton's polaroids and portraits exhibition view

Richard Hamilton, Chiara & Chair (inkjet digital print on Somerset paper, ed. 60), 2004 and Hotel du Rhône (oil pain on digital print on canvas), 2005. © The estate of Richard Hamilton.