This is Tomorrow
Encyclopedia
This Is Tomorrow was a seminal art exhibition in August 1956 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, facilitated by curator Bryan Robertson
. The core of the exhibition was the ICA Independent Group
.
, who was the editor of Architectural Design magazine, and a member of the ICA
. Theo Crosby had attended a congress in Paris in 1954 on the drawing together of fine and applied arts, and was later approached about a similar concept to This Is Tomorrow by representatives of Groupe Espace in London.
The This Is Tomorrow exhibition included artists, architects, musicians and graphic designers working together in 12 teams—an example of multi-disciplinary collaboration that was still unusual. Each group took as their starting point the human senses and the theme of habitation.
The exhibition's most remembered exhibit was the room by Richard Hamilton
, John Voelcker
and John McHale
, with collaboration from Magda Cordell
and Frank Cordell
. It included the Op Art
dazzle panels , collage Space modules, and pop art readymade
of a Marilyn Monroe
poster, the Van Gogh Sunflowers
poster, a film advertising billboard of the Forbidden Planet
, Robby the Robot
, a Jukebox
, the strawberry perfumed carpet, an endless reel of film depicting the Royal Navy Fleet at sea, large Guinness
beer bottles, a Marlon Brando
poster image and a 'CinemaScope' collage mural design, and the design of the Pop art collage poster that were all provided by John McHale.
Frank Cordell assisted McHale with accessing the film posters such as Julius Caesar
(1953) for the collage murals, the Forbidden Planet items, the juke box, and installing the film projector, and installing the Duchamp rotor discs given to McHale by Marcel Duchamp
in New York. Frank Cordell also installed the electronic amplifier and microphone enabling the ambient sounds from audience cybernetic feedback. The Senses panel with arrows featuring Tito was a joint collaboration between Hamilton and McHale, and the version http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/026TT-1956.htm reproduced in the catalogue was slightly different in wording to alter the optical perception of viewers. Hamilton later produced a third version depicting the Senses panel in an interior collage depicting the TIT, but he changed the face to Pierre Mendes France, and changed the Guinness beer bottles and altered other visual details in the mural. McHale and Hamilton collaborated on the Spectrum diagram http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/025TT-1956.htm reproduced in the exhibition catalogue, and McHale later produced a modified version of this in his Man Plus section in his book on the Future of the Future.
The exhibition catalogue featured essays by Reyner Banham
and Lawrence Alloway
. McHale wrote the text for the page Are they Cultured? http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/029TT-1956.htm and it was intended to be featured with the McHale designed collage http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/033TT-1956.htm that got mispaginated in the catalogue. The Pop art poster Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?
, was designed by Hamilton for Group 2. A second poster, comprising intersecting arrows and swirls was designed by McHale and taken to the silk screen stage by Hamilton.. McHale also supplied a third separate designed poster to Hamilton with an arrow, containing the formula E=MC2 which was a Pop art '"mass" consumer' reference to the Albert Einstein
famous mass-energy equivalence
relativity formula. But Hamilton chose not to collaborate on the third poster, and expend the 'creative "energy"' to bring the E=MC2 to final completion at the TIT.
Colin St John Wilson
designed the exhibition guide. The graphic designer Edward Wright
(1912-88), who taught typography at the Central School of Art from 1950 to 1955 and then the Royal College of Art, designed the catalogue for This Is Tomorrow. Theo Crosby found the money for it, and it was printed by Lund Humphries. The director of Lund Humphries, Peter Gregory along with Peter Watson were among the original founding patrons of the ICA.
The TIT show is now considered a watershed in post-war British Art and in some respects kick started the development of the British arm of Pop Art
.
Parts of This Is Tomorrow were recreated in 1990 for an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
.
Bryan Robertson (curator)
Bryan Robertson OBE was an English curator and arts manager described by Studio International as "the greatest Director the Tate Gallery never had"....
. The core of the exhibition was the ICA Independent Group
Independent Group
The Independent Group met at the Institute of Contemporary Arts London from 1952-55. The IG consisted of painters, sculptors, architects, writers and critics who wanted to challenge prevailing modernist approaches to culture. They introduced mass culture into debates about high culture,...
.
History
This is Tomorrow was conceived by architectural critic Theo CrosbyTheo Crosby
Theo Crosby was an architect, editor, writer and sculptor, engaged with major developments in design across four decades. He was also an early vocal critic of modern urbanism. He is best remembered as a founding partner of the international design partnership Pentagram, and as architect for the...
, who was the editor of Architectural Design magazine, and a member of the ICA
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
. Theo Crosby had attended a congress in Paris in 1954 on the drawing together of fine and applied arts, and was later approached about a similar concept to This Is Tomorrow by representatives of Groupe Espace in London.
The This Is Tomorrow exhibition included artists, architects, musicians and graphic designers working together in 12 teams—an example of multi-disciplinary collaboration that was still unusual. Each group took as their starting point the human senses and the theme of habitation.
The exhibition's most remembered exhibit was the room by Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton (artist)
Richard William Hamilton, CH was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the...
, John Voelcker
John Voelcker
John Harold Westgarth Voelcker was a British architect and designer. He was the first Professor of Architecture at the University of Glasgow.Voelcker was born in Preston, Lancashire...
and John McHale
John McHale (artist)
John McHale was an artist and sociologist. He was a founder member of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and a founder of the Independent Group, which was a British movement that originated Pop Art which grew out of a fascination with American mass culture and post-WWII technologies...
, with collaboration from Magda Cordell
Magda Cordell McHale
Magda Cordell McHale was an artist, futurist, and educator. She was a founding member of the Independent Group which was a British movement that originated Pop Art which grew out of a fascination with American mass culture and post-WWII technologies...
and Frank Cordell
Frank Cordell (musician)
Frank Cordell was a British music composer, arranger and conductor, who was actively involved with the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He also wrote music under the name Frank Meilleur or Meillear .-Early life:He was born Frank Cordell in Kingston-upon-Thames...
. It included the Op Art
Op art
Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions."Optical art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing." Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made...
dazzle panels , collage Space modules, and pop art readymade
Found art
The term found art—more commonly found object or readymade—describes art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function...
of a Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
poster, the Van Gogh Sunflowers
Sunflowers (series of paintings)
Sunflowers are the subject of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The earlier series executed in Paris in 1887 gives the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set executed a year later in Arles shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase...
poster, a film advertising billboard of the Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
, Robby the Robot
Robby the Robot
Robby the Robot is a fictional character who has made a number of appearances in science fiction movies and television programs after his first appearance in the 1956 MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet.-Overview:...
, a Jukebox
Jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
, the strawberry perfumed carpet, an endless reel of film depicting the Royal Navy Fleet at sea, large Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
beer bottles, a Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
poster image and a 'CinemaScope' collage mural design, and the design of the Pop art collage poster that were all provided by John McHale.
Frank Cordell assisted McHale with accessing the film posters such as Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (1953 film)
Julius Caesar is an 1953 MGM film adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the uncredited screenplay, and produced by John Houseman. The original music score is by Miklós Rózsa...
(1953) for the collage murals, the Forbidden Planet items, the juke box, and installing the film projector, and installing the Duchamp rotor discs given to McHale by Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
in New York. Frank Cordell also installed the electronic amplifier and microphone enabling the ambient sounds from audience cybernetic feedback. The Senses panel with arrows featuring Tito was a joint collaboration between Hamilton and McHale, and the version http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/026TT-1956.htm reproduced in the catalogue was slightly different in wording to alter the optical perception of viewers. Hamilton later produced a third version depicting the Senses panel in an interior collage depicting the TIT, but he changed the face to Pierre Mendes France, and changed the Guinness beer bottles and altered other visual details in the mural. McHale and Hamilton collaborated on the Spectrum diagram http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/025TT-1956.htm reproduced in the exhibition catalogue, and McHale later produced a modified version of this in his Man Plus section in his book on the Future of the Future.
The exhibition catalogue featured essays by Reyner Banham
Reyner Banham
Peter Reyner Banham was a prolific architectural critic and writer best known for his 1960 theoretical treatise Theory and Design in the First Machine Age and for his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies...
and Lawrence Alloway
Lawrence Alloway
Lawrence Alloway was an English art critic and curator who worked in the United States from the 1960s. In the 1950s he was a leading member of the Independent Group in the UK and in the 1960s was an influential writer and curator in the US...
. McHale wrote the text for the page Are they Cultured? http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/029TT-1956.htm and it was intended to be featured with the McHale designed collage http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/pages/033TT-1956.htm that got mispaginated in the catalogue. The Pop art poster Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?
Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?
Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? is a collage by English artist Richard Hamilton. It measures × . The work is now in the collection of the Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany...
, was designed by Hamilton for Group 2. A second poster, comprising intersecting arrows and swirls was designed by McHale and taken to the silk screen stage by Hamilton.. McHale also supplied a third separate designed poster to Hamilton with an arrow, containing the formula E=MC2 which was a Pop art '"mass" consumer' reference to the Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
famous mass-energy equivalence
Mass-energy equivalence
In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all energy, and energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are connected by a constant...
relativity formula. But Hamilton chose not to collaborate on the third poster, and expend the 'creative "energy"' to bring the E=MC2 to final completion at the TIT.
Colin St John Wilson
Colin St John Wilson
Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, FRIBA, RA, was a British architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury and now completed near Kings Cross.-Early and private life:Wilson was...
designed the exhibition guide. The graphic designer Edward Wright
Edward Wright (artist)
Edward Wright was a painter, typographer and graphic designer.In the early 1950s he was a member of the Independent Group, and taught at the Central School of Art with Anthony Froshaug, Nigel Henderson and Eduardo Paolozzi....
(1912-88), who taught typography at the Central School of Art from 1950 to 1955 and then the Royal College of Art, designed the catalogue for This Is Tomorrow. Theo Crosby found the money for it, and it was printed by Lund Humphries. The director of Lund Humphries, Peter Gregory along with Peter Watson were among the original founding patrons of the ICA.
The TIT show is now considered a watershed in post-war British Art and in some respects kick started the development of the British arm of Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
.
Parts of This Is Tomorrow were recreated in 1990 for an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
.
Artist Teams in Exhibition
- Group One: Theo CrosbyTheo CrosbyTheo Crosby was an architect, editor, writer and sculptor, engaged with major developments in design across four decades. He was also an early vocal critic of modern urbanism. He is best remembered as a founding partner of the international design partnership Pentagram, and as architect for the...
, Germano FacettiGermano FacettiGermano Facetti was an Italian graphic designer who headed design at Penguin Books from 1962 to 1971.Born in Milan he was arrested in 1943 for putting up anti-Fascist posters...
, William Turnbull http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/williamturnbull/default.shtm, Edward Wright - Group Two: Richard HamiltonRichard Hamilton (artist)Richard William Hamilton, CH was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the...
, John McHaleJohn McHale (artist)John McHale was an artist and sociologist. He was a founder member of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and a founder of the Independent Group, which was a British movement that originated Pop Art which grew out of a fascination with American mass culture and post-WWII technologies...
, John VoelckerJohn VoelckerJohn Harold Westgarth Voelcker was a British architect and designer. He was the first Professor of Architecture at the University of Glasgow.Voelcker was born in Preston, Lancashire... - Group Three: J. D. H.Catleugh, James Hull, Leslie Thornton
- Group Four: Anthony Jackson, Sarah JacksonSarah JacksonSarah Jeanette Jackson, née Sherman was a Canadian artist, who first became known for her sculptures and drawings and then became one of the pioneers of 20th century digital art....
, Emilio ScanavinoEmilio ScanavinoEmilio Scanavino was an Italian painter and sculptor.-Early life:In 1938 the young Scanavino enrolled to the Art School Nicolò Barabino of Genoa where he met his teacher Mario Calonghi, who had a great influence on Scanavino’s first formation. In 1942 he had his first exhibition at the Salone... - Group Five: John ErnestJohn ErnestJohn Ernest was an American-born constructivist abstract artist. He was born in Philadelphia, USA, in 1922. After living and working in Sweden and Paris from 1946 to 1951, he moved to London England where he lived and worked from 1951...
, Anthony Hill, Denis WilliamsDenis WilliamsDenis Williams was a Guyanese painter, author and archaeologist.Williams' early promise as a painter won him a two-year British Council Scholarship to the Camberwell School of Art in London in 1946. He lived in London for the next ten years, during which he taught fine art and held several one-man... - Group Six: Eduardo PaolozziEduardo PaolozziSir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, KBE, RA , was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere, while, working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization...
, Alison and Peter SmithsonAlison and Peter SmithsonEnglish architects Alison Smithson and Peter Smithson together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalism .Peter was born in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England, and Alison was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire...
, Nigel HendersonNigel Henderson (artist)Nigel Henderson was an artist and photographer.He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. In the early 1950s he was a member of the Independent Group, and taught at the Central School of Art with Anthony Froshaug, Edward Wright and Eduardo Paolozzi.He took part in the exhibition This is Tomorrow...
http://www.independentgroup.org.uk/contributors/henderson/index.html - Group Seven: Victor PasmoreVictor PasmoreEdwin John Victor Pasmore was a British artist and architect. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:...
, Erno GoldfingerErno GoldfingerErnő Goldfinger was a Hungarian-born Jewish architect and designer of furniture, and a key member of the architectural Modern Movement after he had moved to the United Kingdom.-Biography:Goldfinger was born in Budapest...
, Helen Phillips http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950217/ai_n13966494/pg_1
- Group Eight: James StirlingJames Stirling (architect)Sir James Frazer Stirling FRIBA was a British architect. He is considered to be among the most important and influential British architects of the second half of the 20th century...
, Michael Pine (CMHC Ottawa architect), Richard Matthews - Group Nine: Kenneth MartinKenneth MartinKenneth Martin was an English painter and sculptor who along with his wife Mary Martin and Victor Pasmore was a leading figure in the revival of Constructivism in Britain and America in the 1940s....
, Mary MartinMary Martin (Artist)Mary Adela Martin was a British sculptor best known for her work with her husband Kenneth Martin....
and John Weeks - Group Ten: Robert AdamsRobert Adams-Baseball:*Bob Adams , American League baseball pitcher*Bob Adams , National League baseball pitcher*Bobby Adams , Major League Baseball infielder...
, Frank NewbyFrank NewbyFrank Newby was one of the leading structural engineers of the 20th Century, working with such architects as Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Eero Saarinen, Cedric Price, James Stirling, and the practice of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill , and such engineers as Ove Arup and Felix Samuely.-Early life...
, Peter Carter , Colin St. John Wilson - Group Eleven: Adrian HeathAdrian Heath (painter)Adrian Heath was a 20th century British painter.Heath was born in Burma and attended Bryanston School in Dorset, southern England. In 1938, he studied art under Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn. In 1939 and 1945–47, he attended the Slade School of Art...
, John Weeks - Group Twelve: Lawrence AllowayLawrence AllowayLawrence Alloway was an English art critic and curator who worked in the United States from the 1960s. In the 1950s he was a leading member of the Independent Group in the UK and in the 1960s was an influential writer and curator in the US...
, Geoffrey Holroyd, Toni del RenzioToni del RenzioAntonino Romanov del Renzio dei Rossi di Castellone e Venosa , an artist and writer of Italian and Russian parentage, was leader of the British Surrealist Group for a period....