We are delighted to start the year with a bang, by featuring two works by Patrick Caulfield, one of the pioneers of the British Pop Art movement during the 1960s and ’70s in our upcoming auction.
At the beginning of Caulfield’s career, he adapted the traditional technique of sign painting to create his artworks, adding a black outline to his forms and simplifying the representation of objects.
During this period, he deliberately chose subject matter that seemed quite mundane and ordinary, adding a sense of familiarity and nostalgia to his works. Caulfield often outlined his coloured subjects in black, emphasising the boldness of his colours and giving the works an eye catching, graphic quality. This technique can be seen in Lampshade, 1969.
Later in his career, Caulfield became more focused on the architectural elements of his artworks, drawing inspiration from interior aspects of the home, again harnessing strong lines and bold colours to create his compositions. These later pieces were generally more detailed than his early works and captured a corner of the home that was not focused on in a larger scale piece. He often used the repetition of one flat colour throughout the piece and added another, adjacent colour as a focal point to draw the viewer’s eye. We see an example of this in the second work by Caulfield featured within our auction, Interior: Night, 1971.
Caulfield’s artworks are now highly sought after and adorn the walls of private and public collections worldwide.
Lampshade, 1969 and Interior: Night, 1971 by Patrick Caulfield will be on view prior to the Prints & Multiples auction on 8 April, 2020.
HANNAH RYAN / Prints & Multiples Manager