The Independent Group

Founded 1952, the Independent Group was a discussion group based at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Its members included the artists Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, William Turnbull and John McHale, the critic Lawrence Alloway, and the architects Alison and Peter Smithson. The group was important for the development of British Pop. It was interested in science fiction, American magazines, automobile styling, folk art, advertising, etc, and went some way to legitimising these kinds of material as subjects for serious cultural investigation.

Advertising

The 1950s and 1960s saw an awareness of the increasingly important role of advertising and the mass media in the formation of culture. Alison and Peter Smithson, members of the Independent Group, wrote in 1956: "To understand the advertisements which appear in the 'New Yorker' or 'Gentry' one must have taken a course in Dublin literature, read a 'Time' popularising article on cybernetics and to have majored in Higher Chinese Philosophy and Cosmetics... They are good 'images' and their technical virtuosity is almost magical. Many have involved as much effort for one page as goes into the building of a coffee-bar. And this transient thing is making a bigger contribution to our visual climate than any of the traditional fine arts." (Alison & Peter Smithson 'But Today We Collect Ads' in ARK 18 Nov 1956).

In 1972 Frank Whitford wrote about Paolozzi's fascination with advertising: "In the pages of 'Life', 'Esquire' and the 'New Yorker' Paolozzi became acquainted with the smooth perfection of the visual language coined by Madison Avenue and realised that, say, food and automobile ads spoke more eloquently and economically of dreams than any conventional art was able to do.... It was not inconceivable, he thought, that an ad showing a modern kitchen and its contents revealed as much of the preoccupations of modern man as the details of an 'Annunciation' do about those of a 15th century Italian or Fleming, that imagery intended for the fleeting consideration of a mass audience said more about contemporary attitudes than easel paintings executed for the careful reflection of visitors to a museum. But you have to be able to read the signs." (Frank Whitford 1972)