Derek Boshier, Swan, 1962, diptych, oil on canvas, wood frame, overall 72 x 24".
Derek Boshier
Thomas Solomon Art Advisory | Bethlehem Baptist Church
More than a decade before he was designing album art for David Bowie and the Clash, Derek Boshier was among a vital group of painters reshaping British Pop art during the early 1960s. Coming through the Royal College of Art with an influential cohort that included David Hockney, Pauline Boty, and R. B. Kitaj, Boshier cultivated a sharper political edge in his work than these contemporaries. He was less invested in the “ironism of affirmation” (Hal Foster) or “fascinated ambivalence” (Christopher Finch) that critics associate with Brit Pop of this period, and instead incorporated into his art popular imagery—his sources include the Royal Mail, space rockets, and everyday goods—to underscore the alienation of postwar consumerism. More important, Boshier’s true achievement during this period, as highlighted by the ten drawings and the painting Swan (all works 1962) displayed
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