1905 Building

Active in London in the early 1950s, the Independent Group, an interdisciplinary group of artists, critics and architects, was fascinated by the impact of new advances in science, technology and the mass media on art and society. The members looked forward to a new fusion of popular and high culture — an “aesthetics of plenty.”

The exhibition — organized by the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain; and the University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley — featured the recreation of several of the Independent Group’s 1950s shows, which greatly influenced the later development of Pop art and postmodern architecture. In addition, the show presented paintings, sculpture, collage, and architecture by the group’s individual members — Magda Cordell (McHale), Richard Hamilton, Nigel Henderson, John McHale, Eduardo Paolozzi, William Turnbull, and Alison and Peter Smithson — many of whom went on to become leading figures in their fields.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, and the University Art Museum.