Details — Click to read
Hero as a Riddle (1963) depicts a smiling head printed in gold, silver, and black. The shapes and lines composing the figure’s face are architectural and geometric: the eyes are composed of rows of arches and the mouth resembles a staircase. The artist hid his name in tiny letters along the right side of the figure’s neck. There’s a resemblance to the work of Basquiat in his simplified features packed with lines.
Scottish artist of Italian descent Eduardo Paolozzi studied in London and then worked in Paris where he mingled with the original Surrealists: artists like Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. He was one of the founders of the British Independent Group in 1952, the precursor to the Pop Art movement.
Professor Michael Fourman at The University of Edinburgh, wrote: “Paolozzi was intrigued by genius and creativity. His heroes, Leonardo, Einstein, Wittgenstein, Freud, and Turing sought to explore the inner workings of the mind, the body and the world.” Einstein was a sort of muse to Paolozzi, serving as the subject of numerous portraits, as well as works such as this one which were inspired by his writings.
Paolozzi’s work and its reach were formidable: it ranges from screenprints and portfolios, to mosaic murals in the London subway, to album art for Paul McCartney, to a range of public sculptures and even commercial collaborations with high-end German porcelain studio Rosenthal.
Hero as a Riddle 1963
Screenprint on Esparto Cartridge paper
26 × 16.5 in / 65 x 40 cm
Edition 10: this copy a signed proof
Signed and dated ‘63 in pencil lower right, annotated EA lower left (referring to the publisher Editions Alecto)
Framed: wood frame measures 39.5 x 29.5 x 1.5 in.
Various creases in sheet, frame with a few minor scratches in plexiglass
A copy of this print is in the collection of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and Tate, London.
