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Improved Beans

Artist Eduardo Paolozzi (Scottish, 1924 - 2005)

CultureScottish

Date1949

MediumScreenprint and lithography in collaged pieces

Dimensions10 1/4 x 14 9/16 in. (26 x 37 cm)
Overall, Frame: 17 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 1 3/4 in. (43.8 x 54 x 4.4 cm)

PortfolioBunk! Edition 65/100

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number78.17.11

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a print mounted on orange paper. It is from a set of forty-five images from Eduardo Paolozzi’s Files. The sizes vary from 15 x 19 centimeters to 29 x 41 centimeters and date from the 1940s-1950s. Most images are hand-torn, creased, and adhered to papers and boards in various colors.

Label TextPaolozzi Prints Scottish-born artist Eduardo Paolozzi’s Bunk series of collages are the first examples of Pop art. The Independent Group, a London-based precursor to the American Pop art movement of the 1960s, included Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Nigel Henderson, architects Alison and Peter Smithson, and critic Lawrence Alloway, among others. The group met at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from 1952 to 1955. During one of their first meetings, Paolozzi presented his collage scrapbook as a projection. Composed of colorful advertisements from popular magazines, comics, science fiction, and pulp fiction covers, Paolozzi’s work relayed the narcissistic glamour and materialism of his age. It also spoke to the Independent Group’s larger idea of expanding the notion of fine art to include other forms of visual culture. Bunk referred to a well-known statement made by Henry Ford in 1916: “History is more or less bunk…We want to live in the present.” Exhibition History"Remix: A Fresh Look At Our Modern And Contemporary Art Collections," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 2, 2011 - March 17, 2012.