Group Show
1964 Roger Hilton exhibition
© The British Council Archives
At this year’s Biennale, Lilian Somerville, Director of Fine Arts Department at the British Council, commissioned Roger Hilton, Bernard Meadows, Gwyther Irwin and Joe Tilson to show in the British Pavilion. Roger Hilton won the UNESCO Prize but there was much talk of the young American artists, with Robert Rauschenberg winning the main painting prize. A large supplementary exhibition to the American Pavilion was shown in a palace on the Grand Canal, its opening coinciding with the fisrt night of an American ballet at the Fenice with sets and costume by Rauschenberg. The European critics gave the Americans rather grudging attention and Joe Tilson’s work captured their imagination as ‘a pop art style independent of American influence’. The weather was oppressive but the British Council opening reception took place despite dramatic thunderstorms.
Selection Committee: Sir Philip Hendy, Alan Bowness, Roland Penrose, Sir Herbert Read, J. M. Richards, Sir John Rothenstein, Lilian Somerville (British Council).
Commissioner: Lilian Somerville (British Council).
Images
People (22)
British Pavilion
Other British exhibitors
Arte d'oggi nei musei
Click on the icon to explore the work of the artists in the British Council Collection Website.
