Pauline Boty : pop artist and woman / Sue Tate.

Catalogue accompanies exhibition held at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 1 June to 16 November 2013.

Includes bibliography (pages 134-135) and index.

Pauline Boty (1938-66), British Pop artist, studied at the Royal College of Art and was a friend and colleague of Peter Blake, David Hockney and Derek Boshier with all of whom she exhibited. A talented artist and a sensuous, beautiful player on the 60s swinging London scene she produced a vibrant body of paintings and collages that enrich Pop from a female perspective. Yet, when she died, tragically young from cancer in 1966, she all but disappeared from cultural view for nearly 30 years. This richly illustrated book is the first, and long over-due, comprehensive study of her life and work. Drawing on previously unpublished material it offers the first in depth study of her complete oeuvre and reveals a charismatic, exuberant character who confounded gender stereotypes. An intellectual who insisted on her right to a proactive sexuality and the pleasures of popular culture her work both celebrates and critiques mass cultural experience. Marilyn Monroe and Elvis appear along side Proust and Lenin and, reversing the usual sexual economy of Pop, she turned her lustful gaze on male icons of desire. Politically aware she responded to contemporary events like the Cuban Revolution and Kennedy's assassination and gave visual form to her prescient grasp of gender politics. Sue Tate considers why, until recently, Boty's oeuvre has been excluded from or marginalized in both mainstream and feminist art histories. She argues that now, in the context of postmodern ideas and changes in feminism's strategic needs, her work resonates with current concerns and can, finally, be fully appreciated. The important contribution Pauline Boty made to Pop Art is brought to light, returning her to her rightful place in art history.