Pop in the Age of Boom: Richard Hamilton's 'Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes so

Different, so Appealing?'
Author(s): John-Paul Stonard
Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 149, No. 1254, Twentieth-Century Art (Sep., 2007),
pp. 607-620
Published by: Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20074973
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Pop in the Age of Boom: Richard Hamilton's
'Just what is it that makes today's homes so different,
so appealing?'
byJOHN-PAUL STONARD

measuring barely one foot square, Richard Hamilton's fame, however, the immediate origins of Hamilton's collage
Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? have remained obscure. The new archival and source material
is one of the most celebrated images in twentieth-century presented in this article sheds light on these origins, address
British art (Figs.12 and 13). It was created for the catalogue ing problems surrounding the authorship of the work. Newly
and used for one of the posters for the exhibition This is identified sources for various parts of the collage allow for a
Tomorrow held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, dur revised interpretation of its contents.
ing August and September 1956. Collaged with images drawn The background of and preparations for the historic
chiefly from American illustrated magazines, it has become exhibition This is Tomorrow are well known. In a context
an emblem of the Age of Boom, the post-War consumer of enthusiasm for cross-disciplinary exhibitions of Con
culture of the late 1950s.1 It has also become a manifesto for structivist-inspired art and architecture,6 a group of young
a movement. In one of the first accounts of British Pop art, artists, architects and critics met during early 1955 in the studio
published in 1963, it was presented as a catalytic work, and the of the painter Adrian Heath and decided, after heated debate,
next year was decreed 'the first genuine work of Pop'.2 More on the basic format of their as yet untided exhibition.7 Theo
recently it has been compared with the Demoiselles d'Avignon, Crosby, who was at that moment the editor of Architectural
has been hailed as 'the starting point of planetary Pop Art' and Design, headed the organisation committee. Eleven teams of
as the 'perfect Pop work'.3 John Russell's description over three or four individuals were formed, each with the task of
thirty years ago of the endless 'pockets of meaning' that can be constructing a display for the exhibition, which was to open on
found in 'this little picture' remains true today.4 Above all, it 9th August the following year. Crosby approached Bryan
was a startling prognosis of the use of comic books, tinned Robertson, the director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, who
food and burlesque nudes that formed the iconography of Pop agreed to host the exhibition. The budget was minimal and,
art, and of the widespread use by artists of the m?tonymie as preparations got underway, it was decided that each team
language of advertising. Such a mythic status is all the more would design and print a poster and contribute six pages to
remarkable for an object not originally intended for display the catalogue (Fig. 14). Each was also required to subsidise the
but as a design for lithographic reproduction.5 Despite this materials for its displays. From the outset the intentions were

For their help in the preparation of this article, I would like to thank Jo Baer,
Mary Banham, Stuart Blacklock (EMI Archive), Robert Cooper, Magda Cordell
McHale, Rita Donagh, Gerlinde Engelhardt (Kunsthalle T?bingen), Elisabeth Fair
man (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven), Tim Fogerty (Muscle Memory),
Mark Francis, Adrian Glew (T?te Archive), Graphic Imaging Technology, Brook
lyn, New York, Richard Hamilton, Rod Hamilton, Dian Hanson, Martin Harrison,
Richard Hollis, Randolphe Hoppe (Jack Kirby Museum), Harry Mendryk, John
McHale Jr., Richard Morphet, Petra Cerne Oven (University of Reading Depart
ment of Typography), Randall Scott (Michigan State University Libraries), Posy
Simmonds, Candy Stobbs (Whitechapel Art Gallery), Aur?lie Verdier and Anna
Yandell. Particular thanks go to Richard Hamilton for permission to cite from letters
in his archive, and to the Gagosian Gallery, London.
1 The phrase was first used in Queen, 15th September 1959.
2 J. Reichardt: 'Pop Art and After', Art International 7, 2 (25th February 1963)
pp.42?47, esp. p.43; M. Amaya: Pop as Art. A Survey of the New Super Realism,
London 1965, p.32.
3 W. Guadagnini: 'Coincidences', in M. Livingstone and W. Guadagnini, eds.: exh.
cat. Pop Art UK. British Pop Art 1956?1972, Modena (Palazzo Santa Margherita;
Palazzina dei Giardini) 2004, pp.37-41, esp. p.37.
4 J. Russell: 'Introduction', in exh. cat. Richard Hamilton, New York (Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum) 1973, pp. 10-11.
5 The collage was first displayed as a work of art, while still in the collection of the
artist, in the exhibition Nieuwe Realisten at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (24th
June to 30th August 1964), the catalogue to which included a reprint of Jasia
Reichardt's essay, cited at note 2 above, and a large reproduction. It was to a certain
extent owing to the enthusiasm of the curator and writer Walter Hopps that the
collage acquired an independent life: he possessed a colour slide of the work which
he used in lectures in the late 1950s, and it was through his agency that the work was
sold, on the occasion of Hamilton's exhibition at the Hanover Gallery, London
(20th October to 20th November 1964), to the American collector Ed Janss,
in 1964, for ,?320; London, T?te Gallery Archive (hereafter cited as TGA)
863/Hanover Gallery. The collage was to have been displayed in the exhibition Euro
pean drawings (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1966), organised by
Lawrence Alloway. Alloway had written to Hamilton asking for four drawings that
had been displayed in Hamilton's 1964 Hanover Gallery exhibition, but rejected
Hamilton's subsequent suggestion that Just what is it . . . should be included; L.
Alloway to R. Hamilton, 26th July 1965, Richard Hamilton archive (cited hereafter
as RJ-IA). It was then displayed in the exhibitions Pop Art, London (Hayward Gallery)
1969; Richard Hamilton, London (T?te Gallery), Eindhoven (Stedelijk van Abbe
museum) and Bern (Kunsthalle) 1970; and Richard Hamilton, New York (Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum) 1973. The collage was sold on 20th August 1974 to the
German collector Georg Zundel, and simultaneously became part of the collection
of the Kunsthalle T?bingen. Thereafter, it was shown in the exhibitions: Richard
Hamilton Studies ? Studien 1937?1977, Bielefeld (Kunsthalle), T?bingen (Kunsthalle)
and G?ttingen (Kunstverein) 1978; Westkunst: zeitgen?ssische Kunst seit 1939, Cologne
(Messegel?nde, RJieinhallen) 1981; Modem dreams. The rise and fall of Pop, New York
(Clocktower Gallery) 1987; and High & low: modem art and popular culture, New York
(Museum of Modern Art), Chicago (Art Institute) and Los Angeles (Museum of
Contemporary Art) 1990-91. A photograph taken by Hamilton at the time of the
1987 Clocktower Gallery exhibition has been substituted for the original collage in a
number of subsequent exhibitions.
6 A. Fowler: 'A forgotten British Constructivist group: the London branch of
Groupe Espace, 1953-59', the burlington magazine 148 (2007), pp. 173-79.
7 D. Robbins, ed.: exh. cat. The Independent Group: Postwar Britain and the Aesthetics
of Plenty, Hanover (Hood Museum of Art), London (ICA), Los Angeles (Museum
of Contemporary Art) and Berkeley (University Art Museum) 1990?91, pp.30 and
I35-36

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

12. Just what is it that makes

today's homes so different, so
appealing?, by Richard
Hamilton. 1956. Collage of
printed materials and
gouache, 25.7 by 24.5 cm.
(Sammlung Zundel,
Kunsthalle T?bingen).

13- Catalogue for the

exhibition This is
Tomorrow, Whitechapel
Art Gallery, 1956, showing
two-page spread designed
by Richard Hamilton,
including the collage
Just what is it. . ..

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 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

vague - an exhibition of the most forward-looking tendencies,

engaging direcdy with the contemporary world. Although this
impulse arose in part from the dynamic think-tank atmosphere
of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary
Arts, the exhibition was for the most part defined by contem
porary British attitudes to Constructivism. Both constituents
were founded on ideas that enabled cross-disciplinary discus 1H2* j1 Sotan?-? ^^^^
sion between architects, artists and philosophers.
Among the eleven teams, Group Two comprised the
architect John Voelcker and the Independent Group mem
bers John McHale and Richard Hamilton. Also important for
Group Two's contribution were Terry Hamilton (Hamilton's
wife), the Hungarian painter Magda Cordell and her husband,
Frank Cordell, a musical director at EMI. Anne Massey has
recounted how the Cordells, McHale and Lawrence Alloway
formed a caucus within the Independent Group.8 Although BPBPR^^^ ^^^^^^^h ^^^^^^1 *
Voelcker played an important role, the combined interests
2??T *-Pyj?*-*,-t***' *l"iirw. C'M?4. D^bfb^Mw. ttoct C>*? t. Mpri ti M? I'M?. M?* C.~? 7 I? B**g*ijij V?t?

of McHale and Hamilton largely determined Group Two's

contribution. McHale and Alloway had taken over con
-..._ ^V^^^^^l ? nu
venorship of the Independent Group towards the end of Ikkkm nHH ~"?
mm m m ^^^ IIHfit||jU

? JkWW
1954 and reoriented its discussions towards American popular
culture, advertising, Hollywood cinema and science fiction.9
Members gave talks on their particular interests, including
an influential address by Reyner Banham on car styling.10
Hamilton's contribution dealt with American domestic appli
GrM*'t O....... k, ?.<??-< Nmhnt GrM? t 0*MfM4 kr (?will Hvi.i. Qr~t 10 Dn4~< kj ?*??rt *?? ? Griatil S??|??l ?i W*M?* "?'
IM.M?.^^.?.??. Mut m. ?k.? ,. ?...? Mh .tekaW.1??. ti..?,..?, ??k < ? ?..? .^ .k... ?*?r.M
ances: 'I was fascinated by "white goods" as they were called,
washing machines and dishwashers and refrigerators 14- 'i2-Posters
not for This is Tomorrow', reproduced in Architectural Design (September
simply as objects in themselves as designed objects, 1956),
but p.304.alsoIncluded in are the posters designed by John McHale (top row, second
from left) and Richard Hamilton (top row, third from left) for Group Two.
the ways in which they were presented to the audience'.11
Eduardo Paolozzi's use of advertising images from American
magazines was formative and fed into a general and discussions,
collabo McHale left for a period of study at the Yale
rative interest in such material. 'Tear sheets' of advertising
School of Fine Art, New Haven, returning only at the end of
May 1956.
images were passed around, and 'tackboards' of assorted adver 'We could only correspond by letter', Hamilton
remembered, 'and their tone became increasingly acrimo
tising imagery were common in artists' studios and homes.12
Hamilton has described the enthusiasm with which Group
nious. Finally, we were no longer friends'.15
Two began preparations for the exhibition and the impor
Those letters that have survived from the correspondence
tance of the interest he and McHale shared in 'Pop Art,on the evolution of the collage and offer some
shed light
clarification
pop music, cinema and all the other things you see in a list of its recently contested attribution and status
when Pop Art is mentioned'.13 Group Two wasasunique a collaborative
in work. The focus of this contention is the
conceiving its contribution as a distillation oftrunk
the ideas
of American ephemera ? magazines, advertisements
developed in the Independent Group ? before itand records
ceased to- collected by McHale during his stay in New
Haven which were used by Hamilton, at least in part, for
function in spring 1955. As it turned out, their show-stealing
display, an 'ebullient carnival piece' according tothe
Alloway,
construction of the collage. It has been suggested that
was dramatically different from any other stand.14 The a collaboration and that McHale may even have
this implies
themes of optical illusion and popular culture weresupplied
combineda design.16
Of all
in a display surrounding a 'fun-house' structure which the members of the Independent Group, McHale
incor
appears at that moment as the one most engaged with the
porated a jukebox. The eventual success of their contribution
collage
followed severe difficulties that arose during the medium, American advertising and the impact of
period
of preparation. In August 1955, after a few preliminary
new domestic technical appliances. His interest in American

8 A. Massey: The Independent Group. Modernism and Mass Culture in Britain 1945?59, 14 L. Alloway: 'The Development of British Pop', in L. Lippard, ed.: Pop Art,
Manchester and New York 1995, p.79. London 1966, pp.27-67, esp. p.39.
9 Ibid., pp.77-93. 15 Hamilton, op. cit. (note 13), p.62.
10 'Borax, or the Thousand Horse-Power Mink' was given on 4th March 1955. 16 The standard attribution is given by Massey, op. cit. (note 8), p. 118: 'A collage
11 'Richard Hamilton in conversation with Michael Craig-Martin', in A. Searle: drawn from American mass media sources, mainly supplied by John McHale as
Talking Art 1, London 1993, pp.67-83, esp. p.73. a result of his visit to Yale'. A more recent controversy concerning the authorship of
12 B. Colomina: 'Friends of the Future: A Conversation with Peter Smithson', the collage was summarised by Jeremy Hunt in his article 'This is Tomorrow
October 94 (2000), pp.3-30, esp. p.9. 1956-2006', State of Art (September/October 2006), pp.24-25. The debate has
13 R. Hamilton: 'Pop Daddy', T?te Magazine 4 (March/April 2003), pp.60-62. continued on the website Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

magazines can be seen from his collection of'tear sheets' from

magazines reaching back as far as 1931.17 It is clear that he was
a pivotal figure for that small number of British intellectuals
who took American popular culture seriously, but his later
emigration to the United States has meant that his contri
bution has been somewhat overlooked. Hamilton himself
later recorded that 'John McHale's catholic intellect applied
itself with presbyterial rigour to everything and generously
distributed the fruits of his enquiry to the flock. When his
bumper bundle from a first visit to the United States was
ceremonially presented at the ICA, the first Elvis Presley
records to land on these shores were protectively interleaved
with copies of MAD magazine so that no one knew what was
ballast and what cargo'.18 The German art historian J?rgen
Jacobs has suggested that McHale's Independent Group
lecture 'Technology at Home' influenced Hamilton's deci
sion to include an image of a woman vacuuming.19 In his
famous letter to Peter and Alison Smithson, which provided
one of the first definitions of Pop culture, Hamilton enumer
ates those events of the 'post war years' which he felt were
important, listing McHale's 'Ad image research' alongside
the work of Paolozzi and the Smithsons.20
Furthermore, McHale was one of the leading exponents of
collage within the ICA milieu. His works were included in
the exhibition Collages and Objects, organised by Alloway and
designed by McHale himself, held at the ICA during October
and November 1954. This important exhibition showed
works by Picasso, Braque, Schwitters and others alongside
collages by members of the Independent Group, principally
15- Machine made America II, by John McHale. 1956. Cover for Architectural
Paolozzi and Nigel Henderson. Significantly, Hamilton was
Review (24th May 1957).
not involved. The press release for the exhibition describes it
as part of the 'collage revival' in post-War Britain.21 A further
exhibition of eleven collages by McHale was held in advertisements.24
food the The collages he exhibited in the
library
library of the ICA shortly after This is Tomorrow closed. In his in 1955 depended, Alloway wrote, on a 'capac
short catalogue introduction to the exhibition,Dubuffetesque
Alloway human contour', and appeared 'democ
cally
compares McHale's collages to those of Schwitters and Arcimboldesque'.25 Alongside this abstract man
Ernst
and also draws attention to McHale's interest inother
American
works are based on typographic photomontage
magazines, particularly their advertisements for food,
mostwith
innovative works in the medium are his collage boo
'visions of popular appetite, chocolate landscape for
cake, salad Shoe-Life Stories, made after April 1955, w
instance
sculpture, solid-gold chicken'.22 use varying page sizes and other devices to create consta
The types of collage McHale was making at thischanging
moment juxtapositions of images drawn from maga
show nevertheless the influence of abstraction rather
andthan of
newspapers, in particular headlines and other cu
the naturalistic space used in Just what is it . . ..As Banham
text (Fig. 16).26 Together with two other books made ar
pointed out, McHale's clear interest on his return
the from
same time, Shoe-Life Stories has yet to receive the cr
attention it deserves.
America was to 'produce a mechanistic figure', in particular
Banham's
that of a robot.23 His Machine made America II (Fig. 15) designed and Alloway's comments are borne ou
the 1957)
for the front cover of Architectural Review (24th May content of letters from McHale to Richard and T
was typical of this kind of work, showing the influence of Art
Hamilton sent from America during late 1955 and early 1
Brut mixed with an interest in robotics, science fiction
These and
further illuminate the intellectual background to T

7 This collection is now in the archive of the Yale Center for British Art,
ikon 2', ibid.New
(March 1959).
Haven (hereafter cited as YCBA). 21 Press release for Collages and Objects, dated 8th October 1954; TGA, 955.1.12.61
18 C. Kotic, J. McHale, L. Alloway, R. Banham and R. Hamilton: 2/32.exh. cat. The
22 L. 1984,
Expendable Ikon: Works by John McHale, Buffalo (Albright-Knox Art Gallery) Alloway: 'Introduction', exh. cat. John McHale Collages, London (ICA) 1956.
p.47.
19 J. Jacobs: Die Entwicklung der Pop Art in England von ihren Anf?ngen 23 Kotic et al,
bis op. cit. (note 18), p.40.
1957,
Frankfurt 1986, p.90; J. McHale: 'Technology in the Home', Ark 19, 24 (March
A comment1957),
on the image appeared on the colophon page: 'The cover personage,
pp.24-27. by John McHale, with the tetragram of power - Neutral, Drive, Low, Reverse -
20 Richard Hamilton to Peter and Alison Smithson, 16th January 1957 (RHA). graven on his heart, was assembled from typical fragments of the cultural complex he
The seminal statement of McHale's ideas was contained in two articles: 'The also symbolizes; Machine Made America. The source of the material was one of
expendable ikon 1', Architectural Design 29 (February 1959), and 'The expendable America's favourite flattering mirrors, coloured magazine illustrations, and reflects a

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 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

?s>...

16. Shoe-Life Stories, by John McHale. c.1955.

Double-page spread from collage book, mixed media,
25.1 by 41.5 cm. (John McHale archive,
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven).

Tomorrow, as well as McHale's own wide interests. Writing
at the beginning of November 1955, McHale describes the
excitement of studying in the Yale School of Fine Art
with such luminaries as Norman Ives, Herbert Matter and,
above all, Josef Albers as faculty members.27 The interests he
expresses in this and subsequent letters are largely concerned
with perception, visual illusions and science fiction. 'Main
kick now is perception via [Adelbert] Ames etc coupled with
Joe's [Josef Albers] field of colour vibration'. McHale's dis
tance from the evolving organisation of the exhibition, a
problem compounded by the wait required for airmail, is
shown in a letter sent around mid-January in which he asks
Richard and Terry Hamilton if the space allocated to the
newly formed Group Twelve of Alloway, Toni del Renzio
and Geoffrey Holroyd would reduce the space allocated to
Group Two.28 He also refers to the 'New Haven version of
the I.G.', which 'flourishes or rather did flourish last term . . .'.
In London pressure was beginning to mount for Hamil
ton and Voelcker to finalise details for Group Two's
contribution, in particular for the poster and the catalogue
which were due on ist May. Voelcker sent details of
requirements for the catalogue and poster to both Hamilton
and McHale in mid-February, following a meeting of
the organising committee that he had attended two days
earlier.29 At this meeting the designer Edward Wright had
presented a mock-up of the catalogue, and the amount
of pages allocated to each group was decided.30 Wright was
also to design the posters, and the requirements for each
group were similarly confirmed.
The deadline was emphasised by Hamilton in a letter to
McHale towards the end of March, indicating that McHale
had been out of touch: 'Had hoped to hear from you by now
re clump' ('clump' was the term used by Group Two to refer
to the individual teams).31 The content of Group Two's
contribution had yet to be finalised, Hamilton requesting
suggestions and material from McHale, and adding: 'You can
see that it is imperative that one or the other of us starts on this
very very soon so do let me know your view immediately'.
Hamilton signed off: 'I shall be seeing Magda next week I
presume and she, no doubt, will have information as to the
date of your return'. Magda Cordell, who was having an affair
with McHale (for whom she eventually left Frank Cordell),
visited him in New Haven from the beginning of February to
around mid- to late March. On 18th March Voelcker had
informed the Hamiltons by letter that McHale was to send
material for the catalogue 'with Magda when she returns'. At
around the same time, McHale wrote to Hamilton agreeing
to design the poster, but requesting that Hamilton execute
his design in England.32 He also confirmed that his materials
and commentary would reach Hamilton via Magda who
was returning from her visit to New Haven: 'In the next
two days following this you will have my notes on structure
of John V. [the central display of the Group Two space],
catalogue, comments, suggestions for images etc. etc'. These
materials were accompanied by a letter and a mock-up for the
catalogue, sent to the Cordells' flat in Cleveland Square,
Paddington, where McHale also kept a studio.33 Notes and a
mock-up of the layout for the catalogue by McHale (Fig. 17)
accompanying this letter made clear his attitude towards the
catalogue as largely visual-scientific, suggesting pictorial use
of the equation E=MC2, and also the standard diagram of
'sense extension', derived from a book by E.W. Meyers, a

world of infra-grilled steak, pre-mixed cake, dream-kitchens, dream-cars, machine 3? Edward Wright (1912?88) taught an experimental typography workshop at the
tools, power-mixers, parkways, harbours, ticker-tape, spark-plugs and electronics'; Central School of Art from 1950 to 1955, and then taught at the Royal College of Art.
The Architectural Review 121, 7 (24th May 1957), p.293. He was an influential figure in the use of modernist typography and graphic design.
25 Alloway, op. cit. (note 14), p.35. 31 Richard Hamilton to John McHale, undated letter (mid- to late March 1956);
26 'Shoe-Life Stories McHale no.2A'; YCBA. RHA.
27 John McHale to Richard and Terry Hamilton, 15th November 1955; RJTA. 32 John McHale to Richard Hamilton, undated letter (mid-March 1956); RHA.
28 John McHale to Richard and Terry Hamilton, undated (after 5th January 1956);33 The letter can be dated by McHale's reference to the fact that it was written
RHA. during the spring recess of the Yale School of Fine Art (21st March to ist April).
29 John Voelcker to Richard and Terry Hamilton, 16th February 1956 (copy sent toFor these and all subsequent term dates, see Bulletin of Yale University. University
John McHale); RJiA catalogue number for the year 1955?1956, New Haven 1955.

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

ck a; for this exhibition I am off the direct photo-image', he writes

in the same letter.
Although this letter arrived around the same time as Magda
Cordell's return from New Haven, it is unclear whether it had
Hope's your chance to make a worth?
mimo O-Cedar Sponge Mop by tending in I
or discarded mop, farueh or broom. During <
been posted or was brought back by her. What is certain is that
tional aale you can ?ere ?1.00 on cither tal
"76" Sponce Mop with the handy built-in ? W/
she conveyed the trunk containing McHale's collection of
the new "88" with tibe "puah-ptdl" equeeaer i F'
American ephemera, Elvis Presley records and copies of MAD
,?o magazine.35 This is an important point - as the deadline for the
material for the catalogue, including Just what is it . . ., was
ist May, it would have been impossible for Hamilton to have
used material from the trunk if McHale had brought it back
? himself on 3 ist May. The collage was therefore made between
Magda Cordell's return at the end of March and ist May.
Aware of this impending deadline, Hamilton wrote to
?JU) McHale at the end of April with the news that a photo-collage
<Uv*A *.& *x> i+*^C?**-?J was to be included in the catalogue. This letter is untraced but
can be inferred from McHale's response. In an undated letter
sent towards the end of April, shortly before the end of the
spring term for the Yale School of Fine Arts, he complains
that the Hamiltons had 'held their noses at the thought of
collage' during the preparations, wanting to retain an aura of
seriousness for the catalogue. 'Now when I fall over backward
trying to be serious you tell me you "crazy housed" my
suggestions, and are working a la Mad [that is, in the style of
MAD magazine]. Big Deal. Put me down for some lessons
when I get back, I'd like to be a crazy collagist too . . .'.
McHale's exasperated response reflects Hamilton's lack of
interest in collage before this date, but also indicates that the
idea to include such a collage 'a la Mad' came from Hamilton
himself, after seeing copies of the magazine that had arrived
in the collection of material brought back by Magda Cordell
at the end of March. Unlike more popular titles, MAD was
not then available in England.
Hamilton's interest in MAD is of some significance for the
17- Suggested design for the Group Two contribution to the catalogue of This is origins of Just what is it. . .. Although it was a leading tide in
Tomorrow, by John McHale. (Richard Hamilton archive).
the late 1950s, on a par with household names such as Life and
Playboy, MAD was unique in offering a critical position on
British expert on cybernetics who had given an address to 1950s consumerism, exposing techniques of manipulation,
the Independent Group in March 1955 on the theme of often with the most biting parodies of advertising methods
'Probability and Information Theory and Their Application and media outlets. The April 1956 issue, for example, ran a
to the Visual Arts'.34 His suggestions for the remaining pages spoof advertisement for 'Marlbrando' cigarettes, 'The Trade
were generalised combinations of text and symbols 'to mark of Two-Fisted He-Men'.36 McHale recognised the
approximate [the] human image'. Apart from his preoccu importance of ALAD in the second part of his essay on 'The
pation with perception and visual illusion, the only reference expendable ikon', published in 1959, and used pages from the
to popular advertising material was the possibility of using magazine in a design for an unrealised collage book made at
'very big posters or billboards which when cut down may about the same time.37 He describes it as 'dadaist satirical', and
provide images', giving Baked Beans posters as a suggestion, as representing 'a kind of feedback control mechanism' to the
and also material culled from science fiction sources. Despite mass media message with reference to Marshal McLuhan. Pre
this, McHale's ideas for This is Tomorrow were defined by vious commentaries on the Independent Group have focused
scientific diagrams rather than photography - 'at the moment on the influence of Sigfried Giedion's Mechanization takes

34 Massey, op. cit. (note 8), p.91. and MAD collaborator Will Elder.
35 In conversation with Michael Craig-Martin, Hamilton suggests that McHale 37 'Unfinished Collage Book Project. McHale no.i4C\ by John McHale, rubber
'returned with a box of exotic things he had acquired there'. Evidently this could stamped '13 November 1959' on reverse; YCBA.
not have been the case if the materials were used for the production of the collage; 38 S. Giedion: Mechanization takes Command. A Contribution to Anonymous History,
see Searle, op. cit. (note 11), pp.67?83, esp. p.74. This error is repeated in many New York 1948, p.580; Robbins, op. cit. (note 7), p.57.
accounts of preparations for the exhibition; see, for example, C. Stephens and K. 39 Terry Hamilton to John McHale, ist May 1956; RHA.
Stout: 'This Was Tomorrow', exh. cat. Art & The 60s. This Was Tomorrow, London 40 J. Russell: 'Introduction', in S. Gablik and J. Russell: Pop Art Redefined, London
(T?te Gallery) 2004, p. 11. 1969, P-33
36 Of particular note was MAD 22 (April 1955), the 'Special Art Issue', which traced 41 Searle, op. cit. (note 11), p.70.
the fictional career of the artist 'Bill "Chicken Fat" Elder', based on the illustrator 42 Memorable photographs from Life Magazine opened on 6th March 1952; TGA

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 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

Command of 1948, which reprinted numerous contemporary wills* STAR WILLST S'l?k
advertisements, including a satire on the 'Overgadgeted CIGARETTES
kitchen'.38 Although no material from the magazine was used
* * "W^T?.
in Just what is it. . ., the indirect influence of MAD suggests

in maw
sees
a more ironic take on advertising culture than has previously
been ascribed to the collage.
McHale's grudging acceptance of the 'crazy collagist'
approach suggests that he too may have wished for a more
serious approach both to the catalogue and the exhibition, the
type of earnest constructivism that characterised many of
?riii
the other This is Tomorrow collaborations. Following on from
H?R?WD|pn ,*.
iAKTHOMfl
his exasperated response to Hamilton's apparent change of ?fl??C?DirvU *
approach, he noted: 'Fine ? I include some you may use'. This UjWJPttfJUS.,

may well indicate that McHale sent tear sheets or cut-outs to w?sr c, z0fJ 2= '"?"f LOUIES
SEUOMauM 3i>f" fa
be used for the collage at this point, which would have arrived
before the deadline of ist May. In response to McHale's i?L
letter, Terry Hamilton wrote an angry reply, dated ist May, 18. Photograph of an East End shop front, by Nigel Henderson. 1949-53.
pointing out that it was McHale rather than Hamilton who Reproduced in V. Walsh: Nigel Henderson. Parallel of Life and Art, London 2001, p. 52
had 'gone all highbrow' and rejected the idea of collage,
rather than vice versa, and also that 'Richard has been hard at a psychological fact pleasure helps your disposition, used the Apr
it getting the thing produced'.39 Interestingly, she goes on to 1947 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal; other collages show
describe the collage as 'rationalised mad ? a room containing comics such as Hi-Ho and Breezy Stories. American comic
categories on the list Richard sent you earlier'. were widely available in London, as can be seen from Hen
To what extent the material McHale included in his letter, derson's photograph taken around 1950 (Fig. 18) of an Eas
or material from the trunk, was used for Hamilton's collage is End shop front, displaying the sign 'Stop! Here for America
still open to question, and is dealt with in more detail in the Comics. Biggest selection in East London'. Other we
individual cases discussed below. American publications were known outlets for comics and magazines were the newsagent
widely available in London, and had been collected by and S. Solosy Ltd., in the Charing Cross Road, and Moroni's
exchanged among artists for a number of years. Referring news-stand in Old Compton Street. News-stand displays o
to eye-witness accounts, John Russell has described the magazines were themselves an object of fascination, offering
'collective delight' with which British artists greeted such sudden frieze of saturated colour to the post-War fl?neur A*
Americana: 'Painters pounced on the advertising pages of Further source material may have been found in the flat o
McCalVs Magazine the way Dyce pounced on Raphael when Frank and Magda Cordell at 52 Cleveland Square, where
he was asked to paint a Madonna'.40 Hamilton has described Hamilton made the collage with the assistance of Terry
the importance of his visits with Henderson and Paolozzi to Hamilton and Magda Cordell, recendy returned fro
the reading room of the American Embassy in Grosvenor America. According to Hamilton, the collage was produc
Square, London, where the latest magazines were available, in a single morning, after Hamilton had provided Terry an
and direct comparisons could be made between English and Magda with a list of the things that he wanted the collage t
American publications: 'There was Picture Post, but that didn't represent, and they retrieved them from the magazines avai
have the glamour of Life magazine in the post-war years', able in the flat.44 Hamilton's iconographie prescription show
Hamilton later recalled.41 An exhibition of photographs from the dual interest in science and popular culture that h
Life magazine held at the ICA in early 1952 attests not only to marked the Independent Group: 'Man, Woman, Humanity
the importance but the availability of the title in London.42 History, Food, Newspaper, Cinema, TV, Telephone
International editions of certain publications were also avail Comics (picture information), Words (textual information),
able, as Paolozzi's 1952 collage Keep it simple, keep it sexy, Tape recording (aural information), Cars, Domestic appl
keep it sad demonstrated, showing the front of the 'Adantic ances, Space'.45 Terry's and Magda's assistance was clearl
Overseas Edition' of TIME, The Weekly Newsmagazine. For important in determining the choice of imagery for th
his use of popular imagery drawn from magazines and comics, collage; such a modus operandi was entirely in keeping with
Paolozzi is one of the most prominent forerunners of the division of domestic labour that so fascinated Hamilton i
Just what is it. . .. The 1948 collage from his 'Bunk' series, It's the advertising material of the day.46 Whereas later works b

955/I/i2/37- A further exhibition at the ICA during September 1956, concurrent

clearly fond of tabulating imagery in this manner, producing similar lists of'Imager
with This is Tomorrow at the Whitechapel, displayed cartoons from the New and 'Perception' for the Group Two display at This is Tomorrow, and also in th
Yorker
letter
magazine by artists such as James Thurber and Saul Steinberg. It was organised addressed to the Smithsons in January 1957, often taken as a manifesto for P
by the
American Federation of Arts and travelled to Manchester, Edinburgh andart Belfast;
in Britain. Copies of these lists can be found in Hamilton's personal archive and
TGA 955.1.12.80. are cited in ibid., pp.22 and 28.
43 Particular thanks to Magda Cordell McHale for information on this
46 topic;
For the association of mass culture with femininity and its uncritical reflection
conversation with the present writer, 4th July 2007. in the work of many Pop artists, see C. Whiting: A Taste for Pop. Pop Art, Gende
44 Richard Hamilton in conversation with the present writer, 7th February and Consumer Culture, Cambridge 1997, which contains a full bibliography of this
2007.
? The list is reprinted in R. Hamilton: Collected Words 1953-1982, Londonsubject.
1982,
p.24. There is no copy of this list in Hamilton's personal archive. Hamilton was

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

general tone of the exhibition: was it to be serious-scien

or M?4D-ironic? There was little question of individual cr
for contributions either in the catalogue or in the displ
and it was perhaps on this basis that Group Two was in
able to produce its historic contribution. Nevertheless, t
seems little reason to suspect that McHale was respon
for Just what is it . . ., other than supplying essential im
from magazines, both in the trunk and in a separate let
sent, with grudging acceptance of the 'Mad collage' idea
in time for the deadline. The group nevertheless continu
collaborate. McHale in fact designed a separate poster
Group Two (Fig. 14) which Hamilton executed in the
graphic department of Newcastle upon Tyne Univers
where he was teaching during the period in which the e
19- 77ns is Tomorrow, perspective of exhibition, by Richard Hamilton. 1956.
bition was being prepared. McHale was evidently ple
Collage and ink on paper, 30.5 by 47 cm. (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart).
with the results, which he received in early May, a few w
before his departure from America. He wrote to th
Hamilton for having sent a copy of the poster and
'Your [Hamilton's] comment "that the poster looks as if
had a hand in it, and the catalogue myself, is excellen
completely in the tradition of our section!!'48 As it transp
Group Two was to contribute two posters to the exhibit
Hamilton realised the potential of the 'Mad collag
had produced, and used it to produce a second poster to
alongside McHale's (Fig. 14).
Hamilton had in fact made two other collages relating to
exhibition. A perspective visualisation of the Group
installation was made to illustrate a feature on the exhibition
the issue of Architectural Design for September 1956 (Fig
This collage clearly shows the optical illusion on one
facing the popular culture mural, a Kia-Ora bottle (repla
in the final display with an inflatable Guinness bottle)
jukebox, while the 'fun-house' structure shows an enl
photograph of spaghetti and meatballs, indicating a
Hamilton had reserved for McHale, and the large lab
head ? here Pierre Mend?s-France, replaced in the final
20. See, hear, smell, touch, by Richard Hamilton. 1956. Collage, 21 by 22.1 cm.
lation
with a photographically enlarged image of a si
(Museum Ludwig, Cologne).
'labelled head' collage, this time featuring President Tito
second collage, See, hear, smell, touch (Fig.20), which was
used in the exhibition catalogue, relates to Just what is i
Hamilton have been served by detailed expositions, bothchiefly by
in format and by the use of text labels. The three collag
the artist himself, the collaborative circumstances all in now
which in museum collections in Germany, form a cohe
Just what is it . . . was made have meant that its origins have marks a pivotal moment in Hamilton's career.
group that
remained vague and often erroneously explained.47 This pointthis background, a detailed examination of Just
Against
is substantiated by Hamilton's often-cited observationis that
it. . .the
and its sources can be conducted. The perspectiva
title of the collage was discovered on a cut-out scrapluminous
when thecoherence of the interior presented suggests t
collage had been completed. As is made clear below, singleHamil
image underlies the scene. This indeed is the case
ton was in fact reuniting the text with the advertising
image image
was taken from the June 1955 issue of the Ladies'
of a domestic interior that forms the basis of the collage.
Journal, which carried on the inside cover an advertisemen
The disagreement between McHale and the Hamiltons was
the Pennsylvania-based company Armstrong Floors, sho
not about the authorship of the collage, but rathera aboutbright the
interior fitted with 'Armstrong Royelle Linole

47 For Hamilton's descriptions, see R. Hamilton: 'An exposition of $he', in idem,

50 The collage has been described as a 'stage set of modernity, a showroom
op. cit. (note 45), pp.34-39; Cf. also idem: 'Hommage ? Chysler Corp', in with up-to-date things. . .'; T. Lawson: 'Bunk: Eduardo Paolozzi and the
Architectural
Design (March 1958); idem: 'Urbane Image', Living Arts (London) 1963.
of the Independent Group', in L. Alloway et al: exh. cat. Modern Dreams. T
48 John McHale to Richard and Terry Hamilton, undated letter; RHA.and Fall of Pop, New York (Clocktower Gallery) 1987, pp.18?29, esp. p.25.
49 P.H. Simpson: 'Comfortable, Durable, and Decorative: Linoleum's 51 B.Pise and
Colomina: 'Friends of the Future: A Conversation with Peter Smith
Fall from Grace', APT Bulletin (1999), pp.17?24. Coincidental^, the Armstrong
October 94 (2000), pp.3?30, esp. p.n. In 1957 the Ladies' Home Journ
Cork Company Ltd., a British subsidiary of Armstrong Floors, placed a full-page of 5,449,000, significantly more than its nearest rival McCa
a circulation
advertisement in the catalogue for This is Tomorrow. T. Peterson: Magazines in the Twentieth Century, Urbana 1964, p. 190.

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 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

(Fig.2i). Armstrong had been pioneers in advertising since

1917, their products appearing regularly in leading American
magazines.49 This advertisement, which constituted the basis
for Just what is it . . . and provides a large amount of the
imagery in the final collage, would have appealed to Hamil
ton as it was almost the same size as the catalogue and, as a
cover rather than an inside page, it presented a relatively stur
dy support on which to attach further elements. Although the
flooring is only partially exposed in the room, the Royelle
Linoleum is central, appearing rather as an empty stage wait
ing to be filled.50 In particular the first line of the advertising
copy printed below the images clinched the choice: 'Just
what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?'
This text was cut out and used as a caption for Just what is
it . . ., displayed on the facing page of the Whitechapel
catalogue (Fig. 13). Although Hamilton has described coming
across the text after he had made the collage, cut off from its
original source in 'some picture past recall', in fact text and
image were reunited.
The Ladies' Home Journal was certainly not unknown in
Britain at the time: Peter Smithson describes both this and
the Woman's Home Companion being sent to Britain during
tho modern fashion In floors
the War.51 Alison Smithson took clippings from the journal,
and the type of advertisements the Smithsons found within
Armstrong
direcdy influenced their important essay 'But Today We
Collect Ads', published just after This is Tomorrow closed, in
which they described the 'magical [. ..] technical virtuosity' of
contemporary advertising. A short list of magazine 2i.sources at
Advertisement for Armstrong Royal Floors. Reproduced in Ladies' Home
the end of their article suggested that the Ladies' Home Journal
Journal (June 1955).

was by far the chief source for advertisements for their

inquiry.52 Alongside the Saturday Evening Post, also published
one hundred
by Curtis Publications, it was unrivalled in the quality of its miles. This is one of the few images that can
with some
colour reproductions and generous format. Both titles were degree of certainty be traced to McHale's archive,
printed using offset lithography, resulting in a remarkable
which contains two copies of the double-page advertisement
range and depth of colour and a clarity of photographic
(taken from Life, 5th September 1955),5<5 one of which is miss
reproduction by contrast with the more smudgy primitive
ing its left page, the source of the section of the image that
Hamilton
letterpress that was used for magazines such as Picture used in the collage (Fig.22). The image probably
Post in
refers
England. For Richard Hoggart, the newer style of to 'Space' on Hamilton's list of subjects, although
journals
compared with the older ones were 'rather like knowledge
the latestof the image shows that it might more accurately
synthetic cocktail to a glass of not-very-strong beer'.53
representNew 'Humanity'.
types of food advertising, emphasising particularlyWith a typetheofceiling fixed, the rest of the stage machinery and
salacious tomato-red hue, led to the phrase 'lick thedramatis
page' mag personae could be installed. Fulfilling the criteria
'Cinema', the pastoral view through the window in the
azines.54 Such magazines were 'Paradise Regained', according
to Banham: 'Remember we had spent our teenage years
original was obliterated by a reproduction of a well-known
surviving the horrors and deprivations of a six-year photograph
war. For of the Warner Cinema, Broadway, on the open
us, the fruits of peace had to be tangible, preferably ing night in 1927 of Alan Crosland's The Jazz Singer, starring
edible'.55
Among the first images that Hamilton attached to the Hamilton very carefully recreated the effect of
Al Jolson.57
Armstrong advertisement was the view of the Earthby
a window ? the addition of a window bar down the centre
not from a satellite, as the image might suggest, andbut from
at the top, using an opaque pigment, probably gouache.
The theme
an aerial camera that exaggerated the Earth's curvature: the of entertainment was continued to the right
picture comprises many photographs taken from awith the of
height addition of the television. This was taken from an

52 A. Smithson and P. Smithson: 'But Today We Collect Ads', Ark 18 (November

broadcast in the early 1960s, broadcast costs were still prohibitively high; see
1956), pp.49-50. Peterson, op. cit. (note 51), p.37.
53 R. Hoggart: The Uses of Literacy, London 1986 (ist ed. 1957), p.222. Hoggart 55
wasR. Banham: Fathers of Pop, revised transcript cited in Massey, op. at. (note 8), p.84.
56 to
referring to popular publications in England, but his remark is equally applicable John McHale archive, YCBA, Box 2.
developments in America. 57 Hamilton has described seeing this film in London shortly after its release as the
54 Many thanks to Posy Simmonds for this information. In the new age of market 'high-point' of his childhood; conversation with the present writer, 25th June
2007.
research and advertising, four-colour reproduction gave magazines a distinct
advantage over television advertising. Although a few colour programmes were

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM
A 100 Mile HighPortrait of Earth
In the black ionosphere 100 miles above the New Mexico Jewrl the lens
of an ?erial movie camera slowly ?wept ?ran the landscape below and
took this photograph?the highest ever nude in color of the earth'? sur
face. The shimmering, cloud-dotted panorama takes in more than a mil
lion square miles of the North American continent, stretching from
Kansas City to Lower California (w map, Irft).
CONTINENTAL SPAN of the rocket photograph i? ?hown on this annotated
The camera had climbed to its unique vantage point in the body of an
nk.lrh.up map. From ?|. po-ilion over the New Mexico ,lr-rl ill.' ?mrn rockel launched from White Sands Proving Ground as part of
Aerober
the Navy'?
p.?ntrd roughly at Ihr CM of Mexico. Hill because the roclrl Irpl rotalins. Ihr continuing research pr.fjram on the upper atmosphere. As
the rocket, spinning slowly on its axis, tipped over into a horizontal
position near the lop of its trajectory, the camera, peering through a
22. 'ioo Mile High Portrait of Earth', double-page feature published in Life (5th September 1955).
uitli <>xc*lii<siv<? rVNOIt.VMU: VISIC?,
&BHB?
t h(M'(?
S IROMBI Aid- CARLSON
58 The advertisement was also included in The American Home (November 1954
59 Many
23. Advertisement for Stromberg-Carlson television manufacturer. Reproduced in thanks to Randolphe Hoppe, of the Jack Kirby Museum, and to H
Life ( 1 oth January 1955). Mendryck for researching and finding this source on my behalf. Although the
6l6 SEPTEMBER 2007 CXLIX THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE
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peephole in the rocket*? side, recorded the changing scenes on earth as
Ihey flashed by (?re dratting, right). Later, experts from the L'.S. Naval
Research Laboratory painstakingly filled 117 of the pictures into the
composite terrestrial portrait above.
As their global jigsaw pude look shape, they noticed something unex
pected: a vast whirlpool of clouds over the Rio Grande Valley [lop, left,
i? phologmph). This was a cyclone which later deluged Roswell. N. Mrx.
Because the cyclone was high and diffused, the weather bureau had not
been able to track ils course. But the rocket's elevated eye showed it so
clearly that weather officials at once opened new discussion* with the
.Navy about the possibility of regular weather reconnaissance by rocket.
advertisement for Stromberg-Carlson televisions reprodu
in the issue of Life for ioth January 1955 (Fig.23).58 Curiously
the image shown on the screen of a woman telephoning h
been cut out and then put back. The most likely explanat
is that the excision was made by Terry Hamilton and Mag
Cordell when the material was gathered, and later repl
by Hamilton. By affixing the television over part of
fireplace in the original image, and obliterating the re
it, Hamilton evokes a change recurring in many househol
in the 1950s: with the simultaneous introduction of cent
heating and television, the fireplace was no longer
traditional centre of the home.
Covering the insipid painting in the Armstrong adverti
ment, a poster showing the comic book Young Roman
answered the subject of'Comics (Picture Information
Hamilton's list. Although in the picture space it is furt
back than the television set, it in fact overlaps it, and
thus stuck down afterwards. It is evidently too small to
the actual cover of Young Romance, no.26, 1949, but is rat
a 'house ad' - an advertisement placed by the publish
Crestwood Publications, in another of their titles
this case another romance comic, Young Love, no. 15
November 1950 (Fig.24).$9 Young Romance was the fi
pictorial romantic-escapist comic, following on f
pulp-story publications such as Intimate Confessions, used
 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

AMERICA'S NEU' II VYING HAH IT:

FORDS BY THE PAIR

Xearf// ii(f(l,(*V() families now own
two Fords?and J or V5.-3 there are even more reasttns why
two Fonts are a (ltdtars ami sense proposition.
I.? .1.-).-1- f.-,,-. r..,?. ,?, t..-.,?,. ., ?.t " || . .?,.
..,,. ..I tt..m. ...?!! tir.,1 r.ffil tn.ik. . I?.., .,, , ,,? ,. .??| I,,..).
? r.I. |.r..,.1r.11 . . . I.h l-',.r.l ..IT. r. ,. tlu.ji.ti.?-11.41. III.- |.r
f..r. 1).. -.Imp I V" ?.t ?I. 11,., I ,.r, IniK .,11.?ft...
r.-r IT,'., r'.-r-l .,.i,1.i.,?. 1.. ? ( II,, m.?l.ru -Mmi: Ir.n.t ?it!. I.
i? -I.,., , I ). ? 11., I.. I., II.., ?. I. rl? r. I l??- r ? I...rh, I 1... ?., rv I *.*
iul.-ri-rf. ..H.-r v.I,, L-l ?,.r.?I, n..r .l.^.r uii.l ii.tr..li?-<
mv> ti|.hi.l.t. n.-> -> - I for I In- lir-l til?n- in any r?r.

OHoHfy
petitorsnot Oucjfttfty
wara saving how MANY pays off!
titles they couldWhile
bring out,all of our imitators and com.
we concentrated on seeing how GOOD we could make YOUNG
ROMANCE and YOUNG ?OVE_

PRAYER
Is A Tremendous Mighty Power!
Dear Friend: joy! Whether you have always believed ',
PRAYER or not, this remarkable NEW WAY
Are You Fating Problems of Any Kind?
Art You Worried About Your Heath?
nay bring a whole NEW world of happiness ?n J
joy to you?and
Are You Worried About Money Troubles, or very, very quickly too !
Your Job? So don't wait, dear friend. Don't let another min Willigt "<m" tl,?l Li...?.|-t. t.mm Ik.? If..:
Are You Worried About So?ue One Dear To Hin- nniililv .-t.iii?r. . . . :.II ? it li lit.- .|.l,1?..I r
You? ute go by ! If you are troubled, warned or unhappy
?|?.,i- ..? ?. ? Triwr-T,?,,,,. |\.?.r. l..,i'll t.,l ;i .., ?
Are You Worried About Your Children, Your IN ANY WAY?we invite you to send your name
Ai, k-l. I (..i- . I n. 1. -. .111. - .t li \. .it.t f.,1 .1 I . I. I .-. .
and address with 10c (coin or stamps) so we can it Hi.? nr. (?wr l.r.iL.h M.I. I,-. ?ir. .. \i..l. I. .1
Home Ufe, Your Marriage? rush FULL INFORMATION to you by AIR ..f nil. it .1.. -n't .1 ;.1.1, ;,. v..11 mulit lliml. !.. ..?,1
It Some One Dem {o You Drinking Toi Much? MAIL about this remarkable NEW WAY o\ I. r'..r.I.ly w lui. y .11.I. r.t
Do You Ever Get Lonely, Unhappy or .r. "r. ?I, i.iTu. *.-, v.-It K..r.l l?.i.l.r l-.Liy ?.Lilt tin
Dittourmged? PRAYER that is helping so many oilier ?r.d nu|
. just as certainly and quickly help YOU!
Would You Like To Hope More Happiness,
Success, "Good Fortune" hi Ufe? You will surely bless this day?so please don't A Test Drive witt pro-re that i/ou can V buy better than two

if you ,do have any of these Problems, or. others
like them, dear friend, then here i* wonderful
NEWS?NEWS\i a remarkable NEW WAY
of PRAYER that is helping thousands of other
men and women to glorious NEW happiness and
24. Advertisement for Young Romance 26 (1949), included in Young Love 15 (1950),
p.23. (Collection of Harry Mendryk; ?Joe Simon and Jack Kirby).
'55 FORDS
delay! lust mail your name, add/ess and 10c (com
or stamps) now to UFESTVDY FELLOW
SHIP, Box 1511, Noroion, Conn. We will Iu*t,
this wonderful NEW Message of PRAYER and
FAITH to you by AIR MAIL
25. Advertisement for Ford Fairlane. Reproduced in Fortune magazine
(February 1955).

slightly smaller and larger versions appeared in Fortune

Paolozzi in his collage / was a rich man*s plaything (1947)
which inspired numerous imitators. As has often been
magazine and Holiday in February and May of 1955, and in
pointed out, Hamilton's use of the comic cover, drawn by the February 1955 issue of National Geographic (Fig.25). It
the leading comic book artist Jack Kirby, anticipates the is unlikely that the advertisement was repeated later in the
use made of comic books by Roy Lichtenstein. In direct year, when new Ford models were being introduced.
contrast, the framed formal portrait to the right of the YoungRedecoration of the back wall was completed with the addi
Romance, as well as providing a moment of bathos, may be tion of a manila-toned masking sheet, cut very accurately
taken to represent 'History' on Hamilton's list. The sitter to fit around the collaged images and the rubber plant
is visibly not John Ruskin, as has been suggested,60 and that remained from the Armstrong advertisement. A similar
the source is as yet unidentified. Hamilton repeated thesheet of white paper suggests the effect of light from the
window, an anomaly given the nocturnal setting.
irreverent gambit of including a token 'old master' in Group
Two's This is Tomorrow display, a framed reproduction ofAffixed over the lower left corner of the Al Jolson view,
Van Gogh's Sunflowers from the National Gallery, London, the image of the woman vacuuming the stairs, with the now
at that time in the collection of the T?te Gallery. legendary claim that 'ordinary cleaners reach only this far',
More up to date was the heraldic Ford logo, cut to createwas taken from the same issue of the Ladies' Home Journal as
a lampshade slightly larger than the one it covers in the the Armstrong Royal Floors advertisement (Fig.26). On page
original. The crown was used as an insignia for the Ford139 the Hoover Company advertised its new Constellation
Fairlane, a model released in early 1955, appearing on the model, 'with exclusive double-stretch hose'. The Space Age
bonnet, side and between the back seats, and was also used apparatus, the first vacuum cleaner to drift on an air bed, is
to advertise this and other models manufactured concur juxtaposed with an 'actual photo' of the new model in use:
rently. Although the precise source has yet to be identified,'Look at the reach of the Constellation!' Cut around the

60 M. Garlake: New Art New World. British Art in Postwar Society, New Haven and
advertisement appears in a few other issues of Young Love and Young Romance, only
Young Love i5 has the lettering in red. London 1998, p. 143.

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM
_NEW HOOVER.
?em?t?uMMn; (with exclusiva double-stretch hose)
cleans twice the area of any other cleaner
26. Advertisement for Hoover Constellation. Reproduced in Ladies' Home journal
(June 1955).
bottom stair, the slanting dado and the woman vacuuming at
the top, the affixed cut-out transformed the top of the green
cupboard at the far left of the Armstrong Floors advertise
ment into something more monumental in appearance.61
Intriguingly, as with the screen of the Stromberg-Carlson
television mentioned above, the black arrow with the words
'ordinary cleaners reach only this far' has been cut out and
then reinserted. It may be that the arrow was originally cut out
for use elsewhere, then put back when it became clear how
well it fitted the stairs. The arrow creates a link with the signs
on the fa?ade of the Warner Cinema, visible through the
window, and adds to the verbal saturation of the room.
Hamilton's interest in the motif of the arrow had been made
explicit in the Trainsition series of four paintings made in
1954. As Anne Massey describes, he had taken the arrow motif
directly from Paul Klee, whose P?dagogisches Skizzenbuch
{Pedagogical Sketchbook', 1925) had been the subject of Inde
pendent Group discussions in November and December
1953.62 Whereas in the Trainsition paintings Hamilton uses the
arrow to indicate the direction of movement across the flat
surface of the canvas, in Just what is it. . . the arrow functions
61 Two other notable appearances of the vacuum cleaner in twentieth-century art may
be mentioned as bracketing Hamilton's interest in the Hoover Constellation: Arthur
Dove's 1925 collage The critic (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York), incor
porating an advertisement for the 'Energex Home Favourite Model'; andJeffKoons's
more recent 'readymade' sculpture New Hoover Convertibles, New Shelton Wet /Dry Dis
placed Double Decker, 1981-87 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
6l8 SEPTEMBER 2007 CXLIX THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE
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27. Advertisement for Armour Star Ham. Reproduced in Look (20th April 1954).
as it does in the original advertisement, to draw attention to
a particular aspect of the image.
The bodybuilder at the centre of the composition, having
entered from stage left, is not Charles Atlas, as has frequently
been suggested, but the champion bodybuilder Irwin 'Zabo'
Koszewski.63 He represents 'Adam', according to Hamilton,
alongside the burlesque 'Eve' teetering on the sofa.64 The
source of the photograph of Zabo is particularly fitting: the
September 1954 issue of the pocket-sized magazine Tomor
row's Man, published by the Irvin Johnson Health Studio in
Chicago (Fig.28). This was one of a new genre of small
format magazines that appeared during the 1950s, including
the Los Angeles-based publication Physique Pictorial (founded
1951 ) and the Chicago-based Vim (1954), as well as Male
Classics founded in 1956 in Greek Street, London, and the
Hollywood-based Fizeek (1959). These differed from existing
'physical culture' titles such as Muscle Power, Strength and
Health and Iron Man in carrying little pretence at being aimed
at a heterosexual bodybuilding readership. Koszewski was a
well-known model who appeared in many of these titles. The
photograph used in Just what is it . . . was taken after he had
62 Massey, op. cit. (note 8), pp.74-75.
63 Many thanks to John McHale Jr. for bringing Koszewski's identity to my attention.
The identification was first published in D. Waldman: Collage, assemblage, and the found
object, London 1992, p.269. Charles Adas appears in Paolozzi's Evadne in Green Dimen
sion of 1949, featuring the exclamation 'Bunk!' For the collage and the source illustra
tion, see W. Konnertz: Eduardo Paolozzi, Cologne 1984, p.43. Dominic Sandbrook is
 POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

won third prize in the 1954 Mr America competition held in

Los Angeles. The magazine, which was of the 'posing strap'
genre, attributes the photograph to 'Bruce of Los Angeles',65
the well-known 'physique photographer' Bruce Bellas
(1909?74). As with many other male physique photographs of
the time, a posing suit - a modern fig leaf, perhaps - has been
added to the pouch in the original photograph. The 'peerless'
Koszewski, who had also won the 'best abdominals' prize,
suggestively holds a Tootsie Roll Pop in place of a dumbbell,
inserted through a slit cut between his thumb and forefinger.
This image is taken from an advertisement for Tootsie Roll
Pops, a type of lollipop, which appeared in an as yet untraced
advertisement in a comic book.
Although the published source for the photograph of'Eve'
has also yet to be traced, the sitter can be identified as the
American painter Jo Baer, who posed for nude photographs
while she was a struggling artist in New York in the early
1950s.66 Hamilton was not aware of the identity of the model
when he affixed the image, taken most probably from a
pin-up, or amateur photography, magazine. Complementing
Zabo's posing trunks, fig-leaf nipple tassels had been painted
onto the original photograph by the publisher. Similarly, the
'cloche', or lampshade, hat is a collaged addition to the origi
nal photograph, as the roughly cut-out left side of the sitter's
head shows. Close examination also shows that 'Eve' is
collaged over the front edge of the sofa, perhaps to avoid her
raised right arm obscuring the left eye of the telephoning
woman on the television screen. The presence of 'Eve' looks
forward to many such images in Hamilton's uvre. In 1961 he
noted that 'it is the Playboy "Playmate of the month" pull-out
pin-up which provides us with the closest contemporary
28. Irwin 'Zabo' Koszewski. Photograph by Bruce Bellas. Reproduced in
equivalent of the odalisque in painting'. Playboy, launched byMan
Tomorrow's (September 1954).
Hugh Heffiier in December 1953, was the first magazine to
combine high production values with risqu? pin-up photo
'Newspaper'. 'Tape recorder (aural information)'
graphy ? a 'quintessential emblem of the affluent society',
according to Dominic Sandbrook67 ? and stands in contrast
shown to in a similarly straightforward manner by the
recorder in the foreground, although it is curious th
other more saucy, under-the-counter American publications
wind-up model should have been selected when ele
such as those published by Robert Harrison, in particular
Beauty Parade which ran from 1952 to 1954. It is from these were more frequently advertised in magazin
machines
the time.
and other titles such as Cavalcade of Burlesque and Showgirls, or According to Hamilton, this and the rug were
final elements added to the collage.69 The mode
perhaps Amateur Screen and Photography, that the photograph
is most likely to have been taken. 'Reporter', can be identified by the barely legible b
Four elements of the collage remain to be addressed: the
name between the reels.70 Reel-to-reel magnetic recor
tin of ham, the newspaper, the tape recorder and the
hadrug.
been pioneered in Germany during the 1930s, but it
The Armour Star tin of ham, placed incongruously onin
only the
the late 1940s that the technology was commerc
coffee table, which may be considered as Hamilton's abbre in America. In 1956 the tape recorder was
developed
viated signature, in keeping with the quick-fire alanguage
relatively new invention and was advertised widel
of advertising, is taken from an advertisement thattechnical
appearedand also non-specialist magazines such as Holid
in Look magazine for 20th April 1954 (Fig.27).68 The Journal the tape recorder brings to mind the Reming
Formally,
of Commerce placed on the chair in the foreground was included by Raoul Hausmann in his 1920 coll
typewriter
not part of the original Armstrong advertisement, and (Fig.29), which bears strong similarities to Ham
Dada Siegt
was thus included by Hamilton to represent theton's category
collage, both formal (e.g. the segment of the Earth

one of the latest authors to repeat the misidentification of Koszweski; D.Jo

Sandbrook:
Baer has identified the photographers as Nat Wilkes and Sidney Wasserman
White Heat. A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, London 2006, pp.66-07.
67 D. Sandbrook: Never Had it So Good, London 2005, p.620.
64 Richard Hamilton in conversation with the present writer, 25th June682007.
All source identifications have been corroborated by comparing measure
65 Tomorrow's Man 2, 9 (September 1954), p.35. with the original.
66 Conversation with the present writer, June 2007. This identification6l)
is Richard
based onHamilton in conversation with the present writer, 25 th June 2007.
likeness and has yet to be substantiated with documentary evidence. Nevertheless,
70 Many thanks to Stuart Blacklock (EMI archives) for this identification.

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLIX SEPTEMBER 2007 6

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POP IN THE AGE OF BOOM

the ceiling) and thematic (in the connection drawn with

America). The reception of Dada and German modernism
in general by members of the Independent Group is a rich
subject for further research. Alio way's observation, pub
lished just after This is Tomorrow closed, that Dada shows
that a work of art 'may be made of bus tickets or it may look
like an advertisement' points to the importance of this
precedent in Hamilton's and McHale's work in the 1950s.71
Just what is it . . . introduced the theme of the interior,
often containing one or more figures, that has preoccupied
Hamilton ever since.72 His own involvement with interior
design, notably as a lecturer at the Hugh Casson's School
of Interior Design at the beginning of 1957, was first con
solidated around the time of This is Tomorrow.73 But if the
intention of Just what is it . . . was to create an image of the
future, close analysis of the imagery reveals an equivocal
result. None of the source material so far discovered dates
from 1956, and elements go back to the beginning of the
1950s (the television design, the wind-up reel-to-reel tape
recorder), to 1949 (the Young Romance cover) and to earlier
dates (the Warner Cinema in 1927; the Victorian portrait).
Hamilton later confirmed this retrospective element,
describing his conception of the interior in general as 'a
set of anachronisms, a museum, with the fingering residues
of decorative styles that an inhabited space collects'.74 In
contrast to the 'House of the Future', created by Peter and
Alison Smithson for the 1956 Daily Mail Ideal Home exhi
29- Dada Siegt, by Raoul Hausmann. 1920. Photomontage and collage with wa
bition ? a space-age residence that 'crystallized the domestic
colour on paper, 60 by 43 cm. (Private collection).
image of the brutalist sensibility'75 - Hamilton's interior is
more British than American, a 'cozy little future-world',76
heir to a genre of English interior scenes reaching back to
the eighteenth-century conversation piece. An element not
so far identified is the black-and-white speckled rug,Itwhose
may therefore be suggested that underlying the cro
ed imagery of Just what is it . . . is an anxiety that
appearance may have been inspired by the black-and-white
rug in the original Armstrong advertisement. It is, new cultural order could not, in fact, be sustained. When
however,
an enlarged detail of a photographic postcard Hamiltonfirst appeared, as a reproduction in an exhibition catalog
found of the 'Sands and Promenade' of WhitleyBritain Bay, on was in the midst of the Suez crisis, and the long
the Northumberland coast, probably taken around dition of British imperial dominion and supposed gl
1930.77
Falling in between 'Adam' and 'Eve', this is a verysupremacy
local, un appeared irreparably broken. It could well
American view of'Humanity'. taken as a title Harold Macmillan's famous appraisal t
Britain
George Orwell wrote that the best indication of the had 'never had it so good', given in a speech in Ju
English
1957,
character could be found on the magazine racks of particularly as Macmillan went on to describe
small
newsagent's shops, where the extent of a nation's hobbies
general anxiety that this 'goodness' was unsustainable; 'is
too good
and pastimes is documented.78 Just what is it . . . reveals howto last?'79 Just what is it... is a harbinger not o
of the iconography
much these pastimes were influenced by American culture in of much post-War art, but also refle
the mid-1950s, but also that the setting for these newthe disquiet of its time, marked by the end of Empire a
pursuits
remained on a more modest and domesticated English thescale.
dawn of the Nuclear Age. True to their story, 'Ad
and
Whereas many accounts have described the collage as 'Eve'
an upmust soon leave this consumer paradise. Vi
to-date image of contemporary life, in fact a strongin such a context, Hamilton's little picture seems to say t
element
of nostalgia is woven into the contemporary setting. in an Age of Boom, things sooner or later must go Pop.

(note 50), p.49.

71 L. Alio way: 'Dada 1956', Architectural Design 26 (November 1956)^.374.
72 See R. Hamilton: 'Interiors', in idem, op. cit. (note 45), pp.61-63; 76
seeT. ako
Lawson: 'Bunk: Eduardo Paolozzi and the Legacy of the Independent Group',
exh.
cat. Richard Hamilton. Interiors ?g?^?jg, Paris (Galerie Maeght) 1981. in Alloway, op. cit. (note 50), p.25.
73 Hamilton had earlier taught Basic Design at the Central School of Art77 in
Hamilton was particularly attracted to photographic, rather than lithographic,
the early
1950s, before developing a similar course at King's College, University postcards,
of Durham, as they could be enlarged without losing resolution. The Whidey Bay
Newcasde upon Tyne. postcard was used in a number of subsequent works.
74 Hamilton, op. cit. (note 72), p.62. 78 G. Orwell: 'Boys' Weeklies', Horizon 3 (March 1940).
79 The Times
75 K. Frampton: 'New Brutalism and the Welfare State: 1949-59', in Alloway, (22nd July 1957); cited in Sandbrook, op. cit. (note 63), p.80.
op. at.

?20 SEPTEMBER 2007 CXLIX THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

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