ANGLAIS, présentation tableau de Hamilton : Just what makes today's homes so different, so appealing

Today I’m going to present you a collage realised by Richard Hamilton who is a british artist. The title is Just what makes today’s homes so different, so appealing. It was created in 1956 for the exhibition This Is Tomorrow in London. His work is now exposed in Kunsthalle, Germany. With this collage, Hamilton can be considered as one of the first pop art artist.The pop art is a modern art movement that emerged in the UK and the US in the 50s. Most of the times, it is a critical or ironic comment on traditional art values.

Hamilton realised this collage with the help of his friend John McHale who found the images. During a trip in the US, he collected images taken mainly from american magazines.

With this work, Hamilton wanted to represent the american dream, with a typical house of the 50s. So, he made a list of what he needed to add to his collage as “ man, woman, a newspaper, cinema, domestic appliances, comics, TV...” When we look at the work, we can see all of these things. In the foreground stands a body builder who was actually a famous sportsman called Kosvewski. We can also see a woman but we don’t know who she is, there is a chair with a newspaper on it and a “jukebox”.  In the background we can see stairs with a maid and a vacuum cleaner. On the wall, there is the cover of the magazine Young Romance and the Ford logo.  The person here is a famous writer. We can also see a TV, and on the ceiling Hamilton placed a picture of the moon. By the windows we can see a theatre.  

All the images taken to make this collage have a real role in the message of the work. They all represent the popular culture and modern technology. For instance, I think the moon represent the space race between the US and Russia to send a man to the moon during the cold war. The TV is on the collage because it was of a huge importance in the 50s as most of the americans had a tv at their house for the first time. I think that the bodybuilder and the pin-up represent the importance of appearances and the need to be appreciated in the US at this period. The movie represented in the theatre behind the window is the first american movie that had sound, it is the beginning of the golden age of the american cinema. So, this collage is full of references of the period. I think there are all the clichés of the american dream, and when people see this work they may think “look at what you can get if you live in the US, you can build your fortune, be a self-made man, and everything is pretty and modern”. By doing an art work with advertisements, Hamilton criticises the consumer society.

I wonder if Hamilton wanted to warn people about what they could see in the newspapers or on TV, that there aren’t really what they get in their lives. The title is a question, I guess he wants them to question themselves about what was important in their lives, appearances ? whealthyness ? modernity ?

I wonder if his collage was also targeting the future generations like us ?      

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