Thursday 17 March 2011

Pauline Boty

Pauline Boty (1938-1966)

Pauline Boty, born 1938, is regarded as one of the founders of British pop art; she was the only woman in the movement. A student at the Royal College of Art, she associated with (now Sir) Peter Blake, David Hockney, Derek Boshier and Peter Philips.
With some of them, Boty took part in Pop Goes the Easel, Ken Russell's film for the BBC arts magazine programme Monitor. She also had minor acting roles. She died of cancer in 1966.
In 1999,Tate Liverpool acquired one of her paintings The Only Blonde in the World.
There are not many paintings of Boty's to be seen on the internet:
The Only Blonde in the World at Tate Liverpool
My colouring book is on a few Polish sites like Teksty Bunkier Art
Others may be seen in the pdf of Latest Art issue 2 The Women's Issue
Images of most of Boty's paintings are held by her estate which may be contacted through Whitford Fine Art.
In the run up to the 1993 exhibition The Sixties at the Barbican, Sabine Durant wrote about Pauline in The Independent.
The only published book of which I am aware is Pauline Boty. The Only Blonde in the World by Sue Watling and David Alan Mellor Whitford Fine Art and The Mayor Gallery 1998. To locate a copy, try Abe Books.
An article on PB was published in Latest Art magazine Autumn 2006 but with John's photos wrongly attributed (an apology was printed in issue 3).
Adam Smith's draft of Now you see her - Pauline Boty - First Lady of British Pop is available as a PDF from The Writing Room
Other photos of Boty by Lewis Morley, Michael Seymour and Michael Ward are held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Alice Rawsthorn, Director of London's Design Museum and Chris Stevens, Head of Collections at Tate Britain, discussed PB on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour in July 2004 and Alice wrote a piece for The Guardian
An archive of 60 slides, articles, poems and inter-views on the work and life of Pauline Boty, formerly held by the Women's Art Library, is now at Goldsmith's College in the UK.
There is a filmography for Pauline on The Internet Movie Database
To learn more about Boty in Pop Goes the Ease go to Ken Russell
Dr. Sarah Wilson, Art Historian from the Courtauld Institute of Art talked about Pauline Boty among others in a blog series on Women and Pop Art at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, but that blog has been taken down.
To see John Aston's pictures, go to Pauline Boty Gallery
To see images in tribute to PB click here
 

The Only Blonde in the World (1963) Pauline Boty


My Colouring Book (1963), Pauline BotyIt's a Man's World II (1965), Pauline Boty