Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton was born in London on the 24th of  February 1922 and died on the13th of September 2011. He went to the Royal Academy Schools for two years at the age of 16 to 18. He then studied engineering draughtsmanship at a Government Training Centre in 1940 to soon move to working as a 'jig and tool' designer. He then returned  to the Royal Academy Schools in 1946, where he was sadly expelled. He then went on to attended the Slade School of Art from 1948 to 1951.


Hamilton was  inspired by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson work. It influenced some of Hamilton's early work. D'Arcy's influence led to Hamiltons exhibition of his engravings was held at Gimpel Fils, London, in 1950. Hamilton devised and designed the exhibitions Growth and Form at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1951, and Man, Machine and Motion at the Hatton Gallery. He had  his work exhibited at the Hanover Gallery in 1955, and participated in This is Tomorrow at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1956, for which he produced a collage entitled Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? for the poster and catalogue. With Victor Pasmore in 1957 he devised and organised an Exhibit, at the Hatton Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Hamilton was a member of the Independent Group, formed in the 1950s by a group of artists and writers at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. They had the sole purpose to contributed to the development of Pop art in Britain.  Hamilton interpreted this as meaning that 'all art is equal - there was no hierarchy of value.

Hamilton taught at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts and University of Newcastle. He gave up teaching full-time in 1966. He designed a typographic version of Duchamp's Green Box and published it in 1960. Keen to embrace certain types of technology within his art, Hamilton began creating computer-generated works in the 1980s. He has had a long career as a print-maker. In 1983 he won the World Print Council Award. In 1991 he married the artist Rita Donagh.