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This exhibition explores the art and culture of 1960s Britain through some of the most significant paintings and drawings from the Swindon Collection. It features work by Richard Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, Michael Craig-Martin and Mary Fedden.


The 1960s was an exciting time in British art. Against a backdrop of growing wealth, pop culture and personal freedom, a new generation of postwar artists were attending London’s art schools, surrounded by an unrivalled cultural scene. British art was infused with the challenges and opportunities found in 1960s Britain, including the tension between personal expression and social responsibility.

19 artworks

1961

The Family
© DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon

The Family

Blackman is an Australian artist who regularly focuses on the human figure in his art. This bold painting shows a group of figures painted in black and grey.

This painting was given to Swindon in 1962, one year after Blackman featured in an important exhibition of contemporary Australian art at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

The Family 1961
Charles Blackman (1928–2018)
Oil on board
H 122 x W 106 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

1965

Pastoral
© Tate / Tate Images. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon

Pastoral

Pastoral 1965
Cecil Collins (1908–1989)
Oil & tempera on board
H 75 x W 90.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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Box That Never Closes
© Michael Craig-Martin. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon

Box That Never Closes

Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin Ireland in 1941. He grew up and was educated in the United States, studying Fine Art at the Yale School of Art and Architecture. He has lived and worked in Britain since 1966.

Craig-Martin began making constructions using a variety of materials and colouring them white or silver or leaving the natural wood finish.

Box That Never Closes 1967
Michael Craig-Martin (b.1941)
Blockboard, polyurethane paint, varnish & brass hardware
H 61 x W 61 x D 61 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

1962

The Thames
© the estate of Mary Fedden / Bridgeman Images. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon

The Thames

Fedden painted this picture ‘from the garden wall, looking upstream to the island, Chiswick Eyot. It is high summer because angelica and cow parsley are out in the quay in June.'

The Thames 1962
Mary Fedden (1915–2012)
Oil on canvas
H 49.3 x W 59.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Silage Heap near Drumburgh, Cumbria, II
© the artist's estate. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Silage Heap near Drumburgh, Cumbria, II 1964
Sheila Mary Fell (1931–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 69.5 x W 90.3 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

1962

Grey, Red and Black Verticals
© estate of Terry Frost. All rights reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon

Grey, Red and Black Verticals

Terry Frost left school and had a variety of jobs before joining the Commandos in 1939.

Frost first visited St Ives in 1946 and was influenced by Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. The artists at St Ives encouraged Frost to move towards abstract painting. He combined this with an interest in modern European art and the work of the great American abstract painters, like Barnet Newman and Willem de Kooning.

This painting was made at an important stage in Frost’s career. The three curves at the top of the canvas were inspired by Rubens painting of three goddesses. The work is inspired by women, in Frost’s words, “perhaps from a time when woman ruled the world". The smear of thin grey paint suggests a reclining figure.

Grey, Red and Black Verticals 1962
Terry Frost (1915–2003)
Oil on canvas
H 101 x W 126.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

November
© estate of Roger Hilton. All rights reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
November 1955
Roger Hilton (1911–1975)
Oil on canvas
H 112 x W 86.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Gramophone
© Howard Hodgkin. All rights reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Gramophone 1964–1966
Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017)
Oil on canvas
H 71.5 x W 91.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Painting
© the copyright holder. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Painting 1961
Charles Houghton Howard (1899–1978)
Oil on canvas
H 59.4 x W 85 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Action Painting
© the copyright holder. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Action Painting 1958
George Melhuish (1916–1985)
Oil on paper board
H 56 x W 70.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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Vortex
© the copyright holder. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Vortex 1968
George Melhuish (1916–1985)
Oil on paper
H 61 x W 85 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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The Mysterious Gift
© Desmond Morris. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
The Mysterious Gift 1965
Desmond Morris (b.1928)
Oil on canvas
H 99 x W 70.7 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Play: Here We Exemplify (Fugato) the Additive Perseverative and Subtractive Modes, Thesis as Object and Artwork as Residue of Process
© All rights reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Play: Here We Exemplify (Fugato) the Additive Perseverative and Subtractive Modes, Thesis as Object and Artwork as Residue of Process 1968
Tom Phillips (1937–2022)
Acrylic on canvas
H 45.7 x W 152 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Night Sky
© the artist's estate/courtesy Flowers Gallery, London. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Night Sky 1957
Jack Smith (1928–2011)
Oil on board
H 58.5 x W 58.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Once
© Richard Smith Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2024. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Once 1962
Richard Smith (1931–2016)
Oil on canvas
H 213.5 x W 121.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

.

Elektra
© estate of George Warner Allen. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Elektra 1969
George Warner Allen (1916–1988)
Oil & tempera on canvas
H 90 x W 100 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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Landscape
© the artist's estate. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Landscape 1956
Denis Wirth-Miller (1915–2010)
Oil on canvas
H 75.5 x W 90.5 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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Winged Idol
© the artist's estate. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
Winged Idol 1963
Roger Leigh (1925–1997)
Bronze & yew
H 46.5 x W 47.7 cm
Museum & Art Swindon

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The Sibyl
© Tate / Tate Images. Image credit: Museum & Art Swindon
The Sibyl 1964
Cecil Collins (1908–1989)
Oil & acrylic on board
H 75 x W 90 cm
Museum & Art Swindon