Joe Tilson b.1928
Collage 6/W, 1961
oil wood and burlap on canvas
47 x 29 ins


Provenance
New London Gallery, London
Edinburgh Weavers, Carlisle

Exhibited
New London Gallery, London



Tilson’s collages of the early 1960’s demonstrate how unclear the distinctions between the ‘tachiste’ and ‘pop’ artists were. The use of very definite non-art materials, as here where he utilises painted rough cloth (almost sacking) and wood, connects very closely with the kind of European art that many of the artists of the time were familiar through exhibitions at galleries such as Gimpel Fils, the Redfern Gallery and the ICA. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Tilson also had first hand knowledge of the contemporary European trends, as he had worked and studied in Italy and Spain in the mid-1950’s. Yet the simple forms used here are arranged in a fashion that looks towards the orderly collection and progression of objects found in, say, the work of Peter Blake at the time, and the rigorously hard edge paintings of Bernard Cohen.

This mixture of influences, European, American and self-discovered, form an art that revels in its very variety and novelty, and yet still appears remarkably fresh. As with any art that is not easily categorized, the widespread interest now being seen in this period has been a relatively recent occurrence, and we are now able to see Tilson’s works such as Collage 6/W in the context of a time of great change, exuberance and optimism.