A set of prints called BUNK!, made by the British artist Eduardo Paolozzi in 1972 but based on scrapbooks made 20 years earlier, has just gone on display at Birmingham University.
The 50 prints, which were bequeathed to the university, are displayed in the corridor of the Department of Canadian and American Studies on the fourth floor of the Arts Building, where members of the public can see them by prior appointment. In fact, this is the only place in the world where it is possible to see a complete set of these prints.
The scrapbooks were compiled from various American magazines which Paolozzi collected, many from discharged US servicemen, when he was living in Paris in the late 1940s.
Ranging from serious scientific periodicals to pulp science fiction and lifestyle magazines, with many of the pages presented virtually unaltered, the collection captures a moment when – seen from austerity Britain – America was a promised land of Technicolor consumerism.
In April 1952, at a meeting of the Independent Group of young artists at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Paolozzi gave a presentation called “BUNK!” in which he projected these images in rapid succession to an accompanying lecture – an event which has come to be regarded as seminal in the creation of the British Pop Art movement.
Dick Ellis, head of Department of American and Canadian Studies, said: “Paolozzi and ‘BUNK!’” helped to start up the evolution of an important moment in post-war British and transatlantic art history, and it is great to be able to place it on public display.”
In fact, the West Midlands has the makings of a significant Paolozzi trail. The university campus already features one of his last major sculptures, Faraday, while the Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch has a set of murals larger than the better-known ones at Tottenham Court Road tube station.
To make an appointment to view BUNK!, email m.a.conway@bham.ac.uk. School and college parties are welcome.
