Eduardo Paolozzi was one of the founders of the Independent Group, a precursor to the British Pop Art movement of the 1960s. In 1968, Paolozzi served as a lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Art; that same year, BAMPFA's first director Peter Selz, in conjunction with the art department, organized a retrospective of the artist's prints at the Worth Ryder Gallery on campus. In the exhibition catalog, Selz wrote: “Paolozzi feels that his new graphic works-which incorporate such multiple images as computer scannings and Mickey Mouse, Scientific American and Harley-Davidsons, laser beams and ‘girlie' magazines-only begin to exploit the potential for art derived from technology. He conceives an ultimate stage where there will be no discernable distinction between art and science, when pure art and pure science will be synonymous. He foresees a time when every artist will have a computer in his studio, and the artist will be essentially a programmer.” During his time in California, Paolozzi made trips to Disneyland, Frederick's of Hollywood, Paramount Studios, and wax museums in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He also spent time at the UC Computer Center, Stanford's Linear Accelerator Center, Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, and the General Motors Assembly Plant in Hayward. The abiding interest in technology and popular culture that drew Paolozzi to these places is evident in works like Universal Electronic Vacuum (1967), a portfolio of color silkscreen prints, five of which are now on view in BAMPFA's stairwell gallery. Also presented here are five works from the earlier series As Is When (1965), which features Paolozzi's interpretations of the life and teachings of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein; and one additional print, Untitled (Silkscreen History) (1971). Born in 1924 to Italian immigrant parents in Edinburgh, Scotland, Eduardo Paolozzi was knighted in 1989. He died in London in 2005.
